Whether it's La Femme Nikita or Lucy, to name but a few, writer/director/producer Luc Besson has found his biggest commercial successes with action movies centered around their leading ladies kicking ass and taking names in elaborate, spectacular fashion. So, it makes a good deal of sense that when the French filmmaker's long-winded passion project -- the extravagantly goofy, bubbly bizarre space opera, Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets -- didn't make a killing (to say the least...) that he would want to return to his most dependable, proven filmmaking formula to garner some much-needed financial success. Admittedly, Anna, the latest action-thriller from Luc Besson, does ring true to Besson's tired-and-true method.

A pulpy, twisty spy thriller period piece, Anna is a boilerplate throwback action flick by design. Centered around the mysterious, dexterous and highly lethal title character, Anna (Sasha Luss, in her first leading role) is a cunning, ruthless young woman who splits her time between two totally different, yet equally cutthroat, high-demand jobs: professional modeling and top-tier assassin work for the Russian government. She lives a hard life, despite the extravagance that comes with each occupation, and it only gets harder when CIA agent Lenny Miller (Cillian Murphy) follows her every move. To give away more would risk the possibility of revealing any number of the movie's time-hopping twists, which practically make you dizzy after awhile.

What should be evident here, however, is that the plot to Anna sounds awfully familiar to a movie that came out just a year earlier: Red Sparrow. Even down to the inclusion of a couple of British actors — in this case, Helen Mirren and Luke Evans — providing, we'll say, questionable Russian accents. It's not a direct cut-and-paste copy, and Luc Besson's movie was in production months before Red Sparrow came to theaters, but the comparisons are unavoidable. What should've been a fun, stylish return-to-form for the famous filmmaker gets clouded in a jumbled plot that's both too convoluted and formulaic for its own good, and a promising woman-led action-adventure now gets overshadowed by unfortunate circumstances outside the cinema.

Not to step on the tail of the elephant in the room, but if you haven't heard about Anna or seen any marketing for the movie, there might be a reason why. While this new movie was being made, Luc Beeson was hit with sexual assault allegations that have put the filmmaker's movie-making future in jeopardy. There is an argument to be made that one should separate the art from the artist, but I often find that if the art invokes the controversy, then it's basically impossible to split the two apart. Unfortunately, while Anna doesn't directly tie into any of the allegations made against Besson (allegations that were dismissed in a Parisian court due to a lack of evidence), it's also hard to get invested in this story of empowerment and vengeance with this thought looming in your mind.

There's no doubt that Luc Besson's skills as an action director can be seen throughout the film. Anna's use of long takes and sharp sound effects, mixed with confident cinematography and memorable set pieces, do showcase an experienced director working in a genre that has been successful for him in the past. But these action beats can often be few-and-far between, and the crux of the story is given the real-life context that makes it hard for viewers like me to separate fiction from reality. For some folks, this might be easy. But even if that's the case, Anna's intentionally jumbled, overly intricate, complex story does impact its success beyond its real-life circumstances. This script feels haphazard in how it jumps around; while there are a few instances of it working out in the film's favor, there are even more instances where this structure results in a needlessly frustrating experience.

That said, Anna's best component is undoubtedly its lead actress, newcomer Sasha Luss. She displays a cool confidence mixed with a tender vulnerability that makes the character both commanding and humane. It's clear this movie was meant to be her big break, and it's a shame that the controversies surrounding the director will likely prevent that from happening in the near future. You can believe that kicking ass and making people meet their maker is second nature to her, while the actress' early history as a professional model does inform some enjoyable bits of satire about the modeling industry. In fact, as weird as it might be to say, I kinda wanted to see more of the world of modeling in this movie about deathly assassins.

Anna's wildly over-the-top, yet equally revealing and keenly-realized, perspective in this often-lavished profession gives Anna an unexpected rejuvenation in key moments that's keeps things fresh and lively, even among a splattering of high-octave deaths. In fact, one of the film's high points is a montage near the middle of the film that splices footage between modeling shoots and Anna shooting her opponents. Is it subtle? Absolutely not. Is it fun? During this particular sequence, very much so. It makes you wonder what Anna could've been if this premise were given to another director.

It's often evident that Anna is Luc Besson hoping to harken back to the sensational success of one of his earliest, most career-cementing movies: the aforementioned La Femme Nikita. Hell, Anna even takes place in 1990, the same year Nikita was released. It's a smart business play, and if it weren't for the controversies, maybe this attempt by Luc Besson to return to his former glory might've been successful — at least, financially. Alas, it is clear that while Besson is more experienced as a filmmaker and still able to craft some well-executed action sequences to sprinkle throughout a film, this genre return feels more like a retread than a complete rejuvenation. It has a couple sharp sparkles, but it doesn't quite strike the same high fire.

As someone who got a kick out of Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, it was often apparent that Luc Beeson was retracing his steps from 1997's The Fifth Element. Similarly, Anna is clearly Luc Beeson trying to return to that premiere '90s glory. But the world is changing, and it does not look like Beeson is expanding himself in any particular way as a filmmaker these days. There are a couple other elements that stand out here — most notably, Helen Mirren providing a fun, splashy supporting turn that fits the general vibe of this action romp well. It's not quite a dud. It's simply a lackluster effort from a veteran filmmaker whom we'll likely hear less and less from in the next few years — despite the early promise of his lead star.

Luc Besson's EuropaCorp production company has fallen on hard times of late. The failure of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the most expensive film in French history, along with some other disappointing performers, has resulted in the company having to lay off employees and sell off assets. But don't count the French director and EuropaCorp out just yet. The future could still hold more of the director and studio's unique storytelling, as Luc Besson and EuropaCorp are in talks to partner with Netflix on a multi-picture deal.

The deal, which is currently in discussions, would have Luc Besson, perhaps best known for directing Léon: The Professional and The Fifth Element, direct and produce several movies for Netflix over the next few years. According to Variety, the movies would fall under the Netflix originals distinction and would have budgets of around $30 million. Beyond just having Luc Besson direct Netflix originals, the potential deal has expanded to include the streaming company possibly buying into EuropaCorp's library, which includes the Taken and Transporter franchises and is valued at $186 million. It is, however, unknown at this time if the terms of the deal would allow EuropaCorp to produce films for other partners or whether the Netflix originals would only be English-language films. Netflix isn't the only player in the game either, as there are other potential buyers and investors like Lionsgate circling the struggling, yet valuable EuropaCorp.

The films that Luc Besson would make under this deal would not be quite so lavish and expensive as Valerian, which cost $177 million. Thus a sequel to that valiant effort on Netflix seems unlikely without a major cost reduction. But EuropaCorp's most successful effort in recent years was the Scarlett Johansson-led sci-fi film, Lucy. That film made $463 million worldwide on a budget of only $40 million. That's likely the sort of thing that appeals to Netflix. Having Luc Besson bring that sort of high-concept, mid-budget film to the streaming service has serious potential to generate buzz. Netflix is becoming a many-tentacled beast these days and continues to pursue wide-appeal content, as well as prestigious fare like Mudbound, that nets the service Oscar nominations.

