Cult comedy of the 90s, “An Indian in the City” marked a generation with its funny scenes. One, in particular, is remembered: that of Mimi Siku climbing the famous Eiffel Tower. How did the film crew implement such a sequence?
An Indian in the city : To each his own way, to each his own way
When we think of An indian in the city, several things come to mind. Thierry Lhermitte, the cult replicas of Mimi Siku (“Fais dodo”, “Ta guol”, “Wakatépé Baboune”), the Club Dorothée which appears in a short sequence, and of course the song from the film performed by the late Uncle David.
The film, directed by Hervé Palud, was a big hit in theaters with more than 7 million admissions. He was even ranked second at the French box office in 1994. behind The Lion King. In addition, although it was beheaded by American critics when it was released across the Atlantic, An Indian in the city had a US remake titled An Indian in New York.
The comedy therefore follows Stéphane Marchadot who goes to the Amazon jungle to find his first wife to have her sign the divorce papers. On the spot, he finds out that he has a 13-year-old son named Mimi Siku. Reluctantly, he brings him back to Paris. However, the latter, who has never known the habits and customs of city life, brings a lot of trouble to Stéphane.
A famous streak
The most famous scene ofAn Indian in the city is obviously the one during which Mimi Siku walks in the capital and decides to climb the Eiffel Tower. The question is: does actor Ludwig Briand who plays the character actually climb to the top of the Iron Lady?
As relayed Tele Star via the statements of Hervé Palud in the show Secrets of Shooting (on Europe 1), the answer is no! Indeed, in view of the dangerousness of the exercise, the actor was regularly doubled by a professional stuntman. However, he was really present on certain plans, in particular the one where he admired the Parisian panorama when he found himself at the top of the Tower. Furthermore, the actor was not protected by any protective net. He was simply strapped to a harness and there was a stuntman next to him if anything went wrong.
The operation was therefore more than risky, but Ludwig Briand turned out to be very professional, as Palud indicates:
He did it without flinching! Everything was calculated correctly, there was no risk, but after taking it, he told me that he was very scared.
