“Three lively panthers, who in a flash know how to leap without a sound…” Thirtysomethings and forty-somethings who spent afternoons in front of TV sets in the late 1980s and early 80s know the song. The lyrics are those of the French theme song to Signed Cat’s Eyesthe animated series adapted from manga by Tsukasa Hôjô. Nostalgic fans will be delighted to hum along to the theme song, sung by Anne Sila, from Cat’s Eyesthe made-in-France series, freely inspired by the mangaka’s work, whose first episodes will be broadcast on Monday November 11th from 9:10pm on TF1.
Purists will undoubtedly be watching the adventures of Tamara, Sylia and Alexia with a critical eye, on the lookout for missteps. Camille Lou, Constance Labbé and Claire Romain, actresses playing the trio of sisters emblematic of an entire generation, confess to feeling a certain pressure.
Positive initial feedback
The preview of the first episodes at the Festival de la fiction de La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime) in September was the first opportunity to take the temperature. “We were hyperstressed. Before the screening, I couldn’t eat a thing. We couldn’t wait for the public to see the result. When you’re on the set, you don’t necessarily have the benefit of hindsight. The initial feedback has been very positive, and that’s a pleasure,” Claire Romain tells 20 Minutes.
The plot takes place in Paris in 2023. Tamara is reunited with her sisters, whom she hasn’t seen for several years. Together, they set out to find a work of art that once belonged to their father. It disappeared ten years ago when his art gallery burned down, but is about to reappear in an exhibition at the Eiffel Tower. To get it back, they have to disguise themselves and find themselves in acrobatic and perilous situations…
An “Origin story
Tsukasa Hôjô has seen the first two episodes. “He really liked it,” says Camille Lou, who feels “protected” by this validation. The mangaka was involved throughout the project, even going so far as to visit the set. Producer Mehdi Sabbar explains in the press kit that five years elapsed between the Japanese artist’s first artistic validation of the project and the final signing of the contract enabling the series to get underway. We had to establish a relationship of trust and “show our credentials”, insists Benjamin Dupont-Jubien, also a producer.
As for Tsukasa Hôjô, he says he was “seduced” by “the idea of seeing what the French would do with it”. Also quoted in the press kit, he specifies that he imposed certain “essential” rules. “For example, Cat’s Eyes don’t kill. They are also very careful with the works of art they steal. […]. Tam, Sylia and Alexia are not thieves at heart, they are ordinary young women.”
Which puts this Cat’s Eyes the fact that it was a Parisian origin storya prequel taking place before the storylines imagined by the Japanese artist. “It’s a story that doesn’t exist in the manga. So we learn how these three women ended up becoming burglars,” explains Claire Romain. In his press release, the mangaka states that “the series is very successful, because it manages to offer a new take on this story”.
“A real international expectation
The result is reminiscent, in certain respects, of the Lupin from Netflix. Not least in the way it appropriates the references of a work and transposes them to a contemporary, Parisian setting. The “City of Light” and its iconic landmarks are also a character in their own right. The plot takes the protagonists from the Eiffel Tower to the Hôtel de la Monnaie, via the Château de Versailles. An element that is proving to be an asset in securing the series’ worldwide sales. Cat’s Eyes has already been acquired by several countries. “There’s a real international expectation. I was shooting in Italy, and when I said I’d been cast in Cat’s Eyes, people said: ‘Ah! Occhio di gatta !”, Claire Romain recalls in an enthusiastic transalpine intonation.
Constance Labbé admits to being “a little scared” of “the scale of this project”. “It’s great if it opens up opportunities for us, but it comes with other questions, like that of notoriety, which can stress me out or overwhelm me a little,” she admits. Like her co-stars, however, she spared no effort during the physical preparation phase prior to filming. Between that moment and the final shot, they were involved in their roles for seven months, for eight 52-minute episodes. Parkour, aikido, rock-climbing… depending on their characters, the sports initiation was particularly intense.
“The director didn’t want to shoot on a green screen”.
“One of the special features of the series is that the director, Alexandre Laurent [qui a également réalisé Le Bazar de la Charité et Les Combattantes pour TF1] didn’t want to shoot in green screen,” says Camille Lou. There was one day of green screen for the Eiffel Tower scenes, but more because shots were missing than to replay the stunts.”
When 20 Minutes asked each of the actresses to sum up the first season in one word, the suggestions were quick to come. “Intense”, “Dantesque” and “eclectic” came spontaneously. This fits in with the tune that many over-20s know about this “fabulous trio”: “In a chopper, on land or in the water, in defiance of all dangers”. This is the signature Cat’s Eyes.