Beyond just new Netflix original films, the EuropaCorp franchises are extremely valuable, and those rights would allow Netflix to produce films and TV series with name recognition and global appeal. Netflix understands the importance of powerful brands in today's marketplace, and EuropaCorp has several that have found audiences worldwide. Luc Besson arguably misses as much as he hits, but if nothing else he is a visionary and creative director who has given some truly beloved cult classics. With any luck, if this deal goes through, the French director will have the opportunity to create some really unique mid-budget films that might prove difficult within the traditional studio system. Luc Besson's next film, titled Anna, stars Cillian Murphy, Luke Evans and Helen Mirren, and it is currently filming.

A film from visionary director Luc Besson, offering all the weirdness and world-building of cult classic The Fifth Element, but with the benefits of a huge budget and modern special effects. Such was the promise of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. But instead of captivating audiences with a stunning original world they didn't want to leave, a la Avatar, Valerian fell short both critically and financially. Despite a valiant effort, it would be disingenuous to call the film anything short of a bomb. Sadly, the failure of Valerian will result in Luc Besson's EuropaCorp, laying off a number of employees.

This news comes after the company posted an $83 million net loss in its six month financial results and a $136 million loss for the fiscal year that ended on March 31 last year (before Valerian hit theaters). As reported by Deadline, EuropaCorp has begun a consultation procedure that could see 22 employees, or 28% of the company's French staff, laid off. The $83 million loss for the six months ending on September 30 last year was largely attributed to the box office failure of Valerian. But Valerian was not the only cause of their woes. The Emma Watson and Tom Hanks film The Circle, which EuropaCorp distributed, also failed to light up the box office. As a result, the company's Chief Executive and Deputy CEO both left the company, and in November of last year EuropaCorp sold off its French television division.

Valerian was the most expensive film in French history with a $177 million budget. Yet, despite having all the action and CGI trappings of a huge blockbuster, the film managed to only make $41 million domestically and $184 million overseas. Last year we heard that Valerian wasn't that much of a financial gamble because 96% of the budget was covered with pre-sales. But unfortunately the film business is still a business, and sometimes there are human consequences to such a major failure. Luc Besson also noted last year that if the film flopped, the studio would lose credibility to make that type of film. Sadly that is part of the high risk, high reward nature of blockbuster filmmaking; you only get one shot, and if you fail you may not be given another.

Ultimately, a film has to be good and liked by audiences for the best shot at success. Valerian received very mixed reviews and currently sits at a 49% on Rotten Tomatoes, but more damning is the audience score, which is 55%. This is an unscientific metric, but it reflects the overall mixed audience reaction towards the film. So some of the film's problems are due to its own shortcomings, but Valerian is an interesting lesson, and what its failure portends is rather dismaying.

While the film is based on a French comic series, it was not a property that was widely known, particularly in the United States. The majority of blockbuster films nowadays are all franchises based on name brands and well-known properties. New and original films don't often get the big-budget treatment, so when gambles like Valerian fail, it hurts the chances of other bold visions finding their way to the big screen. So while Valerian failed in a number of ways, let's hope that companies like EuropaCorp keep getting opportunities to fail, otherwise our blockbuster landscape will become quite predictable and boring.

Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets put on a rather unfortunate performance at the box office this summer. Released in the middle of a very crowded season, the would-be blockbuster made only $40 million domestically, and even when international numbers are factored in they still make the $177.2 million budget look like a big mistake. Obviously this means that the chances of a sequel are basically zero, but apparently one follow-up that is moving forward as a result of Valerian tanking is Lucy 2.

Variety has published an article about how EuropaCorp - Luc Besson's production company - is rebounding following Valerian's box office flop, and apparently it involves a smaller slate and doubling down on the kind of movies that have earned them the big bucks in the past: sci-fi/action thrillers a la Taken, The Professional and The Fifth Element. While Besson's next project will be an original thriller with a female protagonist (production is scheduled to start next month), apparently he has already completed the script for Lucy 2, and EuropaCorp CEO Marc Shmuger has labeled the sequel as being in "active development."

In the first Lucy, released in 2014, Scarlett Johansson starred as the titular character - a woman who gets caught up in a dangerous smuggling effort thanks to her sketchy boyfriend. She has a new experimental drug surgically placed inside her, but plans go awry when she is hit in the stomach and the bag inside her bursts. Rather than killing her, it instead turns her into a superhero whose incredible powers grow in strength with each passing day.

Lucy 2 has actually been in the works since the summer of 2015, but it's worth noting that Luc Besson was not always very into the idea. While Lucy made an incredible amount of money when it was first released ($463 million globally), Besson dismissed the idea of a follow-up by saying that the blockbuster was "not made for that." (The film does end with Lucy leaving her human form behind the become one with the universe) Besson kept the sequel option open with a caveat, saying that a "good enough" idea could change his mind, but could see the performance of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets making him a bit less captious.

Given the aforementioned ending of the first Lucy, we have no idea if Scarlett Johansson will return for the sequel - but given that Luc Besson seems to be pre-occupied with his other project, EuropaCorp has some time to work out a deal with the actress. She has recently been spending a whole lot of time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, being a key part of the year-long Avengers: Infinity War/Avengers 4 production down in Atlanta, Georgia, but she doesn't seem to have much going on professionally beyond that.

We'll hopefully here more about Lucy 2's project in the near future, but for now answer our poll below and tell us what you think about the project moving forward!

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Between the DC Extended Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and X-Men franchise, there are innumerable superhero movies being produced or developed at any given time. This has led some critics to coin the term "superhero fatigue", whereas the genre will become so saturated and predictable that they'll all blend together for a stale blob of people in capes. And while filmmakers seem to be aware of this and are attempting to create unique projects, iconic director Luc Besson is taking umbrage on the entire genre, especially Marvel's Captain America. The Fifth Element director simply can't believe that the franchise was produced at all, believing the the very name of the character to be offensive. He said,

Ouch. It looks like Luc Besson believes the superhero genre portrays a sense of American nationalism, and goes on to even accuse the Captain America franchise of being propaganda. Those are some pretty strong words, especially considering Besson has just directed a comic book adaptation of his own with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Of course, that particular series of graphic novels is French, and not DC or Marvel made.

Luc Besson's controversial statement to CinePop may be able to be refuted, given how the MCU is currently being expanded. Black Panther will be set in the fictional country of Wakanda, and the franchise as a whole seems to be more focused on space adventures moving forward. And it's unclear if the Captain America franchise will even continue after the events ofAvengers 4, as Chris Evans' contract is up over at Marvel.

The visionary director also described how convoluted the business of producing superhero films has become, which is a far more universal statement. With so many studios in play and negotiating the rights to various comic book properties, it certainly feels like a mess if you aren't cued into the inner workings of each shared universe.

