Writer Caroline Bongrand came with the idea of mixing the building of the Eiffel Tower with a forbidden love story off the top of her head during a pitch session with a producer in Los Angeles without knowing at this time if it had any basis in reality. It was only after the deal with the producer was signed that she browsed through biographies of Gustave Eiffel and discovered that her inventions were almost all true.
After Gustave Eiffel's retirement from engineering, Eiffel focused on research into meteorology and aerodynamics, making significant contributions in both fields. Eiffel's interest in these areas was a consequence of the problems he had encountered with the effects of wind forces on the structures he had built.
He then built a laboratory on the Champ de Mars at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in 1905, building his first wind tunnel there in 1909. The wind tunnel was used to investigate the characteristics of the airfoil sections used by the early pioneers of aviation such as Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, Gabriel Voisin and Louis Blériot. His contribution to the science of aerodynamics is probably of equal importance to his work as an engineer.
He then built a laboratory on the Champ de Mars at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in 1905, building his first wind tunnel there in 1909. The wind tunnel was used to investigate the characteristics of the airfoil sections used by the early pioneers of aviation such as Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright, Gabriel Voisin and Louis Blériot. His contribution to the science of aerodynamics is probably of equal importance to his work as an engineer.
In 2010, a decision was made to list Gustave Eiffel's Bordeaux bridge, his first major work, as a French Historical Monument in order to preserve it from demolition.
On December 27, 1923, Gustave Eiffel died peacefully at home at the age of 91. Although Eiffel had been proud of his tower, he often felt that its fame had prevented a public and professional appreciation of his larger talents as an engineer and researcher.
The project went through many iterations from the first pitch meeting in 1997 to the final release of the film in 2021. The film generated interest in several studios and directors through the years, including Paramount, Luc Besson (who planned to make it with Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani in 2000), Christophe Barratier, Olivier Dahan or Ridley Scott. It's finally the newcomer producer Vanessa van Zuylen who managed to bring the film to fruition with Martin Bourboulon at the helm.
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