The adaptation of Tsukasa Hôjô’s cult manga by TF1 opened this Monday, November 11 with an episode taking place partly on the most famous monument in Paris.
It was with these hair-raising sequences that the filming of this super French production began last winter.
“Everyone is sleeping, but you are going to climb the Eiffel Tower! Normal!” laughs Claire Romain who tells us about these “very intense” first days with Camille Lou, Constance Labbé and MB14.
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“Cat’s Eyes”: the event series shows its claws on TF1
It has often been copied without ever being equaled. The Eiffel Tower plays the leading role in the first episode of Cat’s Eyesa live-action adaptation of the cult manga by Tsukasa Hôjô. Already behind the camera of historical frescoes The Charity Bazaar et The Fighters director Alexandre Laurent was “convinced that we had to start” by this monument. “Succeeding in this type of difficult scene brings magic to the aftermath of a shoot. But we had to tame it!”he smiles in the production notes. It is not its actors who will say the opposite.
We shot everywhere, from the ground to the antennas. We couldn’t go any higher!
Alexandre Laurent
There is general enthusiasm when we ask Camille Lou, Constance Labbé, Claire Romain and MB14 to tell us about their first day of filming in the Iron Lady. Their very first day of filming, because that’s where the very first ones were launched “action !” of the project produced by TF1. Even Constance Labbé, whose character Sylia is not present in these scenes, was there for this thunderous debut in mid-October last year.
“I wanted to be there. It was quite incredible. We didn’t know what awaited us and that’s good, I think”remembers the one who plays the eldest of the Chamade sisters. Camille Lou remembers arriving “around 5:30 p.m.” Then “took the taxi the next day at 8 a.m. to go home.” “We could only shoot at night, because the Eiffel Tower is open to the public during the day. And it was impossible to come back afterwards because the Olympic rings were installed after we left”comments their director.
For greater efficiency, teams worked simultaneously “on several levels”. “We were sometimes very cramped. In the end, we shot everywhere, from the ground to the antennas. We couldn’t go any higher!”he explains. “This first week was very well timed and storyboarded because we had very little time”agrees Camille Lou who literally gained height in Tamara’s suit. “I really climbed the poles of the Iron Lady! Alex called me six months before to say: ‘Would you be ok to climb the edge of the Eiffel Tower? Well, it’s a little high, it’s 200 m’ I told him that I would do it for the role, I really wanted it, it was a bit of a goal.she tells us.
I was suspended, I’m the one who unrolls the kakemono. This image, with my back, is iconic. I never would have imagined myself doing that, it’s crazy!
Camille Lou
“But unfortunately, as it was the start of filming, I was not allowed due to insurance issues.she regrets. When Tamara walks on the beam, I couldn’t do it completely either. I settled for something small that wasn’t dangerous. But everything else, I did! I was suspended, I’m the one who unrolls the kakemono. This image, with my back, is iconic. I never imagined myself doing that, it’s crazy!” Claire Romain has the same adjective in mind to talk about these Parisian nights. “Everyone is asleep, but you are going to climb the Eiffel Tower! Normal! I could even tell my grandchildren about that”tells us the interpreter of the fiery Alexia, speaking of moments “challenging, but at the same time very interesting”.
“We had to redo the scenes quite a few times. I was running and I had to catch up with the kakemono”relates the one who also had to be careful that her large brown wig did not leave her head. “It was very intense”she summarizes. The organisms were put to the test by the weather. This October evening, it rained a lot and “It was also very, very cold.” Enough to cause some injuries. “Super proud” of having performed some of her stunts, Camille Lou “hurts a little” before setting off on a race. “But it passed quickly”she assures.
Ditto for MB14, a talented musician revealed in “The Voice”, who is in Cat’s Eyes his first major role on television. “I hurt my knee a little on the second day, we did a lot of takes where we had to run up the stairs. And then when you’re a police officer, you’re not necessarily in running sneakers”he tells us, speaking of the boots of Quentin Chapuis, the cop who shared Tamara’s life before she disappeared only to come back.
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Her first scene, MB14 put her in a box at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. His character “Takes the talkie to tell his team that Cat’s Eyes is still there. We see Tamara walking like a little cat on the end of the building”he tells us, replaying the moment. “I had pressure because there was the whole team in front of me. The director, the producers, the actors, the technicians… Around thirty people that I barely knew,” he recalls. “It was like I was taking an exam. I wanted to do well. I had to give the best of myself so that they were also convinced that they had made the right choice”he continues.
This initial sequence also helped to definitively shape Quentin with the director, from his way of speaking to his way of moving. “He looks a lot like me.”points out MB14 who “didn’t realize he was going to run so much.” Following in the footsteps of the three burglar sisters, her character will not have time to slow down in the following episodes.
>> Cat’s Eyes – every Monday on TF1 and streaming on TF1+
