This is definitely a series of events this fall!
This Monday, November 11, TF1 airs the first 2 episodes of Cat’s Eyes, the live-action adaptation of Tsukasa Hojo’s iconic 80s manga.
This prequel-like series explores the origins of Cat’s Eyes and sets it in Paris in 2023. After several years of separation, Tami (Camille Lu), Celia (Constance Labe) and Alexia (Claire Romain), three sisters, meet again. When a piece resurfaces on display at the Eiffel Tower that may shed light on the circumstances in which their father disappeared 10 years earlier in a mysterious fire at his art gallery, Tam decides to steal it.
It is on the Eiffel Tower that the first episode of Cat’s Eyes opens with a scene where Tami stands several tens of meters high and opens a kakemono, a Japanese work that belonged to her father. What follows is a spectacular chase between the young woman and the police through every corner of this emblematic monument of Paris.
Impressive stunts follow each other and reveal the cheeky Tam. We can see him climbing the Eiffel Tower with his bare hands and no safety net, or even on a metal beam above the void…
Watching these spectacular scenes begs the question: Did Camille Lu, Tam Shamadi’s interpreter, perform her own stunts?
Has Camille Lu done her own stunts?
For the purposes of the series, Camille Lu went through intense training for the specifics of her character. While he trained for the race, learning stunts and fight choreography, he also took climbing lessons with Yamakasi founder William Bell for script purposes.
As for stunts on the Eiffel Tower, Camille Lu did not do them all. “This is Chloe Henry who is a former gymnast who won Ninja Warrior climbing the Eiffel Tower. He was the one who climbed the edge of the Eiffel Tower. I would love to do it, but it had to be the last day and the last series (laughs)– explained the actor at the press conference held within the framework of La Rochelle artistic festival in September of last year.
In turn, director Alexandre Laurent added that the moments when Tami’s character almost falls while climbing were produced by special effects. He told us about this: “He almost falls while climbing first, it’s not him. Even the stuntman didn’t do it. This is VFX. We put a beam in the studio, we did a lot of shooting with a cable camera. The actual shots are very wide shots where we see the stuntman climbing“.
Although Camille Lu did not climb the Eiffel Tower, she is the one we see placing Kakemono a few meters off the ground and portraying the chase scenes on the stairs.
For a small anecdote, the actor elaborated.You should know that the Eiffel Tower moves with the wind. If it doesn’t move, it breaks. It moved quite a bit with the wind. You should also be aware that there are lots of small holes on the stairs. These are stairs that do not hide the emptiness at all. We see emptiness all the time. I often sat and waited for him to come out to shoot us because I couldn’t look down. Even if we don’t experience vertigo, all of us experience it at some point.“.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