How do you really feel, Luc? Overall it seems like the man who brought films like Lucy and Valerian to the screen is over the superhero craze. Unfortunately for him, DC and Marvel's studios don't seem to be showing any signs of slowing.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is still in some theaters, and you can check out our 2017 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

After gifting the world with The Fifth Element in 1997, Luc Besson released just a new science fiction film this year just as crazy, if not crazier: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the adaptation of the long-running French comic book series that has been his passion project for a long time. But sci-fi hasn't been his only moviemaking area, as he's also worked in the realms of fantasy, action, comedy and more. However, if any of you have been itching to see Besson tackle a superhero movie, it's probably best to set those hopes aside, as he doesn't find these superpowered characters relatable. In his mind:

Luc Besson's comment to Bleeding Cool came after he talked about how he likes that Valerian (played by Dane DeHaan in the movie) isn't a superhero at all, adding that while the character can be heroic at times, he also has his fair share of personality flaws. That makes it easier to identify for Besson to identify with Valerian. Superheroes, on the other hand, he believes don't have that reliability that he looks for in a character due to their amazing abilities. Maybe he feels differently about non-powered heroes like Batman and Green Arrow, but for the most part, his dislike of superheroes makes it sound like he won't ever join forces with Marvel, DC or another studio. His heart just wouldn't be in adapting such properties.

While superheroes have been part of pop culture ever since Superman hit the scene in 1938's Action Comics #1, the movie genre centered around these comic book tales has only exploded within the last two decades. The cinematic universe craze that Marvel started in 2008 further boosted the popularity of these movies, to the point that certain studios are releasing 2-3 of them per year. Superhero stories make up the majority of comic book adaptations, but Luc Besson provided one of the exceptions with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. So far, though, Valerian hasn't been one of the winners of this summer blockbuster season, as it's received mixed reviews and only made over $59 million worldwide. Still, in an industry that's superhero crazy right now, at least Valerian is exposing the masses to a different kind of comic book property, and a visually dazzling one at that.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is still playing in theaters, and Luc Besson's upcoming projects include Lucy 2 and Colombiana 2.

There's no getting around it; Luc Besson makes weird movies. Over the course of his career, the French auteur has helmed some of the most delightfully absurd and visually breathtaking action/sci-fi romps like The Fifth Element and Taken, and he has developed a rabid cult following. But with such an impressive filmography under his belt, he still hasn't delved into many sequels over the years. Could Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets break that trend? According to the director, there's a trilogy planned, but it all depends on whether or not audiences like the first film. Besson explained:

So at this point, it is pretty much up to the public to decide whether or not Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets will receive a sequel. It's an intriguing notion, especially when we consider the fact that the film has been given a bizarrely divisive critical reception, with some heaping praise upon its visual spectacle, while others have lambasted its paper thin characterization and plot. The film currently sits at a commendable (but not outstanding) 72% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning that a sequel could go either way from here.

As for the film's financial status, Luc Besson does not seem particularly worried about the possibility of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets bombing. That is because it isn't in a terribly precarious financial position. Besson recently came out and admitted that EuropaCorp has managed to cover all but 4% of the film's budget from pre-sales. With Valerian expected to perform far better overseas than in the United States, it has the potential to earn enough money globally to warrant a follow-up at some point.

Of course, it's also worth noting that Luc Besson does not necessarily seem too concerned about whether or not a Valerian sequel can materialize within the next few years. He continued in his chat with Nerdist and explained that the sequel scripts that he has worked on are more of an intellectual exercise than a definitive business decision, saying:

With Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets gearing up to hit theaters this weekend it remains to be seen if this will spiral into a full-blown franchise. There's potential, but it all hinges on whether or not mainstream audiences show an interest in this first entry.

Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets will debut in theaters this weekend on July 21. For more information concerning the rest of the films slated to debut in 2017, make sure to take a look at CinemaBlend's comprehensive movie premiere guide!

Twenty years ago, writer/director Luc Besson brought a new sci-fi vision to the big screen, heavily inspired by the work of Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières... and now he's done it again. There are many connections to draw between the cult classic The Fifth Element and the upcoming Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets -- but it seems that a new thing the two movies have in common is the critical response.

The review embargo for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets lifted yesterday evening, and the earliest write-ups suggest the movie is going to get a mostly positive, but mixed response. Every critic thus far has commented on the intense visual spectacle the film, but some are more forgiving when it comes to the weaknesses in its narrative and its pacing. It seems that it's a blockbuster you're either on board with or not, and that's practically identical to the responses that The Fifth Element received back in the late 1990s.

Take this pull quote, for example:

That could easily come from a review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but it's actually from Roger Ebert's write-up of The Fifth Element when it first came out. Like the many who now qualify themselves as fans, notable writers like Ebert, Gene Siskel, and Owen Gleiberman gave Luc Besson's bombastic sci-fi flick positive marks for its creativity and ingenuity -- even while recognizing that it still has significant problems.

With a total of 60 reviews counted, The Fifth Element carries a 72% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (compared to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planet's current 78%) -- but what's funny is that the archives show that some critics who weren't on-board for Besson's first bit of sci-fi craziness also aren't digging his latest feature. While writing for Variety, Todd McCarthy wrote of The Fifth Element,

And in his particularly harsh review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, written for The Hollywood Reporter, McCarthy says:

So if you're familiar with the tastes of Todd McCarthy and typically agree with him, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets may not be your cup of tea. That being said, there are still plenty of other professional voices who are singing praise for the blockbuster's ambition and spirit, and your own personal tastes may line up more with theirs'.

At the time of this article's posting, only 23 reviews of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets have been written and activated, which means that it's score could still fluctuate a bit -- but given what we've seen so far, it seems as though The Fifth Element is a good field-guide to understanding how critics en masse will react to the blockbuster.

It's no secret that major studio blockbusters can be stunted by the environment in which they are created. Big budgets mean that there are a lot of important people looking over shoulders and generating notes, making sure that their money isn't being improperly utilized, and it can have the end effect of manufacturing bland, safe features that are meant to appeal to everyone. Watching Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, however, it becomes extremely clear that writer/director Luc Besson was given the opportunity to make exactly the film he wanted. And while that doesn't automatically generate perfect results, it does let it be one of the most gonzo, bombastic, and beautiful sci-fi features we've seen in recent years.

Having been a life-long fan of the Valerian and Laureline comics on which it's based, Luc Besson has carried the new movie as a passion project for decades (with new context, his beloved 1997 feature The Fifth Element feels like it was a training session). You can tell that he was waiting until the time was perfect to move forward, and from an effects stand-point he absolutely nailed it. There are segments of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets that essentially transport you to a different world with each new scene, and each one is more stunning than the last, brought to life with a blend of spectacular digital and practical artistry. It not only enhances everything incredible about the film, including the larger themes and expansive world-building, but also does its part to strengthen weak spots,such as the narrative flow and the chemistry between the two leads.

