As the world’s best athletes reflect on their achievements at the Paris Olympics, it’s now time to wave goodbye to the City of Lights in true Hollywood style.

After the historic opening ceremony along the River Seine left a global audience divided – showcasing French culture, history and one controversial drag show in torrential rain – the closing ceremony will be inside the 80,000-seat Stade de France in suburban Paris.

Artistic director Thomas Jolly is still under fire from Christian groups for that unintended Last Supper parody, and in turn he filed a complaint over cyber bullying with Paris prosecutors.

In true Olympic spirit, he’s returning for redemption and is in charge of the production on August 11 (Monday, August 12 AEST).

The executive director of the ­closing ceremony, Thierry Reboul, has admitted he had to revise the script several times after the ­backlash against the opening ceremony.

While reiterating his insistence that there had been no attempt to parody the Last Supper in the opening ceremony, Reboul conceded  the angry response, including death threats to himself and Jolly, had made him more careful about potential ­misinterpretations of Sunday’s ceremony.

For the closing ceremony, Stade de France will be transformed into a gigantic concert hall, and Jolly is not mucking around this time, bringing in the big guns to do the handover, perform the big songs and get it across to America for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

By all accounts, Mr Daredevil himself, Mission: Impossible actor Tom Cruise, 62, will abseil down from the top of the Stade, land on the field carrying the official Olympic flag, before the broadcast cuts to a previously recorded two-minute film.

Superstar singers Celine Dion and Lady Gaga performed at the opening, so it’s only fair that US singers have a crack in front of 80,000 fans and euphoric athletes.

Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are expected to feature, with the three artists tipped to be seen from Los Angeles in a mix of pre-taped and live performances.

Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Ariana Grande have also been rumoured to be taking part.

Swift – whose Eras Tour in Austria was cancelled due to a planned terror attack – has not confirmed, but multiple French newspapers and France 2 are reporting Beyonce, a six-time Stade De France performer, is on the cards to sing as part of the LA handover.

French electro-pop Air and Phoenix, and electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre, are also expected to make an appearance.

‘Very choreographic’

Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra (the one who swam in the Seine and affectionately kissed President Emmanuel Macron) agrees the “musical dimension of the closing ceremony is always very important”.

“I think we all remember the concert by Midnight Oil at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics [in 2000, where the group wore ‘Sorry’ T-shirts].

“It was a huge moment that has remained in all of our minds,” she said.

“It’s a very visual, very choreographic, very acrobatic show with an operatic dimension to give a great visual fresco and say goodbye to athletes from all over the world,” Jolly added.

Part of the show will take place in the air, while the giant sets, costumes and spectacular lighting effects “will take spectators on a journey through time, both past and future”, according to the official Olympics website.

Other Hollywood celebrities who may go on stage include Barbie director Greta Gerwig, and actors Michelle Yeoh, Sharon Stone, John Travolta, Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes, all of whom have been spotted throughout the Olympics.

US rapper Snoop Dogg has made headlines for his starring role covering the Games for US host broadcaster, NBC, with Martha Stewart, so he will definitely want to be part of the handover.

And Deadline reports Leonardo DiCaprio, currently on a yacht in Ibiza with his girlfriend, could also head up for the event.

That ‘someone’ is Cruise

With 100 performers, acrobats, dancers and circus artists on a 2600-square-metre stage, Jolly says he’s designed a show where the Games disappear again (like they did 1500 years ago only to be revived by Pierre de Coubertin), then someone (Cruise?) comes along and brings them back.

He wants to “honour the past and embrace the future”, which is LA, home to America’s biggest movie studios, mega wealthy stars, industry heavyweights and California’s Kamala Harris.

So what’s Maverick going to do?

After carrying the torch through LA in 2004 before Athens, Cruise is said to have been the driving force behind the spectacle, and approached the International Olympic Committee about doing a series of stunts to bring the Paris and Los Angeles Games together.

Logistics for the French half of the stunt are still being arranged and it might be that the Top Gun star uses a stunt double for the actual abseil, which is highly unlikely as he’s renowned for being one of the few Hollywood stars to perform his own stunts.

The first two minutes of the film, broadcast on giant screens around the stade as well as on host broadcasters including the Nine network, will show Cruise’s flight to the US before he skydives down to the iconic Hollywood sign.

He will then hand the flag onto other Olympians, including a cyclist, a volleyball player and a skateboarder as they travel through LA.

Paris 2024 Olympics closing ceremony is on Nine and Stan Sports on Monday, August 12 (AEST) from 4.15am to 7.20am