Naman Shrestha
Created by Kamel Guemra, Netflix’s ‘Blood Coast’ is a French crime thriller series that follows a group of special police officers who are faced with a relentless drug dealer trying to take over the city of Marseille. When their conventional methods of tracking down the criminal mastermind don’t seem to work, the police captain and his team get help from a new recruit who brings a fresh agenda and perspective on things.
In a race against time, the special police team must do everything they can to save the city from turning into a bloodbath. Originally titled ‘Pax Massilia,’ the action drama show consists of some talented French actors, including Tewfik Jallab, Jeanne Goursaud, Nicolas Duvauchelle, and Olivier Barthélémy. With the high-octane and enthralling story unfolding in and around the city of Marseille, it raises an obvious question in the viewers’ minds — whether or not the series is filmed on location.
Blood Coast Filming Locations
‘Blood Coast’ is filmed in its entirety in France, specifically in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. According to reports, principal photography for the inaugural iteration of the thriller series got underway in December 2022 and continued for the following four months or so, before wrapping up in April 2023. So, let’s find out which specific locations serve as the production sites for the Netflix show!
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France
A major portion of ‘Blood Coast’ is lensed in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, an administrative region with the city of Marseille as its prefecture. Various areas of Marseille are turned into film sets, including the Consolat neighborhood in Marseille’s La Calade, where a few important scenes are taped. A couple of other Marseille locations that feature in the crime series are Le Breton at 52 Rue Mazenod and Le Pelle Mêle Jazz Club at 8 Place aux Huiles.
Around mid-December 2022, the cast and crew members were spotted recording some pivotal sequences in and around the Domaine de Valmousse in the commune of Lambesc. Other prominent sites that appear in different episodes of ‘Blood Coast’ include the commune of Carry-le-Rouet, L’Estaque, and Le Jaï in Châteauneuf-les-Martigues. One of the abandoned buildings in Marseille is also transformed into a central police station by the filming unit.
In a late November interview, one of the directors, Olivier Marchal, was asked if shooting in Marseille was obvious. He stated, “Marseille is very popular abroad in terms of decor but also with its particular atmosphere. This city is powerful and majestic at the same time, with its light, its natural settings, and at the same time, this kind of animality emerges from the popular neighborhoods, the northern districts, the streets of Marseille, the atmospheres, the bars. We did not want to say that Marseille is a more violent city than the others. After violence, it is obviously inherent to the detective genre. You can’t make police officers without doing scenes of violence and action scenes, otherwise, the audience would be disappointed. But we did not want to show Marseille as a totally inaccessible city, quite the contrary.”
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