Opening with a century-spanning montage that deserves to go down as an all-timer in the science-fiction genre, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets begins hundreds of years in the future, where we catch up with interstellar agents Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) as they execute a dangerous mission to disrupt a black market deal in a desert planet's virtual marketplace (what feels like one of 10,000 fantastic concepts that find their way into the film). After losing some friends and making a few new enemies, they find themselves on their way back to Alpha -- an enormous space station that grows larger and larger as new alien species discover it and dock their own installations. It's here that the two heroes are provided a new task from their commander (Clive Owen), sent to investigate a growing threat at the heart of Alpha -- but as they dig deeper, they discover that not everything is quite as it seems, and the stories they've been told about what's going on are not entirely true.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a film made up of big swings, and while a lot of them are great, it does take its toll on the storytelling, and some elements just don't work as they really should. A perfect example of this is the relationship between Valerian and Laureline, as Luc Besson does the cinematic equivalent of picking you up and dropping you into the deep end of the pool with the duo. The movie is impressively aggressive in getting across the former's love of the latter, and the latter's rejection of the former, which immediately puts the audience on an odd footing with them minutes after their introduction. Because there isn't really any context provided of their history together outside of being loyal partners, you're left throughout the movie never getting fully comfortable with them as a couple -- and the chemistry between Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne doesn't fully bridge the gap.

This same kind of messy ambition is also very present in Valerian's storytelling, as it finds itself trying to do so much in its second act that it winds up as a notable distraction from the primary narrative thrust. The movie never feels necessarily bloated, but it is certainly long (sporting a 137 minute runtime), and a significant part of that are the two consecutive rescue missions playing out in the middle. A part of you as a movie-goer is thankful, as both mini-plots allow the exploration of parts of Alpha that obviously you'd otherwise not see. The other part of you is acutely aware that this is what happens when a 50-page comic inspires a full-length feature. It's never great when you have to take a mental moment in the middle of a blockbuster to remember what the characters are trying to do, but in this case at least it's not devastating.

Of course, what you are truly meant to take away from Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a banquet of weird creativity and ridiculousness, and it's served up as an exciting blockbuster feast (best enjoyed, by the by, in 3D). Luc Besson had decades of comics from Valerian and Laureline creators Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières to adapt and employ, and both the creature and production design is legitimately special. Each new idea, from mind-expanding jellyfish, to consciousness that can travel the cosmos, is smile-inducing, and it's amazing to see the surprisingly small, heavily-disguised performances from talent like Ethan Hawke, Rihanna, Elizabeth Debicki and John Goodman -- which serve to make the universe feel wonderfully huge.

The summer isn't quite over, but Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is certainly the frontrunner to be named the spectacle of the summer, and while many franchises have disappointed, this is a movie that ends with you wanting to see much more from the universe it introduces. It's visually stunning, beautifully prescient in its humanist themes (alien-ist too, I suppose?), and while its reach doesn't match its grasp in some respects, you're still left respecting the hell out of the reach alone.

It's no secret that movie studios have been engaging theatrical exhibitors in new and exciting ways to promote their latest films. STX Films is the latest studio to do just that, as they've agreed to give audiences a special sneak peek at the opening scene to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets as early as next weekend. So if you're going to see Spider-Man: Homecoming, you may want to read on, as certain 3D and Premium Large Format showings will be your ticket to this early look.

Theater chains AMC Theaters, B&B Theaters, Cinemark, Emagine Entertainment and Harkins Theaters are all confirmed to be a part of this promotion, with "select regional circuits" being tauted as joining in on this Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets exclusive. The scene that opens the latest film from writer/director Luc Besson will encapsulate the creation of the titular city, also known as Space Station Alpha. So before you go booking tickets thinking you'll get some Dane DeHaan/Cara Delevingne action on the big screen, you might want to temper those expectations.

It's not the first time another studio's film has been used to promote a special excerpt from an upcoming project. Hell, it isn't the first time a Spider-Man movie has done it, as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 basically used a mid-credits spot to promote X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014. While those films at least shared Marvel Comics lineage, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets does not have that same connection.

This more than likely explains why the film's first scene is being used as a sort of pre-show trailer, rather than any sort of post-credits tease. Besides, Spider-Man: Homecoming already has that area covered, as there are reportedly two extra scenes to cap off Jon Watts' introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though, as Deadline has explained, this strategy is meant to help Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets make a better case for itself against the other big summer blockbuster it's competing against: Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk.

Seeing as both the World War II drama, and the classic comic book come to life, are both slotted for July 21st release dates, both films will need as much promotion as they can get in order to aim for the advantage. Though in the case of Christopher Nolan's historical drama, the advanced promotion game has already been in play since Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. With an IMAX prologue already running, and a roadshow experience of that very sequence making its way across the country as we speak, the ground game that Dunkirk has been playing is going to be quite the obstacle for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is going to have to overcome.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and Dunkirk will be released on July 21st, but you can see Spider-Man: Homecoming as early as next Thursday night for the special sneak preview of the opening sequence..

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The early reviews for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets recently emerged, and those that were lucky enough to see the action, sci-fi epic from the visionary mind of Luc Besson have almost universally agreed that the film's hypnotic visuals will be unrivaled this summer. The latest clip for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets is the most definitive proof yet that will be the case, as it introduces us to the titular metropolis that's also known as Alpha. You can take in and fawn over the astounding city, as well as just how utterly gorgeous Luc Besson's Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets looks, below.

Yep, that looks absolutely delightful. While the first couple of trailers and clips for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets did a superb job of introducing us to Dane DeHaan's Valerian and his intergalactic partner through time and space, Laureline, played by Cara Delevingne, as well as showcasing Luc Besson's ambitious and decadent vision for the film, this footage finally gives us our best look yet at Alpha.

So what did we learn courtesy of the above? Well, by the time that we're introduced to Alpha in Valerian City Of A Thousand Planets it has traveled 700 million miles. It is now also the home to 30 million individuals across 3,236 species, each of which come from all four corners of the universe. There's more, too, because over 5,000 languages are spoken on Alpha. And that doesn't include the computer languages. Basically, Luc Besson went all in on detailing this incredibly diverse and weird world.

Basically it looks like a utopia. In the south of Alpha there's the submerged part of the city, which includes peaceful farmers living in all kind of different liquids. Then in the north there's the gaseous lands that's populated by a species that's so extremely sensitive it "makes them specialists in neurosciences and molecular components." The finances of Alpha are controlled in the east, while the west is populated by nine million humans, each of which live in a pressurized atmosphere.

If this clip really gets you excited for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, you may also want to do yourself a favor and access the special clip that is now available courtesy of a partnership with Amazon. All you have to do is install the Amazon app on your phone, and activate the Camera Search function. Taking a picture of any Valerian marketing artwork - such as the poster - will take you to a screen with the exclusive scene, which features Dane DeHaan's titular character sprinting through the various sections of Alpha.

We don't have long until we get to see Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets in all of its glory, as the film will be released at the end of July. The early buzz for the movie has been mostly positive too. You can check out the first responses to Luc Besson's blockbuster here. The finished blockbuster will finally be released into US cinemas on July 21st, and we'll most definitely have a lot more coverage of the exciting feature in the coming weeks.

