Jordan De Luxe and Jean-Pierre Castaldi as a duo in the Duanju series “King Gandolfi”

On the heights of Goudes and Callelongue, in the heart of the calanques of Marseille, facing the island of Maïre, two anachronistic figures reenact the comedy of the Middle Ages. This is Jean-Pierre Castaldi who plays a massive, gruff but kind-hearted knight, accompanied by a squire overflowing with energy played by Jordan De Luxe. Together, filming for the series King Gandolfi, they revive the spirit of the great adventure duos.

The scene unfolds against a backdrop of limestone cliffs, dry grasses, and the marine horizon, all bathed in Mediterranean light. By contrast, the interiors of a medieval castle required different shots, which were filmed in a studio using a green screen.

In 2016, several media outlets, including Télé Loisirs and Télé 2 Semaines, presented the project under the title Chevaliers Academy, broadcast on several cable channels. Since then, the universe has evolved: the series has been redesigned in the Duanju format under the name King Gandolfi, vertical and tight, designed for phone screens. The story refocuses on the kingdom's sovereign, whose peace is disturbed in a few episodes by this duo of adventurers.

Jean-Pierre Castaldi has been a familiar figure in French cinema since the 1970s. A former resident of the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, he has distinguished himself in both theater and screen, from Claude Zidi to Claude Lelouch. He has influenced several generations with his popular roles, notably in the film adaptations of Asterix "Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar" (1999) and "Asterix at the Olympic Games" (2008), where he plays a now-iconic Roman centurion, often featured in trailers and television clips.

Jordan De Luxe, now recognized as a TV host and commentator, from Voltage to C8, including W9 alongside Cyril Hanouna, successfully tries his hand here at a different register: fiction and comedy. During a radio appearance on Voltage, the actor with the prolific filmography, Jean-Louis Barcelona, also congratulated his interviewee, Jordan De Luxe, for his performance.

A program on a Canal+ channel revived a memory of filming marked by a minor accident: Jordan De Luxe injured his eyebrow after a false swing with his sword, an episode that Jean-Pierre Castaldi recalls with fondness, to the detriment of the person concerned.

With the participation of Jean-Pierre Castaldi and Jordan De Luxe, King Gandolfi gains both depth and personality. The series embraces a taste for parody, fantasy, and popular satire, transposed into the Duanju format. It stands as a direct heir to the serialized comic books of the 1960s. Much like Astérix the Gaul, born in the pages of Pilote magazine, where each week a “to be continued” kept readers in suspense, Roi Gandolfi follows a fragmented, episodic rhythm. Its creator, Guillaume Sanjorge, openly claims this symbolic connection with the world of Uderzo and Goscinny. He also took part in the Canal+ documentary Astérix on Uderzo’s Couch, dedicated to one of the fathers of the legendary Gaul, extending the legacy of popular storytelling reimagined for the vertical screen.

Watch the full series: Link