The Chimera Brigade

Synopsis
In a dystopian 1938 Paris transformed by Marie Curie’s radium, a young doctor gains superhuman abilities from Curie’s scientific experiments. Along with a young mystic writer, he joins the resistance to prevent Dr. Mabuse and his army of superhumans from triggering World War II.

Directors: Louis Leterrier, Antoine Charreyron
Scriptwriters: Jean-Luc Cano, Jean-André Yerles, Antoine Charreyron (adaptation from The Chimera Brigade by Serge Lehman, Fabrice Colin, and Stéphane Girard for the graphism)
Graphic Author: Florent Auguy
Main Producer: Ron Dyens (Sacrebleu Productions, France)
Co-Producer: Cilvy Aupin (Ciel de Paris, France)
Format: 8 X 40’
Target audience: Young Adults / Adults
Techniques: 3D digital


The Chimera Brigade, an exciting and ambitious French Sci-Fi animation series project, was revealed at Cartoon Forum 2024.

It is an animated adaptation of a French comic series of the same title, depicting an epic Sci-Fi story with several superpowered characters, set in Europe on the brink of World War II. The impressive teaser, with visuals that bring an edge, gives us high expectations on the project and allows us to speculate the emergence of a new global Sci-Fi animated hit from Europe.

We interviewed three key people of this project, Louis Leterrier, Antoine Charreyron, and Ron Dyens, on The Chimera Brigade.


Interview with Louis Leterrier, Antoine Charreyron, and Ron Dyens

Hideki Nagaishi (HN): What do you think are the key points of this animation series that would attract the potential audience?

Louis Leterrier: It’s a show unlike anything we’ve seen before, telling a very original and entirely European superhero story with universal themes in an alternate Paris.

Antoine Charreyron: The first superheroes were born in Europe, and that’s what we’re going to explore together in this spectacular, emotional, and pulp-inspired project, with its incredibly endearing characters whose actions will determine the future of the world.

HN: The visuals of the teaser are epic and the format of the series is 8 X 40’, so I think it is a quite big project. Could you please let us know how this big project started, and how are you guiding and managing this project to realise it, so far? 

Ron Dyens: It all started, of course, when I came across this graphic novel, which perfectly combined three themes that I think are dear to many people my age: superheroes, well-written stories, and Europe and its history. It was one of the first times I found this holy trinity finally reunited. Before, I was always missing something: superheroes that lacked history or scope, or a rich but often forgotten playground: Europe.

Once I’d acquired the rights, my first instinct was to turn it into an animated feature, as I originally came from a film background. But I felt that this story, so rich, with so many twists and turns, and taking place at a time when the history of the world is turning upside down, deserved a long and sufficiently developed treatment. Which is exactly what the series does.

HN: I would like to hear from you several things about the story behind the teaser. Firstly, which studio did you work with to develop the teaser, and how and why did you decide to work with them?

Louis Leterrier: It was very important for us to really translate the style but also the kinetic and emotional feeling of the series without revealing too much.

Antoine Charreyron: That’s why we made this teaser ourselves with a small team rather than in a big studio. We really wanted to experiment with visual elements that required a high level of adaptability. So, we assembled our dream team with Louis, bringing together a small 3D team around our CG supervisor Dorian Marchesin and our art director, Florent Auguy, to find the style that best matched the visual ambitions of the series.

HN: Could you please let us know how did you achieve the visuals of the teaser from the technical side, such as what kind of software you used, what kind of technique was key in achieving the visuals, and what visuals in the teaser was the most difficult to achieve?

Antoine Charreyron: For the technical part of the teaser, we used a number of software tools, ranging from Max to Maya and even MotionBuilder, which is a motion capture software for previsualisation. This allowed us, together with Louis, to push our camera work to the limit, even though the animation was later refined with keyframing to achieve a more ‘comic book’ and spectacular look. The image itself is composed of 3D bases and 2D projections to create the overall style. For the final look, we did a lot of repainting on the final images, which was an enormous task, especially for the final long take. But the most important thing remains the tremendous artistic input from the different artists on the teaser, who pushed themselves to offer us their very best every time!

HN: I would like to hear from you about the story behind the visual creation and design of characters and the story’s universe from the teaser. Who are the core creators for the creation of those visuals, and what did you discuss with them to develop the visuals?

Antoine Charreyron: It was an enormous research effort that we undertook with Louis and Florent Auguy, our art director. In the beginning, we gathered a lot of references for costumes, sets, and scientific inventions from the interwar period. Then Florent painted the first batch of illustrations, creating the initial versions of the characters. We then did a second pass with the teaser, where we worked with a larger team of artists, like Humberto Ramos, who draws Spider-Man comics for Marvel, and together we finally found the unique style of the series. Design is often a long process, where we revisit the characters over and over again, but our method with Louis and Florent, whom I’ve been working with for years, allows us to move quite quickly in a specific direction.

HN: Have you had any conversations with the creators of the original comic series? If so, what are they expecting from the animation series? Will they be involved with the project to some extent?

Louis Leterrier: Absolutely, Serge Lehman and Fabrice Colin (and also Gess) have been our creative partners since the very beginning of this adventure. We are huge fans of the comic book and wanted to perfectly translate their mind-blowing vision for the screens.

Antoine Charreyron: Exactly! We always worked with comic books by our side to draw as much inspiration as possible from their work and bring to life their incredible and inspiring universe, which gives an amazing vision of a Europe and Paris transformed by Marie Curie’s radium.

HN: Ron, you pitched this exciting new animation series project to European buyers and investors at Cartoon Forum 2024. It is easy for everyone to see this project’s huge potential to acquire fans across the world. What is your plan in terms of the international distribution of this title, so far?

Ron Dyens: Objectively speaking, there aren’t many premium series of this type, so partners are few and far between. Our fundamental desire is to offer a partner a great bible with a strong story, powerful graphics and two talented directors, and then work hand-in-hand to produce a series that will please both the broadcaster and its viewers. The leads are few, but they do exist, and we know that to produce an original series of this value, we all have to work together right from the start.

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