With a estimated shooting budget of about $180 million, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is officially the most expensive film in French cinematic history. This fact has caused some to speculate about the film's potential downsides, should it break down like other supposed franchise starters like King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. But if you talk to director Luc Besson, he's actually not worried at all. He recently explained the a major reason why we should be worried about Valerian, noting that the film thankfully has sound finances and will be OK, even if almost no one sees it:

With Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets being a big ticket entry into the canon of this summer's would-be blockbusters, the price tag does seem a bit steep at face value. However, considering that EuropaCorp already has all but 4% of the film's budget covered, the financial worries aren't the primary problem. Considering that this particular piece of the pie amounts to roughly $8.4 million, we assume that shouldn't be hard to come across, as the film should have international appeal.

But if you read further in the interview Luc Besson gave to ScreenDaily, you'll see that the actual risk is what Besson considers the more "human risk": the studio's reputation.

While financial woes are definitely a going concern when releasing a film, the attitude towards a film's potential failure does reflect on the studio that greenlighted, budgeted, and produced the film. Turning back to the example of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Warner Bros. is definitely going to have to battlethe bad buzz from that film's collapse. Of course, seeing as Warner Bros. has done a pretty bang up job with Wonder Woman, the studio is probably hearing much kinder words as of late.

EuropaCorp, on the other hand, doesn't exactly have a definitive silver bullet in the studio's canon, and its track record before this film is spotty at best. Even the company's Transporter series is on the decline, which makes the presence of two more sequels on the studio's future roster both an asset and a liability. However, even if Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets doesn't work on a financial level, it could very well be a film that sci-fi fans will take a liking to, especially if they're fans of Luc Besson's The Fifth Element. So even with this potential human risk on the books, EuropaCorp still looks like the might come out of this movie better off than other competitors.

We'll see the results when Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets blasts off into theaters on July 26th.

So far, the summer blockbusters have taken us to the surface of a Living Planet (in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), to the mythical island of Themyscira (in Wonder Woman), and on an expedition through the stars in Alien: Covenant. But later this season, Luc Besson plans on putting all of these adventures on blast with his adaptation of Valerian, a tentpole that promises to deliver nearly one thousand planets and matching species. Impossible? We thought so, too, until we got a look at this fascinating and detailed behind-the-scenes video on the making of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Watch!

In the video, Luc Besson admits that the idea behind his Valerian adaptation dates all the way back to when he was working on The Fifth Element, a sci-fi thriller that obviously took cues from the classic Valerian comic books. And that's the important thing to note. Valerian has been around since 1967, telling the intergalactic tales of space cops Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevigne). The comic book's influence can be seen in countless sci-fi movies that came after it, including the grand daddy of them all, George Lucas' Star Wars saga.

Now Luc Besson is setting out to give Valerian a proper adaptation in this July's Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. And as he states in the video, he's able to do it right because James Camaeron's Avatar changed the game when it comes to special effects. Anything is possible now, which is how Besson is able to create endless species populating endless worlds. Filmmakers are only limited by their own imaginations.

This deep dive into the creative process on Valerian gives away some significant plot details. We learn that Valerian and Laureline are the grounded, human guides through this fantastical journey, on a case that takes them to Alpha, aka the City of a Thousand Planets. It's there that they will allow Besson to take technology on a test run, showing off the worlds and creatures he is able to bring to the biggest screen possible. As he says, all of the knowledge of the universe in IN Alpha. It sounds like it has the potential to be THE tentpole environment of the summer.

We have to wait until July 21 for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets to reach theaters. But as Luc Besson says in the final moments of this great reel, "Have fun, and I'll see you in space." If you want to know what you can watch before Valerian opens, head over to our complete rundown of 2017 movie release dates.

Back in November, I took an exclusive trip to the edit bay of Luc Besson's upcoming Valerian And The City of A Thousand Planets -- and one thing I learned about in heavy detail was an alien species called the Kortan Dahuk. I was given a multi-page fact sheet that revealed everything about the creatures, from where they were from to how they first interacted with humans. It turns out, however, that this was just the tip of the iceberg of Besson's creation, as the filmmaker actually created a full-blown bible for the cinematic universe. The writer/director recently told me,

Earlier this month, both Luc Besson and Valerian star Dane DeHaan were in Los Angeles for a book signing at Meltdown Comics, and I had the opportunity to talk with both of them about their upcoming sci-fi blockbuster. I asked about the fact sheet and the detailed work that went into the making of the film, and learned about the tremendous depths of Besson's fanhood in regards to the long-running French comic series by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières. Both men went into detail about why it was so important for their individual processes, and how it legitimately aided the movie.

Going further with his point, Luc Besson explained how he used the bible as a means of authenticating both the world being established in Valerian, but also the interactions between characters. Leads Valerian and Laureline have a long history of encountering a wide-variety of alien species, and the filmmaker felt that familiarity could be replicated through heavy research. Said Besson,

Taking Luc Besson's thoughts and running with them, Dane DeHaan added that the fact book did legitimately help him immerse himself in the world -- but also gave him the opportunity to learn a lot more about the character he was playing. Said the actor,

The exciting finished results of this endeavor are still a few weeks away, with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets not hitting theaters until June, but audiences will get a brand new taste of the blockbuster when the new trailer arrives tomorrow morning:

Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets arrives in theaters on July 21st, and be sure to tune in here on CinemaBlend for the exciting trailer launch!

There are lots of big movies coming out this summer, but not many of them match the style and craziness of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Everything from the production design to the weird aliens shows that this movie is going for broke in bringing the original graphic novel to life. If you've really been digging what the movie has been putting out so far, then you better get your calendar because the final trailer for Valerian is dropping very soon. As is the trend these days, the date was announced via a small teaser, which you can view below.

The new trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is expected to arrive on Wednesday, May 24. The accompanying teaser obviously offers the bare minimum in terms of footage, none of which seems to be new, but still offers more looks into this bonkers world that Luc Besson is bringing to life. First of all, it goes without saying that the movie looks beautiful. The different settings are brimming with color, and everything really pops. This feels like it could be a really divisive movie (which is tough to predict) but at least everyone can agree that the photography is on point.

In terms of actual events in the teaser, it doesn't look like it's offering too much that's new. We see more of the strange aliens like the gray fish-eyed one going about their business as well as some cute little alien critters. We also see more of Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laurelin (Cara Delevingne) being chased by some sort of monster, their guns at the ready.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the latest sci-fi film from Luc Besson, the director behind The Fifth Element. Based on the french sci-fi comic series Valérian and Laureline, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets follows two special operatives in the 28th century who are charged with keeping order in the human territories of space. The two are assigned to protect Alpha, a huge sprawling metropolis where a thousand different species live together to share knowledge and culture. However, a dark force lies in the center of Alpha that not only threatens every life in the city but the universe as well. Joining Dane Dehaan and Cara Delevigne in the cast are Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu, and Rutger Hauer.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is set to hit theaters this summer on July 21, 2017. To keep up to date on every movie coming to theaters, make sure to pay a visit to our 2017 movie schedule to help you better plan put your summer.

