Valerian director Luc Besson says ‘strong, beautiful women have always magically attracted me’
THERE’S a reason Valerian director Luc Besson has worked with stars like Natalie Portman, Milla Jovovich, Scarlett Johansson and now Cara Delevingne.
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THE string of impressive notches on French filmmaker Luc Besson’s blockbuster belt include the Scarlett Johansson fronted action hit Lucy and sci-fi cult classic The Fifth Element, which cast Milla Jovovich as a powerful “perfect being”.
While his new movie, V alerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, sits well with such futuristic action fare, it is far from just another notch for Besson. It’s his ultimate passion project.
The 58-year-old director has been dreaming of making the movie since he became obsessed with the French comic books on which it is based as a child. The comics focused on the adventures of space agents Valerian (played in the movie by US actor Dane DeHaan) and his lady love Laureline (supermodel turned screen star Cara Delevingne).
“It was at the time when there was no internet, one TV channel in black and white, and my stepfather didn’t have music at home. So life was pretty cold,” Besson says of his early love affair with the comics.
“There wasn’t much going on, not much possibility to escape, and then suddenly ... I remember the first few pages in ‘Pilote’ — a comic book where suddenly you have a couple travelling in space and time and fighting aliens.
“I grew up with the comics. The space adventure that the two had to survive I found incredibly exciting and fascinating. Already. I wanted to make a film about the two.”
And, adds the director who has a history of falling for his leading ladies: “Of course, I fell in love with Laureline when I was just 10.”
Reported to have cost a whopping $180 million to make, Valerian has been an intense 10 years in the making. The adventure sees DeHaan and Delevingne’s space agents assigned to uncover a lethal menace at the cosmopolitan (in an alien fashion) City of a Thousand Planets space station, which has potential to destroy the universe.
The film’s eccentric cast also includes pop superstar Rihanna, Clive Owen, Rutger Hauer, musician Herbie Hancock and Ethan Hawke.
Besson, who grew up outside of Paris and describes himself as a “dreamer” and an “autodidact”, originally had goals to be a marine biologist, but was injured while diving at the age of 17, then told he could not dive again.
He had no background in film and says he hadn’t even seen a movie at this point. All he wanted to do was “swim with dolphins”.
“This was really very dramatic. Suddenly my life was burst and I fell into nothingness,” Besson says. “At that time, I could easily drift into the drugstore or find comfort in alcohol. Thank God, I was vital enough not to fall into these traps.
“But I stood before an abyss: ‘What should I do with my life?’ By chance, I stumbled onto the shooting to a short film. On the set, I immediately fell in love with making films.”
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A fascinating man, who claims he does not know how to use a computer and still hand draws his storyboards, Besson will land in Sydney on Monday to premiere Valerian to Australian audiences with a Q&A screening.
On this day, his scheduled 20 minute chat with Hit wraps when a young woman enters the room of the La Cite du Cinema studios in Paris, where Valerian was filmed, to usher the director out.
“I’m OK here. I’m not finished yet,” Besson tells her.
“Luc, it is time for your lunch break,” comes the reply.
“No, come back later, I’ll have lunch here,” he says, returning to our chat.
Besson is most proud that all of the movies he’s written, from 1994’s Leon through The Fifth Element and Taken, feature strong female characters.
(Moviegoers can revisit The Fifth Element’s Leeloo in cinemas next month, with a restored 4K print doing the rounds to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary.)
He cites his mother, Daniele Plane, as his first “heroine”. She inspired him to shine a light on independent and tough women, after she her divorced from Besson’s father left her a single parent.
“Strong, independent, courageous and very beautiful women have always fascinated me and magically attracted me,” Besson says. “Whether fictional, such as Laureline, or Leeloo from The Fifth Element. Or Nikita or Joan d’Arc.
“But my first real heroine was my mother. I have always admired her. After the divorce of my parents, she raised me with great difficulty, alone, but with pride and dignity.
“We lived for a time even in a 12-square-metre small apartment. But she did not let herself go. Often she had several jobs at the same time. She designed clothes and worked occasionally as a model.”
Besson still shows his mother all his scripts.
“Not only my mother, but sometimes also the butcher or the merchant around the corner,” he says.
“Why? Because they’re cinema goers. They’ll say, ‘Your story really grabbed me but I did not understand the end. Why does the guy shoot the other guy? What was that?’
“I was always very grateful for such honest opinions.”
And while its US opening weekend may not have rocked the box office, Besson says the bulk of those opinions — so far — in regards to Valerian have blown him away.
“People said they liked it,” he says. “Hopefully the world does too.”
VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS OPENS AUGUST 10.
LUC BESSON WILL ATTEND A Q&A SCREENING, MONDAY 6PM, EVENT CINEMAS GEORGE ST, SYDNEY, LIMITED TICKETS REMAIN AT EVENTCINEMAS.COM.AU
FIND THE FIFTH ELEMENT 20TH ANNIVERSARY PARTICIPATING CINEMAS AT MADMANFILMS.COM.AU/THE-FIFTH-ELEMENT/
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