Director Besson hopes ‘Valerian’ is a remedy for viewers’ sequel fatigue
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — “I’m Valerian and she’s Laureline,” Luc Besson says with a smile, and gesturing to his producer and wife, Virginie Besson-Silla. “She’s the clever one.”
Valerian and Laureline are the lead characters of Besson’s sci-fi epic, “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” which hit theaters Friday. They’re names that most American audiences don’t know, even though the French comic about two 28th century intergalactic cops that it’s based on, “Valerian and Laureline,” has been in existence for 60 years and influenced “Star Wars.”
The filmmakers are seated in their shared office inside the Beverly Hills outpost of Besson’s company EuropaCorp about a month before the “Valerian’s” stateside debut.
“Valerian” is by far the biggest film they’ve ever done — estimated to have a $180 million price tag. Both are coming off the success of “Lucy” and the decades of goodwill Besson has built up in wild-eyed, crowd pleasing genre fare like “La Femme Nikita,” “The Professional” and “The Fifth Element.”
He says “Valerian” is the movie of his life.
Though he was a lifetime fan of the series, it wasn’t until he was working on “The Fifth Element” with “Valerian” illustrator Jean-Claude Mézières that he even considered taking it on.
“He’s the one who said, ‘Why don’t you do Valerian?’ I never thought of it before,” Besson says.
Besson wouldn’t acquire the rights for another 10 years. It wasn’t until he visited James Cameron on the set of “Avatar” that he realized a film adaptation of “Valerian and Laureline” was even possible, technologically speaking.
And they’ve taken their time with it. Besson did a large number of character and world sketches himself. He created a bible with five-page descriptions of all the creatures. Both secured a historic collaboration between the two visual effects giants WETA and ILM to do the 2,700 VFX shots (“The Fifth Element” had around 200). And he found his perfect leads in two burgeoning stars: Cara Delevingne for Laureline and Dane DeHaan for Valerian.
“I definitely don’t want Schwarzenegger to play the part. I want someone human,” Besson says of DeHaan.
They shot the film in France on soundstages that Besson helped design.
“We’re very proud to be able to bring such a big production to the country and to bring work to hundreds of people. There’s a real pride in that,” says Besson-Silla. “And we have amazing facilities.”
As far as the money goes, Besson isn’t concerned. With international sales, he says the film is 90% covered.
“The risk is more psychological than the money. The risk is if we fail then you lose your reputation,” Besson says. “The money risk is almost zero.”
“People trust us, you know? We don’t want to let them down,” says Besson-Silla.
He’s also a realist about possibilities and the fickleness of the market. “Valerian” launches against the World War II actioner “Dunkirk” and the comedy “Girls Trip.”
“If there’s a film a few weeks before us that is huge and everyone loves it, you don’t exist. If you come after a desert of two months, then you’re the savior. There are so many parameters. The good thing that we smell a little bit is there is a lassitude . . lassitude?” Besson says.
Besson-Silla jumps in: “People are a little bored with sequels.”
“There are so many sequels,” continues Besson. “People are little tired of so many superheroes. At least we’re fresh!”