It looks like an oasis in the desert.
At the entrance to the Bry-sur-Marne studios (Val-de-Marne), a piece of medieval church stands between the white tents and the trucks.
Around her, technicians equipped with walkie-talkies are busy ... This tower, topped with gray tiles and adorned with a large clock, is the star of Jean-Jacques Annaud's new blockbuster, "Notre-Dame is burning. ".
From March 9 until June 11, the filmmaker of the "Name of the Rose" reconstructs the fire that affected the Parisian cathedral on the night of April 15 to 16, 2019. And to tell each stage of this spectacular conflagration and historically, the director uses "liners".
In the studios of Bry-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne), the director had several parts of Notre-Dame cathedral reconstructed identically.
David Koskas
In Bourges cathedral (Cher), Annaud filmed the interior and the rose window.
In that of Sens (Yonne), the staircase of the tower and the black and white checkered floor.
And in the studios of the Cité du Cinéma, in Saint-Denis, and in those of Bry-sur-Marne, he had other parts of Notre-Dame rebuilt identically.
This “oasis” in stone, plaster, wood and pewter, therefore, is the reproduction of the north transept of the religious building, ie the transverse nave of the cathedral.
Because this Monday, Annaud and his team shoot a crucial scene: the arrival of the very first firefighters responsible for identifying the origin of the fire.
The actors immersed in a barracks
“On April 15, 2019, four sappers, with an average age of 23, were left alone in the burning cathedral for about twenty minutes,” the filmmaker tells us.
They must have evolved in a burning smoke, with considerable risk of explosion… ”In jeans and walking shoes under his thick white hair, Jean-Jacques Annaud energetically climbs the narrow staircase by which his actors are about to enter.
Gravel, but also hundreds of droppings and pigeon feathers line these steps.
"During the filming in Sens, I saw two very elegant women carrying large bags: there was pigeon droppings collected in the heights of the cathedral", smiles the filmmaker, very attached to details.
To read also "A furnace, a vision of hell": Myriam, 27 years old, firefighter, tells the fire in Notre-Dame
Annaud then takes us to the passageway of the transept. "There, it is 4 m high, but I will put a green background, and I will connect to the assembly with a view 40 m from the ground," he explains. At that time, Vassili and Ava, his young firefighter actors, disembark in uniform, helmets and weighted with about forty kilos of pipes and oxygen tanks. “On the last take, we felt like we had missed everything! », Apologizes Vassili Schneider, younger brother of Niels. The director reassures him with his soft voice: “Yes, but I got what I wanted: I will do a close-up on your hands. When editing, it will be perfect! Show how you hold your thermal camera ... "
Before putting on the firefighters' outfit on Jean-Jacques Annaud's set (left), the young actors spent three days in a training center and barracks in the Ile-de-France region. David Koskas
Like a dozen other comedians from “Notre-Dame brûlle” (in which Chloé Jouannet, Jérémie Laheurte or Élodie Navarre will appear), Vassili and Ava spent three days observing the actions of the firefighters in a training center and a barracks in the Ile-de-France region. .
“We learned to lower the fire pole or put out a car fire,” says Ava.
On the set, Sergeant Damien, of the Paris fire brigade, is also there to advise them.
The director never ceases to call on the “real” firefighter: “Do they have to tie themselves up?
"," Once they enter the vault, do they slam the door?
"
"If we want it to be true, we need real fire"
"Jean-Jacques Annaud is very concerned about realism, but he is not making a documentary," says Sergeant Damien. Each time, a compromise has to be found between what makes the image good and what is acceptable for firefighters. "Thus, the characters of" Notre-Dame burns "will not launch" go get the PSEA! " ", To designate the first aid truck, but rather" go get first aid! ". And to feed the dramatic tension, the vehicles filmed by Annaud will zigzag through traffic, running fires… "While we are blocking traffic, but we take no risk of causing an accident," assures Sergeant Damien.
Back in front of his control screen surrounded by dark tarpaulins, Jean-Jacques Annaud watches his actors grope in a haze of black and white smoke, guided by their torches.
“The play of light is magnificent!
», He comments.
These curls, the director owes them to Jean-Christophe Magnaud, responsible for physical special effects.
“When we make fire digitally, it gives flat images,” emphasizes the latter.
There are so many interactions between fire and light or people's attitudes that if you want it to be true, you need real fire.
"
Read also Notre-Dame de Paris: behind-the-scenes tour of the construction site
At the Cité du Cinéma, Jean-Christophe Magnaud and his team of twenty people caused the “nave” of Notre-Dame to collapse: a gigantic blaze and 175 cubic meters of rubbish, the images of which he shows us - hallucinating - on his cellphone. The technician is still wearing bandages on his hands: "I checked that everyone had their gloves ... and left mine in my pocket," he laughs. Fortunately, the burn is only superficial. On April 15, 2019, the Viollet-le-Duc spire was less fortunate.
