You know, for somebody that flirted with retirement just a few years ago, Luc Besson sure is a busy man. Though he’s been mostly donning the producer’s hat as of late, he has a couple of directorial projects lined up.
One such project is an English live-action adaptation of French comic book, Valerian, which will see Besson’s return to the sci-fi genre (at least in a directorial capacity) for the first time since The Fifth Element.
The series, created in 1967 by Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mezieres, follows the titular hero on his adventures as a space- and time-hopping agent, alongside his red-haired female companion, Laureline.
The series actually has a couple ties to The Fifth Element, as Besson had been so enamoured with the comic before production on that film got under way, that he brought on Mezieres as a conceptual artist. And then back in 2010, Besson revealed that he was working on another, then untitled sci-fi extravaganza (which in retrospect was clearly Valerian), which he described as “The Fifth Element to the power of 10!”
There’s no word yet on how far along the project is, but I doubt we’ll be seeing anything concrete for a while though. Besson first has the Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Pfeifer witness protection dramedy, Malavita, as well as an untitled Angelina Jolie action vehicle line up, before he can go gallivanting through space and time.
(Source: Variety)
Last Updated: July 2, 2012
James Francis
July 2, 2012 at 14:13
Anyone seen Lockout? Okay, it was just co-written by Besson, but it is all kinds of terrible. Luc will have to really up the ante if he wants to take us back to his 5th Element days.
Kervyn Cloete
July 2, 2012 at 16:00
My review goes live on Friday (stupid press embargoes!), and yeah it’s not great, hey. Starts strong and then quickly goes downhill.