With Tom Cruise widely predicted to engage in a death-defying stunt on the roof of the Stade de France, the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday, August 11, promises a memorable passing of the five rings flag to Los Angeles.
Two weeks after the unprecedented complexity of the opening ceremony along the River Seine, there are big expectations for the show to wrap up the Games.
The 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony will be a much shorter affair and will take place — in more traditional fashion — at France’s national stadium.
Artistic director Thomas Jolly has revealed it will combine “wonder” with “dystopia”, suggesting some darker elements than the joyful and impertinent tone of the opening ceremony that drew a record audience of more than a billion worldwide.
Offering a sneak peak to journalists recently, Jolly said he saw the Games as a “fragile monument” and wanted to imagine what would happen if they “disappeared and someone was rebuilding them in a distant future”.
One sequence features “travellers from another space-time who arrive on Earth and discover vestiges from the history of the Olympics”, with acrobats restoring the famous five rings of the Games.
It will reportedly feature more than 100 dancers, circus artists and other performers, with the promise of aerial displays, giant sets and spectacular lighting.
The opening ceremony featured some huge stars including Lady Gaga, Celine Dion and Aya Nakamura, but some big celebrities are also expected Sunday.
Cruise has been at several Olympic events and the most daredevil of Hollywood stars would be a natural connection between Paris and the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
US media have reported that Tom Cruise has been preparing a spectacular stunt for the 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony, featuring him picking up the Olympic flag and transferring it to LA, with video sequences already filmed on both sides of the Atlantic.
There have been no shortage of Hollywood stars in attendance for the Games who might also play a role, including Snoop Dogg, Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling and Sharon Stone. There also are unconfirmed rumours that Beyonce, a fervent supporter of the US team on social media, may perform.
Two of France’s biggest musical exports — Air and Phoenix — are already lined up to play, according to Le Parisien newspaper.
Organisers will be anxious to avoid a repeat of the controversy sparked by the opening ceremony, which featured drag queens in a sequence that some Christians and conservatives thought mocked the Biblical story of The Last Supper.
Organisers insisted it was a reference to Greek gods. But Jolly and other members of the team have since been victims of social media harassment, triggering police investigations and condemnation from French President Emmanuel Macron.
This story was published via AFP News
(Main and featured image: Jean Catuffe/ Getty Images)
This article was first published in Prestige Singapore
The 2024 Paris Olympics closing ceremony will take place on August 11 from 9pm CET (August 12, 3am SGT).
The exact lineup has yet to be unveiled, but Hollywood actor Tom Cruise is expected to perform a stunt at the closing ceremony.
Similar to previous editions of the Olympics, the closing ceremony will feature an athletes' parade, the extinguishing of the Olympic flame, and the handing over of the five-rings flag to the organisers of the next Games — which will be held in Los Angeles in 2028.
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