Page 66 - MIN ECEM

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 19 July 2017
Besson hopes ‘Valerian’ is a

remedy for your sequel fatigue

By LINDSEY BAHR looking for the right English five-page descriptions of all
AP Film Writer word. the creatures. Both secured
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) They were colleagues be- a historic collaboration be-
— “I’m Valerian and she’s fore they were anything tween the two visual ef-
Laureline,” Luc Besson says else. Now they have three fects giants WETA and ILM
with a smile, and gesturing children, ages 15, 14 and to do the 2,700 VFX shots
to his producer and wife 11, and have found they (“The Fifth Element” had
Virginie Besson-Silla. “She’s actually enjoy being part- around 200).
the clever one.” ners at the office and And he found his perfect
In this July 17, 2017 photo, producer Virginie Besson Silla and Valerian and Laureline are home. leads in two burgeoning
director Luc Besson arrive at the LA Premiere of “Valerian and the lead characters of Bes- “We were not stupid. There stars: Cara Delevingne for
the City of a Thousand Planets” in Los Angeles. son’s sci-fi epic, “Valerian is a risk. We took our time Laureline and Dane De-
Associated Press
and the City of a Thousand and then very consciously Haan for Valerian.
Planets” which hits theaters we said, ‘Let’s try on one to “I definitely don’t want
Friday. They’re names that see if it works,’” Besson says. Schwarzenegger to play
most American audiences “Actually it works 10 times the part. I want someone
don’t know, even though better than I expected.” human,” Besson says of De-
the French comic about “Valerian” is by far the big- Haan.
two 28th century interga- gest film they’ve ever done They shot the film in France
lactic cops that it’s based — estimated to have a on soundstages that Bes-
on, “Valerian and Laure- $180 million price tag. Both son helped design.
line,” has been in existence are coming off the success “We’re very proud to be
for 60 years and influenced of “Lucy” and the decades able to bring such a big
“Star Wars.” of goodwill Besson has built production to the country
The filmmakers are seated up in wild-eyed, crowd and to bring work to hun-
in their shared office inside pleasing genre fare like “La dreds of people. There’s
the Beverly Hills outpost of Femme Nikita,” ‘’The Pro- a real pride in that,” says
Besson’s company Europa- fessional” and “The Fifth El- Besson-Silla. “And we have
Corp about a month be- ement.” amazing facilities.”
fore the “Valerian’s” state- He says “Valerian” is the They finished shooting three
side debut. He’s behind a movie of his life. days early, too which Bes-
massive rectangular wood- Though he was a lifetime son says is, “Never heard of
en desk and she’s across fan of the series, it wasn’t on this kind of film.”
the table from him. until he was working on As far as the money goes,
Besson-Silla has a desk too. “The Fifth Element” with Besson isn’t concerned.
It’s off to the side, round, “Valerian” illustrator Jean- With international sales, he
and much, much smaller. Claude Mézières that he says the film is 90 percent
“I prefer a round table! Ev- even considered taking it covered.
eryone thinks it wasn’t my on. “The risk is more psycho-
choice,” Besson-Silla says. “He’s the one who said, logical than the money.
“She could have had a big- ‘Why don’t you do Vale- The risk is if we fail than you
ger one,” he adds, seem- rian?’ I never thought of it lose your reputation,” Bes-
ingly still befuddled by it. before,” Besson says. son says. “The money risk is
It’s almost another meta- Besson wouldn’t acquire almost zero.”
phor for their relationship — the rights for another 10 “People trust us, you know?
Besson as the larger-than- years. It wasn’t until he vis- We don’t want to let them
life public-facing person- ited James Cameron on down,” says Besson-Silla.
ality who makes big state- the set of “Avatar” that he They have done it their own
ments and even bigger realized a film adaptation way from beginning to end,
movies, and Besson-Silla as of “Valerian and Laureline” including giving the VFX art-
the one who orchestrates was even possible, techno- ists freedom to experiment
things in her own way just logically speaking. and going with a smaller
slightly out of the spotlight. And they’ve taken their North American distribu-
She looks at her husband time with it. Besson did a tor in STX Entertainment,
with bemusement, chim- large number of character whose biggest hit thus far
ing in occasionally — of- and world sketches himself. has been the mid-budget
ten when he turns to her He created a bible with comedy “Bad Moms.”q

budgetaruba@setarnet.aw