In a luxurious hotel room on the 16th floor, overlooking the heart of Paris and the River Seine, Thomas Jolly prepares for the grand spectacle that will inaugurate the Paris 2024 Olympics. “I was overwhelmed at first. I wondered how I could create a show where everyone can feel represented as part of this great union,” says Jolly, the actor and stage director who was tapped two years ago to helm the artistic direction of the opening and closing ceremonies.
“This responsibility was ambitious, complex, but magnificent for an artist.” More than a billion people are expected to watch the July 26 opening ceremony. But Jolly, 42, is no stranger to outsize projects in France, producing a 24-hour Shakespearean tetralogy in 2022 and reviving the musical Starmania .
He has won three Molière prizes, France’s highest theatre award. Now, he is tasked with sharing France with the rest of the world in a parade that is expected to last nearly four hours. “France is a story that never stops being constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed.
It’s alive, it remains alive,” Jolly said in an interview on Friday. This dynamism, he believes, fuels the country’s reputation for protests and strikes – manifestations of France’s constant re-examination of its identity and values. Last year, France hosted the Rugby World Cup.
The opening ceremony, imagined by Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin, who portrayed a beret-wearing baker in a 1950s rendition of France, received criticism for being too stereotypical and outdated. While acknowledging the clichés, Jolly is determined to play with and subvert these stereotypes, believing that opening ceremonies often tell the story of a country. “When we watch Emily in Paris or Amélie , we know it’s not quite the real Paris.
We’re going to play with all those clichés, but we’re also going to challenge them,” said Jolly, who is also directing the Paralympics ceremonies. The opening ceremony will be attended by around 300,000 people, most of whom have been invited, with the organisers intent on celebrating inclusion and diversity. The original plan was for it to be free, with millions watching the parade from the riverbanks.
Those ambitions were dialled down by the French government, who feared security threats in a city that has seen major extremist attacks. “An opening ceremony has never been held outside a stadium. There is no model; it’s absolute creation,” Jolly said.
He envisioned a giant ballet in 12 acts, with hundreds of dancers stationed on the many bridges that span the Seine, as boats float down the river carrying the Olympic athletes to the Eiffel Tower. Jolly is tight-lipped about what will eventually transpire at the ceremony. Rehearsals are being held in secret locations around France, but there will be no full rehearsal before the actual date.
The mystery has prompted much speculation, with some of the most audacious theories positing the use of submarines in the Seine and performances by pop stars such as Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura. “I’ll be fired if I tell you anything,” Jolly says with a cheeky laugh. “All I can tell you is that it will be very meaningful for the artists that will perform.
”.
