How Booba and an undercover operation in Miami gave birth to Ourika
Former drug cop, Clément Godart had the idea of recounting his experience in a new punchy series, after meeting the famous rapper in Miami…
If Ourika takes as its starting point the riots of 2005 in the suburbs, the new crime series which is released today on Prime Video has a much broader ambition: that of telling the rise of drug trafficking in France and around the world, evoking the inability of the police to contain it. Clement Godart knows something about it. He, who was a cop for two decades, tracked down drug traffickers in the cities of Île de France, all the way to South America. And it was there that the idea for the series was born. Ourika.
“In 2016, I was on an undercover operation between Colombia and the United States, in connection with the DEA (the US Drug Enforcement Administration). There, we meet Escobar's nephew, who works for the Medelin cartel“, tells Première Clement Godarton the sidelines of the Séries Mania festival where Ourika was presented in competition. The police officer turned screenwriter continues his story: “I find myself in Miami, to investigate the financial branch of the cartel. There, I meet an old friend who became a bounty hunter, who turns out to be the best friend of Booba ! I meet him, we chat, and we become friends quite quickly. Me, I continue my life as a cop, and that fascinates Booba. At the same time, he tells me that people have been asking him to make films for 25 years, that he has always said no, but now he wants us to do something together. Me, I was a little fed up with my job, after 20 years in the police… I wanted to move on to something else.”
Booba And Clement Godart thus begin to put down on paper the first ideas of what will become Ourikawith the help of Marine Francousharp pen of French fiction and ex-showrunner of'Gears. “It's great, for a screenwriter like me, to have this raw material available. I don't think I've ever written so fast. It must be said that all these things we see in the first episodes are things that Clément has experienced. For example, a trafficker, when he makes his first million, it hits everyone… and it makes a mess!” she laughs, in reference to the first scene of'Ourika. “Yes, I was that policeman there, who fired into the air in the middle of the city“, confirms Clement Godartwho wanted to convey the reality of his experience as a police officer in his series, “this discomfort, the difficulty in working on a daily basis, despite the pugnacity, the desire to do well. We are not in corruption. The series moves away from the fantasy of the drug guy who is going to bite… But we also show that he must cross certain lines to advance his investigation…”
On the cops side and the thugs side, Ourika has the desire to explore all aspects of the city business, in order to “take a look at the evolution of trafficking in the world since 2005, starting from France, where the world drug exchange is located!” Marianne Franco also warns: “Our series is not an urban western about riots, but a realistic thriller, which is inspired by the life of Clément and his very concrete experience. We describe how the police try to fight against traffickers and how traffickers use the police to grow“.
Production enabled by the investment of Booba. The rapper gave of himself so that the project Clement Godart materializes. “He impulses. He was a tutelary figure, who made this series possible thanks to his name”, insists the co-creator. “We did everything together. He focused a lot on the artistic aspect, the choice of actors, the music, the costumes, the creation of this universe. It brings glamor to have Booba, but he was also careful not to take up all the space. That’s why he only wanted to play a supporting role on screen.” Clement Godart thus praises the humility of the French rapper from Miami, in his approach to a profession that he is discovering: “He is a huge artist in his field, who had the intelligence to understand that he was not going to become, like that, overnight, a huge artist in the field of series.”
Ourika, season 1 in 7 episodes, to watch from March 28 on Prime Video.