Luc Besson is about to make a glorious return to the realm of science fiction. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is set to make its debut in theaters this summer, and everything that we have seen from the film thus far promises a bizarre sci-fi adventure, unlike anything that we have seen since The Fifth Element hit theaters twenty years ago. As if we weren't already excited for the upcoming space-based adventure, a brand new poster has officially debuted online. Check it out below to see all of the great science fiction fantasy for yourself.

If you didn't already know that Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets was based on a graphic novel of the same name, then that poster should hammer that idea home. It captures the comic book essence of the material, and lays out all of the most vital elements that Luc Besson's upcoming sci-fi epic will put on full display. We see the two central heroes (Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne), ridiculous aliens, outlandish space aliens, and even Rihanna -- who will star in the film as an exotic alien stripper, so you know that you're in for something amazingly ridiculous. The most important aspect of this poster is the fact that it sells the movie without really addressing the whole story, thus ensuring that the film's secrets remain intact.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has become one of the most exciting upcoming films to keep a close eye on. As an apparent passion project for Luc Besson, the visionary director has paid very close attention to detail in order to make sure that he accurately captures the spirit of the original graphic novel. Having said that, Valerian is not a property that most members of the mainstream moviegoing populace are already familiar with, and science fiction is an inherently hard sell when it comes to blockbusters -- at least without a big name like Star Wars or Star Trek attached to it. Given Luc Besson's stellar reputation as an action filmmaker, and the fact that there's a definite amount of enthusiasm present in every shot of this film, our hope remains high that Valerian can lead to a brand new science fiction franchise that will stick around for years to come.

Check out a trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets below to get a better look at Luc Besson's upcoming return to the sci-fi genre.

CinemaBlend will keep you posted with all of the latest and greatest information related to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets as more details become available to us. The film will debut in theaters later this summer July 21, 2017.

Filmmaking can be frustrating. Writers are never quite satisfied with the finished film, directors always find one imperfection and studios can't resist butting in, too. Luc Besson has now revealed that the one issue he had while directing The Fifth Element was the "old fashioned" special effects that he believes held him back from achieving what he'd fully imagined. After recently being praised for his efforts on The Fifth Element, Besson then candidly admitted:

While Luc Besson basically admitted during his recent Reddit discussion that he can't look at The Fifth Element without feeling a tinge of regret, he has been given the perfect opportunity to right this wrong with his upcoming adaptation of the ground-breaking French comic book series Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets.

As Luc Besson made clear in the above comments, he's actually been patiently waiting for the technology to catch up before he starting work on Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. It seems as though the technology has finally done just that, though, because the latest trailer for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets is utterly resplendent. You can check out recent footage of the sci-fi epic by simply clicking below. It'll be the best thing that you do all day.

Of course, the big question now is whether or not you can truly tell the difference between the visuals in the trailer for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets and the trailer for The Fifth Element. You can take a long hard at the latter by watching the original trailer for The Fifth Element right here.

I think that's a resounding yes. Even though Luc Besson has already dipped his toes into the Valerian universe, he's revealed that he has no intention of retreating just yet. As CinemaBlend previously reported, the French director is currently in the process of writing a sequel for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets that he hopes to put into production if the first film is a success. We'll see if Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets is just that when it's finally released on July 21.

Most people remain on the fence regarding the use of 3D in movies. The problem is when it's incorporated seamlessly, lulling viewers into a film and making them truly feel part of the action, it almost goes unnoticed. Unfortunately, people only really pay attention when it become too gratuitous and makes them feel queasy. So, I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive going into a special presentation of the brand new trailer for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets on Monday (the trailer should land online shortly), which was being held in a cinema so that the 3D could truly sing. I'm pleased to say that it did just that, though, and it instantly reminded me of the power that this divisive cinematic enhancement can really have.

Set in the distant future and across a number of eclectic terrains, Luc Besson's adaptation of Pierre Christin and Claude Mezieres' sci-fi comic book series clearly contained the perfect material to fully utilize the 3D technology. In under three minutes, we zip from a desert landscape to a huge spaceship in the outer regions of space, then down into an underwater abyss, while there's a variety of foreign and alien objects and creations that provide the opportunity for prolonged depth of field, too. For the time being at least, there was a lack of items crashing out of the screen and making you cower. But considering how the use of this device is so often misused, that's probably for the best.

But it's not just the use of depth of field that truly impressed me with Luc Besson's Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets trailer. Because it was really the trailer's use of color, and how it went from blindingly bright to moodily murky, that truly beguiled, as it suggested that Besson and his Valerian team have done a pitch perfect job of juxtaposing the playfulness of the story and genre with a menace and terror that's inherent in films set out in space.

While it's obviously way too early to declare Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets a triumph, the success of creating a trailer that both sets out the stall of its plot and showcases its 3D in an eye-catching and gripping manner is worth celebrating. Speaking from my own personal experience, I've repeatedly found myself more than nonplussed with trailers that overzealously incorporate 3D. The first trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming genuinely made me feel like I was going to throw up my popcorn over the person sat in front of me. Sorry for that visual.

With 3D still proving to be so divisive amongst audiences, and Hollywood studios intent on releasing films with it at their fulcrum, it's well worth lauding the times when the technology is used proficiently. Even if it is admittedly only in a trailer. We'll get to see if Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets can build upon this success when it's released into cinemas on July 21.

Check out the first trailer for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets on the next page.

Luc Besson has been hard at work on Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets for several years now. The director even previously admitted that he has been thinking about an adaptation of the French science fiction comic since as far back as 1997, when he was working on The Fifth Element. But now that he's been able to dip his toes into this world, the French filmmaker doesn't want to stop, as he's now admitted that he's already working on the script for a potential Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets sequel. Besson explained:

Luc Besson made this admission to myself and a group of other journalists in New York City on Monday morning after we attended an early screening of the newest trailer for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. During this discussion, he also pointed out that he has a wealth of choice when it comes to selecting the source material for a potential follow-up, as the comic book series ran from 1967 all the way to 2010. Clearly he has a few at the forefront of his mind, too, as Besson teased to us that he's already made his decision regarding the stores he'd like to focus on in a potential future film. However, he rather wisely refused to divulge the names of them.

Clearly the French director had a delightful time working with Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, who play Valerian and Laureline, respectively, on Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. Not only did he note that he particularly enjoyed watching their on-screen chemistry develop through the film, but he even candidly confessed that doing so made him particularly weepy. You can get a sense of DeHaan and Delevingne's camaraderie in the film, as well as just how visually resplendent and action-packed it looks, by watching the very first trailer for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets below.

Of course, certain things need to happen before a sequel for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets is greenlit. The most important of which is it grossing well over the $180 million that the studios spent bringing it to the big-screen. We'll see if Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets can do just that when it's finally released later this summer on July 26. Meanwhile, stick close to CinemaBlend for further updates regarding Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, and its impending new trailer, over the next few days.

