This Monday, November 11, TF1 is launching its event series: Cat’s Eyes. Was the first episode really filmed at the Eiffel Tower?
After several months of waiting, viewers were finally able to discover the first episodes of Cat’s Eyes, a live-action series adapted from the cult 80s manga by Tsukasa Hôjo.
Designed as a prequel to the story imagined by the famous mangaka, the series explores the origins of the Cat’s Eyes, three sisters who transform into thieves to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of their father, who died ten years earlier in the fire of its art gallery.
When a work that belonged to him reappears during a prestigious exhibition at the Eiffel Tower, Tam (Camille Lou), Alexia (Claire Romain) and Sylia (Constance Labbé) decide to steal it in the hope of finally understanding what that happened to him. However, these still beginner thieves will quickly find themselves in the crosshairs of Quentin Chapuis, Tam’s ex who is now an inspector at the BRB…
It is therefore at the Eiffel Tower that the first episode of Cat’s Eyes opens and Tam steals the painting before being taken into the heart of a chase with the police in every nook and cranny of this emblematic Paris monument. .
But was the episode really filmed at the Eiffel Tower?
Yes and no. Indeed, not all the sequences were filmed at the Eiffel Tower. Alexandre Laurent, the director of the series, explained during a press briefing which took place last September at the La Rochelle Fiction Festival that these sequences were a “mix of natural and studio settings“.
He also added, “To install a projector stand, you must justify each plan, specify the type of material, its weight, and the exact location where it will be placed. You should know that the Eiffel Tower is not a place where you can improvise. We must tame this iron lady and know her. There are a lot of things that were storyboarded for everything concerning the stunts, the VFX so that we could say which method we were going to choose and reassure the monuments in which we filmed. Whether at the Louvre, Versailles, on the roofs of the Monnaie de Paris or at the Eiffel Tower, we don’t just do anything“.
Alexandre Laurent therefore explored every corner of the monument for five months to design this spectacular chase. And the director says: “It was a lot of visits. The first time, we come as a bit of a tourist. We take photos, we don’t plan yet. The second time, we say to ourselves: “How am I going to do it? I can’t memorize it all“. It’s not like a set where you go up and down, and you see what you want to see in the image.e.
The Eiffel Tower, when you are on the third and want to go to the first, there is a whole protocol to respect. It’s not that simple. So I did it lots of times from top to bottom – feeling dizzy at first and then going away – to immerse myself and understand the places. And when I understood the geography, I could imagine Tam’s path, the places where she would walk on the beam, where she would climb. A billion things are going off in my head at that moment. It had to be secure, we had to find the places where the stuntman was going to lay his cables…“.
By combining visual effects and real shots in these places embodying Paris, Cat’s Eyes offers viewers a unique immersion in the heart of the City of Lights.
