While announcing the selection of the film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, Thierry Frémaux wondered what the French title - Les Olympiades - could mean. It is actually the French name of the Parisian district where the action takes place. It is characterized by a cluster of high-rises built in the 70s and known as the largest "Chinatown" in all of Europe.
It is an adaptation of three stories from Optic Nerve, a comic book series by Adrian Tomine. Specifically, it's based on several short stories from the series: Amber Sweet, Hawaiian Getaway and Killing and Dying. However, the character of Camille was invented for the movie.
Three days before shooting began, the entirety of the movie was played on a theater stage in Paris, as a rehearsal, in order to see what worked and what didn't, but also to speed up the shoot and thus limiting COVID-19 exposure for the cast and crew.
Lucie Zhang's first nude and sex scenes. To prepare for them, before rehearsals started, she and her scene partner Marita Samba met with casting director Christel Baras, who said she'd help them get comfortable with the nudity. Baras shocked them by telling them to strip off all their clothes. Baras then had them face each other, hands at their sides and look over each other's bodies for ten full minutes. Then they had to hug and hold each other for another ten minutes. Zhang said it was incredibly awkward at first but they soon got used to it and after a while being naked was just like wearing a costume and felt completely natural. On the day of filming, she said neither one of them had any problems performing totally naked in front of the production crew for two days.
Noemie Merlant didn't research the cam sex phenomenon for the film, but she said, "I've fallen in love with people on screens before I've ever met them, so I can understand it."