NBC's new action-packed drama Taken is, of course, a prequel to the series of movies that follow professional badass Bryan Mills as he travels the world rescuing folks who've been, well, taken. It turns out that this is a peek into the character's background that we never knew we needed. We meet Mills 30 years before his well-known film adventures (made memorably famous by tough guy actor Liam Neeson), and while he's still a man with "a very particular, and very dangerous, set of skills," he's not yet quite so boastful as to announce that to everyone he meets. But, if you get on his bad side, he sure will show you.

Taken opens with former Green Beret Bryan Mills (here played by Clive Standen of Vikings) minding his own sweet business when he notices some very bad men are about to start a dangerous amount of ruckus on a commuter train. Being who he is, though, he obviously refuses to do nothing, but, when the dust settles, he realizes that those men were there for him. As you might imagine, someone who was frequently involved in special military operations for many years would end up on the hit list of a big time bad guy or two, and one has finally decided to come gunning for Mills.

His heroics on the train catch the attention of Christina Hart (Jennifer Beals), who runs a team of CIA operatives who deal with cases so tricky and dangerous that they, officially, don't exist. When she and her team put together that the head of a major drug cartel is after Mills, they follow him in the hopes that he'll lead them to their big fish. It isn't long before they see just how capable Mills is at protecting himself and others, and Hart invites him to join her outfit.

I was able to preview four episodes of Taken, which comes from executive producer Luc Besson (who also wrote the original film trilogy), and I will tell you that people do, indeed, get taken on this show...a lot. But, I really appreciated how sly the show is about those abductions. I didn't even fully realize that someone had been kidnapped in every show I'd seen until halfway through Episode 4, which was mainly about getting a kidnapped girl back to her single father. Taken wisely doesn't have a kidnapping at the center of every show; that would get old really quick. So, instead, what they do is have the main plot of getting the conspirator/kingpin/terrorist be subtly backed up by someone getting (I have to say it at least once) tooken.

One of the things I like about Taken is that, aside from the main character and his deadly talents, it actually bears little resemblance to the movies. Mainly, this is because Mills isn't lone-wolfing it through these adventures, he's got a very highly trained and very capable boss and team working with him. Bryan Mills is the focus of the show, so you can best believe that he still does a shit-ton of ass-kicking, but, even when he's briefly going it alone, you know that the team will be there for solid backup when needed. Also, we never run into a situation where Mills has, personally, killed or maimed so many henchmen that you have to suspend a significant amount of disbelief that he hadn't met his match yet.

Having said that, though, one thing I do wish that Taken did a bit better was show just how skilled this team was. His co-workers, who include analysts Becca (Monique Gabriela Curnen), Riley (Jennifer Marsala) and Faaron (Simu Liu), and field agents John (Gaius Charles), Dave (Jose Pablo Cantillo), Rem (James Landry Hébert) and Scott (Michael Irby), clearly know what they're doing. But, I would have liked at least a couple scenes where one or more of them got to shine in a fight scene, mostly because I like the idea of this younger Bryan Mills being able to learn something from these guys, especially since he's new to this kind of team.

Taken is far more tense and suspenseful than the procedurals that fill the airwaves these days, and in that way it's a lot more like watching an action movie than most of the cop/detective shows on the air now. There were quite a few moments where I could feel that something was going to happen, but had no idea what it would be or which direction the threat would come from. Taken also has a couple of overarching plots that really have me interested to see how they will develop into situations that will require the famous set of skills we all know and love.

Taken premieres Monday, February 27 at 10 p.m. EST on NBC. To see what else you can catch in the coming weeks, check out our midseason premiere schedule and Netflix premiere schedule.

In addition to featuring some insanely cool sci-fi visuals, one of the best things about the brand new trailer for Luc Besson's Valerian and the City Of A Thousand Planets is the music. Believe it or not, the preview's use of "Because" by The Beatles is the first time that a master recording from the band has been featured in a film advertisement. Because of this, you'd think that it would have been a particularly tricky process to acquire the rights to the music -- but the simple reason it worked out was because Paul McCartney apparently digs the writer/director's work and wanted to contribute to a fresh artistic venture.

I learned the story behind the song choice in the trailer when I had the pleasure of sitting down with Luc Besson during a recent visit to the edit bay for Valerian and the City Of A Thousand Planets. After having the chance to screen the teaser, I asked Besson about the process of getting the rights to The Beatles track -- and he noted that it actually wasn't ultimately very hard. The director explained,

Not only does the use of "Because" by The Beatles lend the trailer for Valerian and the City Of A Thousand Planets a distinct Guardians of the Galaxy, it's also just perfect background for the footage being presented. Not only are the lyrics quite fitting (the line "it blows my mind" being incredibly relevant), but just its soft tone helps accentuate the weirdness and epic-ness of everything that's going on in the teaser. Please do yourself a favor and give it another watch below:

Luc Besson didn't mention if we can expect the Beatles song to actually play in the movie -- which follows a pair it spatio-temporal agents (Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne) as they investigate the fishy goings-on behind the scenes in the city of Alpha, a location where more than a hundred species from around the universe cohabitate and work together. Given how well the track works in the preview, we hope that it does play at some point in the film, working alongside the score from composer Alexandre Desplat.

Valerian and the City Of A Thousand Planets is still quite a ways away from release -- set to hit theaters on July 21, 2017 -- but be sure to stay tuned here on Cinema Blend for more updates about the movie!

Valerian has been an important part of almost all of writer/director Luc Besson's life. Not only has he been a fan of the French Valerian and Laureline comics since he was 10 years old (describing Laureline as his first love), he has even closely collaborated with its creators in the past, working alongside artist Jean-Claude Mézières on 1997's The Fifth Element. Because of this, it's curious that it's taken this long for the filmmaker to actually make a movie based on the material -- but this is because he believed that it truly would have been an impossible task for the longest time. It wasn't until he saw James Cameron's Avatar in 2009 that he changed his mind and recognized that technology had gotten to where it needed to be to tell the story properly.

In anticipation of the brand new Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets trailer that dropped earlier this morning, I had the pleasure to visit the blockbuster's edit bay last week, and talk at length with the film's creator about the process getting the movie made. Recognizing that Valerian and Laureline co-creator Jean-Claude Mézières worked with Besson on The Fifth Element, I asked if this new movie was something he was thinking about back in the late 1990s -- and he explained the long road the project took and the ultimate impact that Avatar had about possibilities. Said Besson,

Watching the trailer for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, it's pretty obvious that Luc Besson's assessment of the available technology post-Avatar was spot on. While the filmmaker told me that the film is still very far from being done (having only completed about 10 percent of the total visual effects shots in the film), the teaser shows off a surprisingly large number of the different and amazingly-rendered extraterrestrial beings that the blockbuster will showcase. In case you missed it earlier, or just want to watch it again, you can catch it in the embed below:

Say what you will about Avatar as a film, but there is no denying the influential impact that it's had on filmmakers, and the doors its opened for projects once thought to be impossible. Of course, technology has continued to come a long way since 2009, and just about every modern blockbuster now takes full advantage of it, but James Cameron's film was a truly landmark film, and that's proven just by the fact that we're still seeing the release of movies like Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets that were able to move forward because of it.

