Monaco spent last week pretending it was 1962. Roads shut, vintage racing cars circling Port Hercule, drones overhead, extras in period clothing filling the pavements.
Anelka Theodore Steib watched all of it from a terrace 13 floors up.
The production is the Ocean’s Eleven prequel starring Margot Robbie and Bradley Cooper.
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Source copy says the film follows Danny Ocean’s parents as they attempt a robbery during the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix.
Crews recreated the original circuit through the principality’s streets, closing roads to traffic and pedestrians while cameras rolled.
Trucks, staff and equipment filled the area around Port Hercule for the full week.
The cars set off as though a real race had started. Drones tracked them from above.
They were quieter than classic Formula One machinery. Steib could still hear them from her office.
“We were too far to see the faces”
Steib, 23, watched from her office terrace, as reported by Creatorzine.
She said: “From our office we had the chance to see the cars reproducing the race and using the same track as the original Grand Prix.
“We saw the production team, drones in the sky and film extras wearing 60s clothes, right below our building.”
The scale of it impressed locals and tourists, she said, even with the disruption.
“It’s unusual to see the Hollywood team based in Monaco during a whole week and filming in the street,” she said.
“Even though some streets were closed, locals and tourists had the chance to see some scenes and be very close to the filming site.”
The cast also includes Monica Barbaro, Vicky Krieps, George MacKay and Omar Sy. Steib saw none of them.
She said: “Unfortunately, I didn’t see the stars, we were too far to see the faces of the people. If I wasn’t working I would be on site and try to be closer.”
The best bit came at the start.
“The most interesting moment was the kick off, when you see all the production starting to film and the cars starting the race as a real competition,” she said.
Why It Matters
Studios control almost everything about how a film reaches an audience.
Trailers, stills, release dates, which cast member says what and when.
Then a production parks itself on a public street for a week and that control disappears.
Anyone with a phone and a decent vantage point turns into a distribution channel.
That’s the trade. Location shoots buy authenticity and give up exclusivity in exchange.
For creators, a closed road in a photogenic city is free content with search demand already attached to it.
Footage shot by passers-by has become part of how big productions reach people before release, whether or not the studio wanted it that way.
A vintage Ferrari on a Monaco street corner travels further than a press still, and it costs the person filming nothing.
The roads have reopened. Steib says she would have been down at the barriers if she hadn’t been at work.
“Every morning of the week we were excited to go on the terrace and watch the cars.”
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