Bourges (AFP)

Jean-Jacques Annaud began on Tuesday in Bourges the shooting of his film on the fire of Notre-Dame-de-Paris, which occurred on April 15, 2019. He explained to AFP his ambition to give viewers the envy " to go back to a big room "for a" so unbelievable "story.

The film is scheduled for release in "April 2022", according to the director, author in particular of The War of Fire and The Name of the Rose.

Q: How did you prepare this film?

A: "I have met everyone, all the firefighters, big and small, from general to corporal. It's a film that includes such incredible cinematographic elements ... I wouldn't have dared to do these dramatic twists, if it was not locked on the truth. I have never written a screenplay with so much happiness, so quickly. (...) This scenario reflects 98% the truth of reality. "

Q: So your film will have a documentary dimension?

A: "About 5% of the film will be archive footage, cell phones, television. We don't tell stories, we just have to follow the reality which is infinitely more baroque, sometimes burlesque. (...) How dare to say that in the first vehicle that leaves to rescue this cathedral there are four firefighters, two have never known a fire and two are girls. There are 1% of women firefighters and there are two of them. to a Hollywood movie. "

Q: Will the firefighters be the main characters?

A: "It's what we call a choral film, the main character, the star, is Notre-Dame. It's like I'm telling the story of a victim who is dying and the doctors do not arrive ... (...) Thank God, it's a + happy end + (...) The characters who intervene are those who helped save the cathedral: they are a handful . There is this group of four young people. They are all alone for twenty minutes, they succeed in cooling the scaffolding which, if it had not been cooled, would have bent. 500 tons were going to be carried away. Cathedral."

Q: Why did you choose Bourges Cathedral for certain scenes?

A: “After having visited practically all the cathedrals in France, we wondered which place not only looks better, but which has the lyricism, the poetry, the invitation to the spirituality of Notre-Dame. all voted for Bourges. Every time you enter this cathedral you want to turn and it's downright magnificent. "

Q: How did you come to make this film?

A: "I am a traditional friend of the Pathé group (...) There, it was Jérôme Seydoux who asked me if I was interested in a documentary. He gave me some documentation that same evening. I almost called him to tell him that I agreed. And also to tell him that it wouldn't be a documentary! (...) I am incredibly grateful to be able to make a luxurious film with considerable means in a situation which is extremely alarming. "

Q: What is your ambition?

A: "Cinema has been around for over a hundred years, there have been so many wonders. If we don't break our heads a little to do something a little more daring, what good is it? (.. .) If a fire is well filmed, we know it's dangerous in our guts. And then there is the rumbling, the roaring is terrifying, a bit like that of the cathedral which could be heard several kilometers away. It's spectacle and, in our case, on a dramatically astonishing background, because we think we know, but we don't know anything. "

Q: Do you seem to care about this spectacular dimension?

A: "You have to make you want to go back to a large hall, for a real cinema show. (...) The splendor of Bourges cathedral is to see it in the open, because if you see that on a telephone does not make the same impression. I am one of those who anticipate a prestigious revival. "

© 2021 AFP