The Olympic swimming pool of Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg, plunged into semi-darkness, with, in the middle of the basin, an enormous platform where eleven actors play their grand finale. This is the apotheosis scene of the film “Revenge of the prawns pailletées “, co-directed by Cédric le Gallo and Maxime Govare, on the continuation of the adventures of a homosexual water polo team which once again participates in the”Gays Games“, organized in Tokyo.
500 extras in the stands
Facing the swimming pool, the grandstand is in the colors of several nationalities, “we have Belgium, Italy … About six to seven nations“, lists one of the technicians in charge of leading the 500 or so extras present. Among them, Hervé, dressed in pink to support Japan:”There, the whole group, we are gay so that speaks to us, compared to the ideas which were conveyed in the first film, at the level of tolerance.”
“It can help people get a feel for us, and that’s okay“, smiles a little further Stéphane, from Haguenau. Elsa, she is a supporter of Belgium in the film, and came especially for the atmosphere.”These are good meetings, a good time, we are going to watch people having fun in a swimming pool, it gets worse“, laughs the young girl dressed in a yellow raincoat.
– Julien penot
Above the swimming pool, a whole play of light was installed during six days of preparation. “People roped up to the ceiling to install the projectors“, says Cédric le Gallo, co-director of the film. Another technical constraint: the sound recording:”There is always a lot of echo in a swimming pool, noises of lapping, of ventilation“, adds the director. To facilitate the management of the lights, all the panes of the swimming pool have been covered.
Tackling homophobia
After the first film, “Glitter shrimps“, released in 2019 with 600,000 admissions, the water polo team is back in service for a competition in Tokyo. Problem: their trip is cut short since they are stranded during a stopover in Russia, a country where the homosexual community does not is not very well accepted. “It’s a little more political than the first film in terms of activism“, remarks Romain Lancry, one of the actors.
“The first was a homophobe among homosexuals, and there it is homosexuals among homophobes, summarizes Maxime Govare, co-director of the film, There are scenes that are stronger, we talk about state homophobia, everyday life in a society with slightly different benchmarks.”
Turning at minus 20 degrees
The scenes depicting Russia were filmed in Ukraine for 35 days, in rather difficult weather conditions. “We shot on a frozen lake that didn’t know if it wanted to freeze or not! I lived with my mobile weather app all the time to watch when the temperature dropped to minus twelve degrees“, remembers Maxime Govare.
“We shot scenes at minus 20 degrees in snowy plains“, explains Renaud Chelelekian, the producer, the first film took place in Alsace, the two, they curdled their loaves. “Another part of the film was shot in France, and therefore in Schiltigheim for the final scene.”Revenge of the glittery shrimp“will be released in theaters in March 2022, for a budget of six million euros.