Tigers and hyenas : After BRIsite of Jérémie Guez’s robbery
We have been following the work of Jérémie Guez for some time. Initially known as an author of novels and screenwriters, he made his effective debut as a director Bluebird (2020), before flying to the United States to film Sons of Philadelphia (2021), for which we met him for the first time. Then it arrived Kanun, the law of blood (2022) a romantic thriller featuring Waël Sersoub and Tuğba Sunguroğlu. The fact remains that these three feature films, which Jérémie Guez considers his first three films, reached a limited audience. That changed when he proposed BRI (2023)the successful Canal+ series which will soon return with a second season.
But before meeting the members of the Versailles Research and Intervention Brigade, Jérémie Guez took the liberty of realizing Tigers and hyenasa new muscular thriller, this time for Prime Video (November 22). We find Waël Sersoub there (third collaboration with the director later Kanun AND BRI) as a small-time trafficker whose robber father-in-law has just been arrested. Coming from Spain, Malik returns to France to support his mother. But next to his father-in-law there is a powerful man in the dock. The latter, through his lawyer, convinces Malik to ally himself with Avi (Sofiane Zermani) to orchestrate their escape.
With Tigers and hyenasJérémie Guez built this heist/escape movie around two action scenes. A robbery on the ring road and the famous escape from the Paris court. Two complex sequences to shoot and with little time. Because even if he had written an early version of the screenplay Tigers and hyenas at the end of filming his second feature film, the director only had a short period of time to make this film, before tackling the sequel to BRI. Met during the promotion of the film, Jérémie Guez is back with us his difficultieshis choices of staging and his experience acquired on BRI.
In the past you presented your three previous feature films to me as first works. What do you think? Tigers and hyenas ?
This isn’t really the first film (laughs). Tigers and hyenasit’s big, there are a lot of characters, big sets, very big action scenes… So I had less desire to experiment in this film. After all, we had to fight battles every day.
As for the first shot of the film? It opens with the camera positioned in the back of a car driving along the ring road. The type of shot that is not banal and that leaves its mark on the viewer.
Exactly. To get this hook, I really struggled. I’ve wanted to make this plan happen for years. The kind of thing we did a lot in the ’60s. You might say it’s a complete geek’s personal thing, and for a long time I wondered if it would work. First we needed the right car to take the camera and stabilize it. So I modified the model from what is indicated in the scenario. I switched from Mercedes to BMW. In the end, hats off to Alexandre Chapelard and his team, because I pissed off all the mechanics with this plan.
In another genre, there is the movement of the crane at the beginning, when the RAID column enters the hotel room. Starting from the cat, for example, is exactly something I wanted to do, with the crane, in this way. The cinematographer found a cat, we fed it and it was beautiful. So there’s a mix of things I’ve wanted to do for a long time and DIY on the big day. This is also why I do this job. I don’t have a long term plan. But I always ask myself what amuses me, what nourishes me, what I can transform, change. At first I never know if it will work or not.
I guess the experience gained on BRI helped.
Without a doubt. I don’t know if before BRI I would have had enough experience to be able to make this film. It’s still the largest project I’ve worked on before Tigers and Hyenas, in terms of size and resources. It is certain that we will come back stronger after the first season of BRI. But, in terms of staging, even though people won’t necessarily see it, it’s still very different. BRI It has a very free form with only the camera on his shoulder. Here it’s the opposite, there isn’t a freehand shot, but a tracking shot, a tracking shot… It’s a more classic camera, more traditional on the scale of narrative cinema.
Why these staging choices?
Being part of a fairly contemporary crew, I didn’t want the camera movements to have too many “modern” connotations. I really wanted to go back, at least in terms of directing, not editing or editing, almost to a 1940s film return to the film about the robberies of those yearsuntil the 1960s, thinking about what the toolbox is from a technical point of view. The difference is that now we are making cranes that are bigger and a little more stable. Otherwise it’s the same philosophy.
To stay on the technical side, can you tell me about the two main action scenes around which Tigers and Hyenas is built?
The first scene (the robbery in the ring road tunnel, ed.) was extremely complicated, right from the preparation. There are all the cars on the street, we have to block everything, move 100 cars back and forthput them back… It’s horror! I don’t even know how we did it. Besides, I can’t take pleasure in watching the scene, because I really have a bit of anxiety from the filming that comes back. Technically, it was a real hassle and a real headache.
For the second (the escape into the palace, ed.), the most complicated thing came from the settings. We didn’t have the place long even though there are big waterfalls. I was particularly worried about shooting the part where a stuntman falls out of a window. I thought it was high and I wanted it to fall without landing properly, so it was very risky. The stuntmen practiced again and again, did more tests… I said to myself, “Damn, I hope no one gets hurt.” So there it was a lot of stress related to the conditions and the risks and short recovery time. But the tunnel remains an intellectual nightmare.
Before arriving at these moments, your characters undergo intensive training. Relatively speaking, this is reminiscent of Val Kilmer’s preparation Heator that of Keanu Reeves for John Wick. Except in this case the making of is in a certain sense in the film.
I’ve always enjoyed seeing the videos preparation you’re talking about. For BRII did it to be able to guide the actors when there were no technical consultants. So it’s a job and I’ve always liked it when there’s a sense of detail in films, whether it’s true or false, because it contributes to the immersive side and cosmogony of the film. I really like a film about a chef who gives a recipe, which maybe is wrong, but which captivated me.
And I really think that when actors have to physically inflict something like that on themselves, there’s still something more. Especially when it comes to weapons. Because if we remove the passionate side or the representation linked to death and the lethal side, they remain instruments. As someone who has kitchen knives at home. He does not panic when he takes them, even if bad or deliberate handling becomes equally lethal. I wanted the weapons to become that for the characters.
Finally, what relevance do you think there is in making a film like this? Tigers and hyenas Today ?
Actually, I do it because This is completely anachronistic and not at all relevant.. Nobody expects it or wants it, in a way. But I think it’s a genre that people miss. A rather cruel genre because either the films are truly utter nonsense made with little means, or the films become cult. Furthermore, it is a genre that is revered by viewers and which, at the same time, can be mainstream. I miss transversal films in cinema, which can bring together people who have very specific tastes and people who take it as pure entertainment.
Although this year I have the impression that there was a little, otherwise in the latest heist films perhaps there was The city I have the impression that everyone likes it. It goes well with my personality though. There is a part of me that is attached to very specific and quite confidential things, and at the same time I find that there is nothing stronger than large frescoes that involve everyone. It’s even harder to make than small, cutting-edge films, no matter what people say.
Tigers and hyenas is available on Prime Video from November 22, 2024.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
