Parcours de visite : "Histoire d'un tournage"

All the light we cannot see / Toute la lumière que nous ne pouvons voir Story of a shooting In September 2021, the Netflix platform announced its plan to adapt Anthony Doerr's bestseller All The Light We Cannot See (Pulitzer Prize 2015, nearly 20 million copies sold), for a release in 2023 as a four-episode miniseries. The story is about Marie-Laure (French) and Werner (German), whose fates will cross in Saint-Malo at the end of World War II. Werner grew up in a German orphanage where he developed a passion for radio technology; he joined an elite school before being sent to the front. In June 1940, Marie-Laure, who is blind, leaves Paris with her father Daniel to take refuge with her great-uncle Etienne in Saint-Malo. Marie-Laure and Etienne then embarked on resistance actions. The choice of Villefranche-de-Rouergue as a film location. Although the story takes place in Saint-Malo during the Occupation, the Breton city no longer has its old center, which was destroyed at the end of the war. So director Shawn Levy and his teams went in search of a typical 1940s French town with tall buildings and narrow streets. The idea of Villefranche-de-Rouergue was finally conceived by set designer Simon Elliott, who remembered a meal he had had ten years earlier in the Place Notre-Dame. In February 2022, after several location scouts, the producers made a request to the Villefranche town hall to shoot the film, which was accepted. The preparation of the shooting. In March 2022, the production team reserved all the accommodation still available for the workers who would soon be arriving. A large casting of extras was launched: 500 people (from 6 to 75 years old) were sought to play the inhabitants of Saint-Malo as well as the German and American soldiers. In June 2022, a hundred workers were busy building the street sets. Dozens of shop windows were transformed or recreated in the style of the 1940s. Little by little, the city was transformed into a gigantic movie set. An extraordinary film shoot. The filming runs from July 5 to 20, 2022. The actors Mark Ruffalo (Daniel Leblanc), Hugh Laurie (Etienne Leblanc), Aria Mia Loberti (Marie-Laure) and Louis Hofmann (Werner) are present. After the street scenes, the scenes of destruction are shot, with impressive sets of rubble and burning vehicles: Saint-Malo seems to crumble under the bombs. On July 20th, an incredible scene of the Liberation was shot: 300 extras were mobilized for the occasion. A tank and American vehicles crossed the Place Notre-Dame, in a decor of ruins, in the middle of popular jubilation. A memorable atmosphere. The atmosphere that permeated Villefranche-de-Rouergue during this month of July 2022 left an unforgettable memory for its inhabitants, who lived in Hollywood time, rubbing shoulders with international stars, strolling on an open-air movie set, observing the meticulous work of the technical teams. Scan the QR codes that you will find on the tour route and obtain images of the place at the time of the shooting. Document available at the Tourist Office and at the reception of the Town Hall of Villefranche de Rouergue.