1999年12月20日，劳拉的蜡像在巴黎格雷万蜡像馆（Musée Grévin）*揭幕。以下是翻译自Saikanji2012年发表在其法国博客上的一篇访谈博文，名叫“古墓丽影的起源（Tomb Raider Source）”，是对古墓丽影蜡像的雕塑家Eric de Saint Chaffray的采访。
原文：
Guest Interview: Grévin Museum Lara Croft Statue
Tomb Raider Source webmaster Saikanji was kind enough to translate and share an exclusive interview he conducted with us. Enjoy!
In December 20, 1999, the wax statue of Lara Croft was inaugurated at The Grévin Museum (le Musée Grévin in French), in Paris. Here is the interview of the sculptor of the statue, Eric de Saint Chaffray, made in 2012 by Saikanji of the French blog: Tomb Raider Source.
Saikanji: Can you tell us about yourself? What has been your career path?
Eric: I am independent sculptor. The Grévin Museum (le Musée Grévin in French) is my first client and represents the bulk of my activity today. I have also an artistic activity; that is I have a personal work free from commercial or other constraints. I practice professionally sculpture at the end of my studies (Ecole National Supérieure des Arts appliqués et métiers d’arts).
Saikanji: How where you chose to sculpt the character of Lara Croft?
Eric: At the time, we were three sculptors working for the Grévin Museum. The commands were distributed according to the availability of each and other.
Saikanji: Lara Croft is a fictional character and not a real person, therefore no base model to sculpt the character. What have been the media that were used to model the statue?
Eric: Media available to me were the video game itself over a few visuals, concepts… and a 15.7 inch sized statuette that could be found in the trade. I just find the official guide of the game Tomb Raider III that has served me for the development of this work.
Saikanji: Has Lara Weller posed for you in order to do justice to the forms of Lara Croft?
Eric: No, my only model was the virtual model! Saikanji: How long did take to sculpt the full body of Lara Croft? Eric: At least one month to make the whole character modeling.
Saikanji: Can you explain us the steps to follow to make a sculpture of this type?
Eric:
- Define a pose that corresponds to the character, while integrating it in a particular context… For Lara, the context is “The Hall of Columns” in the Grévin Museum. The character of Lara was “on the lookout” with her two guns behind one of this columns.
- Immerse myself in the literature, documents…
- Find the accessories (guns, clothing, shoes…)
- Find a pair of hands to hold the guns… It was decided to mould the hands of a 15-years-old girl to render the delicacy and fragility of the character. Lara measuring 5’ 9’ has the joints of a young girl!
- Build an iron frame to mount the body in clay. Clay stands not alone.
- The modeling can begin. The main difficulty is to match the exaggerated anatomy, which is inhuman, while giving an impression of her being natural… and alive.
Saikanji: Did you also paint the statue to give it colors?
Eric: Colorization was conducted by the workshop and makeup team of the Grévin Museum. The head was painted in oil paint. The resin body was painted with airbrush gun…it was the least that can be done for Lara Croft.
Saikanji: Do you know how the clothes of the wax statue are chosen? Because the clothes are changed once in the past. Are they provided by Eidos Interactive?
Eric: All this is far… I remember the difficulty of the costumer to find green late to produce the tight tee shirt. I believe that the clothes are “home.”
Saikanji: Has a statue of this type need to be renovated from time to time to be maintained?
Eric: Yes, of course. Like the other characters of the Museum.
Saikanji: Were you present the day of the inauguration? Can you tell us about this moment?
Eric: We were honored by the presence of the creator of the character who seemed pleased with the statue. Lara Croft in flesh and bones was also there and put on a bit of choreography. It was perhaps Nell McAndrew? Check it in the archives of the Museum.
Saikanji: How do you see the character of Lara Croft? What does she represent for you as an artist?
Eric: The Tomb Raider game was a small revolution, at the time. I was very happy to make this character for The Grévin Museum because I was playing to the game with my son. The character of Lara Croft was something completely new; a virtual character that could handle, live or die, with a considerable sex appeal…this formidable fighter is also vulnerable and fragile. Aesthetically, it is well within my culture “Tintin”; clear line, soft shapes, colors in solids. As a sculptor, I liked the difficulty of having 3D on screen, so the 2D, in true 3D, in clay at this time. The translation of the forms which have nothing of human anatomy was an interesting and unusual exercise for me.
Saikanji: Have you made any other wax statue for The Grévin Museum?
Eric: I work for The Grévin Museum since 1983 and I have created more than one hundred statues.
Saikanji: Do you have other projects? Do you work for others Museums or the cinema, or the theater for example?
Eric: I have other customers, but The Grévin Museum remains my mains activity.
Saikanji: Where can we admire your work outside of The Grévin Museum? Do you have a workshop or a gallery?
Eric: I have a workshop, but it is still a fairly closed work area! I have a websiteto see my work.
Saikanji: Finally, a few words for the Tomb Raider fans, these fans who were likely to make the move to have the pleasure of being alongside their favorite heroine at The Grévin Museum?
Eric: I wish them to see the character of Lara Croft remain charming and a bit naive, and does not involve too much realism…
Fun Facts:
- The creation of the sculpture of Lara Croft took one month of work in full at Eric de Saint Chaffray. In comparison, the wax statue of Nagui (French TV presenter) took fifteen days of work in all and for all.
- Mr. Mohamed Marouane established the first mold, (a plaster mold made from a malleable material model), which took four days of work.
- Bernard Coince and Stephane Lannes, of the Grévin workshops, conducted a mold in elastomer of the body and then another for the bust. To this mold was pulled a polyester laminate model that was then painted with an airbrush by Stephane Jacquemin.
- The eyes, very specifics in size, was made by the laboratoryProthelem.
- Face makeup is signed by Cornelia Quehenberger of the Grévin workshops and was made with oil painting.
- Laurence Viviani worked on the wig and the implantation of the hair of Lara Croft.
- The clothing of the statue have been provided and offered by Eidos Interactive.
- Jeremy Heath-Smith, founder of Core Design, member of the board of Directors of Eidos Interactive, and executive producer of both Tomb Raider movies, was the man at the opening night of the wax statue of Lara Croft at The Grévin Museum with Lara Weller, the official Lara Croft of the game Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
Photos by Jens_c76 & Leica_M8_Shooter
*巴黎格雷万蜡像馆（Musée Grévin）：1882年6月5日开馆迎宾的格雷万蜡像馆是由当时法国著名的《高卢日报》的创办人阿赫蒂赫·梅耶（Arthur Meyer）创建，以参与建设并做出杰出贡献的幽默漫画家、雕塑师、舞台服装设计师阿尔弗雷德·格雷万（Alfred Grévin）的名字命名。其特点在于人景合一，将古往今来的著名人物还原于最能表现其身份及成就的场景中。馆中存放的多为政治家、文学家、运动员、演员和歌手等知名人士的蜡像。官方网址：www.grevin.com。
