Saturday, December 04, 2004

Cross-eyed felines.
As I was jumping into the car one freezing cold, dark morning, the theme from Daktari suddenly jumped into my head. Do you remember Clarence the cross-eyed lion? Do you remember the cross-eyed cat in The Fifth Element? I will explain to you ‘why?’

Shortly after making The Fifth Element, Luc Besson did a tour of French lycées, including one of the lycées at La Rochelle. My neighbour and her daughter were cat lovers and artists so were very observant ladies. My neighbour’s daughter was lucky enough to ask Luc Besson a question, so she asked him why he had chosen a cross-eyed cat for his film. He explained that when a cat looks you in the eye it looks at both of your eyes. If it looks a camera in the ‘eye’, it focuses on one ‘eye’, hence the reason for cross-eyes cats. I bet you didn’t know that.

Ahem, on reading about Clarence, I see that he was born cross-eyed. I stand corrected.

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