Le Mans puts on a show!
Immerse yourself in the life-sized cinema set that is the city of Le Mans, especially its historic centre and legendary automotive racetrack. The Sarthes city has hosted a great deal of famous actors, such as Steve McQueen, Leonardo Di Caprio and Al Pacino!
Be immersed in a period film set with the Plantagenet City
It feels like you've landed right in the middle of a film set, where rapier duels intermingle with musketeers' boots. With its little paved streets, half-timbered houses, stone staircases and private mansions, the Plantagenet City, Le Mans' historic heart, takes you back in time several centuries. Directors and film makers have long prized this amazing site, especially for swashbuckling films. Jean-Paul Rappeneau set Cyrano de Bergerac here in 1990, with Gérard Depardieu in the title role, before Leonardo Di Caprio arrived in 1997 to play The Man in the Iron Mask. That same year, Daniel Auteuil also settled in the so-called City of the Cenomani for On Guard. Molière by Laurent Tirard, played by Romain Duris, arrived with its gaiters ten years later.
When Tavernier and Rohmer filmed in Vieux-Mans...
A world away from the musketeers' goatees, Bertrand Tavernier brought Jean Rochefort, Philippe Noiret, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Gérard Jugnot and Nicole Garcia to Vieux Mans for Let Joy Reign Supreme. Winning four César awards in 1976, this period film was partly filmed near the Gallo-Roman walls. Not far from there, Eric Rohmer chose rue de l'Ecrevisse to depict the social aspirations of a young resident of Le Mans in the 80s with A Good Marriage.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans racetrack, star of the big screen
The legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans racetrack hasn't been left out either, hosting Steve McQueen for Le Mans, a major film in the American actor's career that was released in 1971, as well as Al Pacino who, five years later, played the driver Bobby Deerfield in front of Sydney Pollack's camera. What's more, Luc Besson chose the place in 2003 for the adventures of Michel Vaillant, the famous comic book hero. Lights, camera, action!
