Annaud returns to Hollywood with ‘Notre-Dame on Fire’ premiere

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Perhaps more than any other French director, JeanJacques Annaud has always felt at home making films in Hollywood, with the American movie capital’s flair for the epic and the spectacular.

Now, the 78-year-old Oscar-winner behind “The Name of the Rose,” “Seven Years in Tibet” and “Enemy at the Gates” is returning to Tinseltown with his latest film, “Notre-Dame On Fire” (“Notre-Dame Brule”) — a thriller about the real-life blaze at the beloved cathedral in Paris.

Annaud spoke to AFP via phone from France’s capital as organizers of next month’s The American French Film Festival (TAFFF) announced Tuesday that his movie will be their opening night Los Angeles gala premiere.

“I’m close to Notre-Dame now and far away from Los Angeles. But part of my heart remains in Los Angeles,” said Annaud.

The story of the inferno that engulfed Paris’ 12th-century Gothic landmark in 2019 was “a great drama that only a crazy Hollywood screenplay writer could imagine,” he said.

“Notre-Dame on Fire” dramatizes the story of firefighters who risked their lives to extinguish flames before the entire cathedral was destroyed — and the mistakes and misfortunes that delayed the initial response.

The movie merges real archive footage of the fire with scenes shot by Annaud recreating the disaster.

It follows a security guard who accidentally checked the wrong cathedral attic for flames when the first alarm sounded, the fire engines stuck in Paris traffic and the supervisor who couldn’t get his self-service “Velib” bicycle to work as he rushed to the scene.

“I had the feeling when I was writing the screenplay that I had a goldmine… it was so bizarre, so incredible,” said Annaud.

Released in Europe earlier this year, the film shows how millions around the world watched in horror as the cathedral’s famous spire collapsed and much of its ancient roof was destroyed.

Notre-Dame cathedral typically welcomed nearly 12 million global visitors a year and Americans have been prolific contributors to an international fundraising drive to rebuild the landmark.