Following that teaser trailer, Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets is now a very significant dot on our radar for 2017 -- though we do have to wait a little while for its release. The Luc Besson movie will be dropping in theaters on July 21, 2017 -- but in the meantime, stay tuned for more from my interview with the director!

Earlier this week, we exclusively had the chance to give all of you lovely readers a sneak peek at Luc Besson's Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets - specifically by showcasing a first look at one of the many amazingly cool alien species that will populate the film. As cool as that was, today is the day we've really been looking forward to, however, as we now get to share with you the first trailer for the movie. And looking like a hybrid of The Fifth Element and Guardians of the Galaxy, it will absolutely blow your mind.

I hope that you've now watched this trailer multiple times just to soak in all of the awesome-ness. There is nothing not to absolutely fall in love with here, from the perfect use of "Because" by The Beatles (the first time a Beatles master recording has been licensed for a trailer), to breathtaking visuals. Admittedly it doesn't provide us much in terms of narrative or plot, but that's what the second trailer is for. This teaser is just meant to give us a taste of what Valerian And the City Of A Thousand Planets is bringing to the table, and it has us instantly at attention and counting down the days to release.

Based on the French Valerian And Laureline comics by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières, the Luc Besson film brings us into a fresh sci-fi world where we follow the adventures of Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne), who operate as spatio-temporal agents protecting the universe from all kinds of threats. Under orders from their commander (Clive Owen), they are sent to Alpha, which is an intergalactic city that brings together thousands of different alien species from the farthest reaches of the galaxy. While Alpha is primarily a peaceful place, where a harmony is found in cooperation, there are operations going on behind the scenes that could undermine everything for which it stands.

Luc Besson notably got his break directing assassin films like Nikita and The Professional, but over the years he has contributed a great deal to the science-fiction genre, and Valerian and the City Of A Thousand Planets looks like it could be another fun genre winner for the filmmaker. Of course, his greatest work in this arena to date is 1997's The Fifth Element, but it's worth noting that the amazing look and design of that movie was inspired by Besson's collaboration with Valerian co-creator Jean-Claude Mézières in the production design department.

Hit the comments section to tell us what you think of the first trailer for Valerian and the City Of A Thousand Planets, get ready for the film to land in theaters on July 21, 2017, and be sure to stay tuned here on Cinema Blend for a lot more about the blockbuster!

In his new film Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, writer/director Luc Besson will be introducing audiences to more than a hundred new and different alien species, brought to life with a mix of practical effects, performance capture, and digital magic. What you probably won't notice, however, is that Besson got a few of his filmmaker friends to play some of these special extraterrestrial characters -- including Incredible Hulk and Transporter series director Louis Leterrier as a member of the species Kortan Dahuk (which you can get your first look at below).

I had the pleasure of learning all about the Kortan Dahuk and Louis Leterrier's part when I had the amazing opportunity recently to visit the edit bay for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets and sit down one-on-one with Luc Besson to talk about his newest film. After screening an early look at the debut trailer that will be dropping this Thursday (it will totally blow your mind), I was taken to a small workstation where I got to see a breakdown of how the director and his team have brought his aliens to life -- from Leterrier's performance on set to the finished version you see above. Besson made special note of the way that Leterrier shifted his weight while walking -- accentuating the species' non-human physiology -- and expressed real pride in the beautiful orange and blue coloration.

But if you think that's the extent of the information that I learned about the Kortan Dahuk, you couldn't possibly be more wrong.

As part of building the world of Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, which is based on the beloved French comic series by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières, Luc Besson went as far as to actually create a 600-page bible that answers practically any question that anyone may have about the universe that has been constructed. This includes intimate details about every alien species that exists in the film, even if they only appear on screen for a moment. Because of this, I not only walked away from the edit bay with knowledge of how Besson went about bringing the Kortan Dahuk to life, but also a two-page fact sheet that has everything you could want to know about the species.

While there is far too much information to all be spelled out here, the story of the Kortan Dahuk is actually really beautiful -- even if we don't wind up learning anything about it within the runtime of Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. The orange and blue aliens hail from a planet known as Kas-ônar, which is 5,000 lightyears away from Earth and has three suns that produce stunning sunsets and colorful winds. Being from a planet of such incredible splendor, the Kortan Dahuk have a powerful appreciation for art, and their entire society is "organized around the quest for harmony and beauty." It's this cultural mission that actually makes the Kortan Dahuk known as one of the best traveled species in the universe, as there is a rich history of them going from system to system searching out new cultures.

It's this part of the Kortan Dahuk history that's particularly significant for humans, as they were actually the first extraterrestrials to make contact with the people of Earth. The peaceful nature of the aliens has led to a peaceful relationship with humanity, and this extends to their coexistence -- alongside many, many other aliens -- in the intergalactic city of Alpha (which is the City Of A Thousand Planets mentioned in the title). In Alpha, the Kortan Dahuk exist as influential ambassadors and important figures -- which means that we may be seeing a good amount of them on screen as we watch Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) fulfill their duties as special operatives and maintain order in the universe.

A devoted fan of the source material who has been working on the live-action adaptation for years, Luc Besson is building something incredibly epic and detailed in the making of Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, and based on what I've seen and heard, it looks like he's putting together something special. You're all definitely going to want to tune in when the first trailer for the sci-fi blockbuster drops this Thursday, but also be on the lookout for more from my interview with Luc Besson!

Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets arrives in theaters on July 21, 2017.

2012's Lockout has proven to be more hassle that it was worth for Luc Besson. Sure it grossed $32.2 million, but it still cost $20 million to make. Plus it only received mixed reviews. And now to top it all off, Luc Besson himself has been found guilty of plagiarising Escape From New York and ordered to pay $500,000 to John Carpenter as a result.

According to reports courtesy of Yahoo News, Luc Besson himself has always denied that The Lockout borrowed heavily from Carpenter's 1981 classic. But the French judge told The Fifth Element and Taxi director that the similarities between the two films were too much to dismiss.

A court in Paris insisted that Lockout had "massively borrowed key elements" of both Escape From New York and its sequel Escape From L.A. And even though this is a rare case of plagiarism between two films between proven in court (similarities are usually dismissed as homages or evidence is circumstantial), Luc Besson himself came out and insisted that "the judges have spoken and we will accept their judgement," even though he admitted that he was "very surprised by the ruling."

But have Luc Besson and the team behind Lockout been harshly adjudged? Or was the evidence so overwhelming that something simply had to be done?

Well, let's take a look. Set in 2079, Lockout sees Guy Pearce play the wrongly convicted Snow, a former government agent who is offered the chance for freedom in exchange for rescuing the President's daughter Emilie (Maggie Grace) from an orbital prison that has been taken over by its inmates.

For those of you that haven't seen Escape From New York, which is right up there with the best that John Carpenter has ever overseen. The film is set in 1997 (give it a break it was made in 1981) and revolves around Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken, an ex-soldier that's now in prison. His character is tasked with retrieving the President Of The United States from Manhattan island, which has been converted into a maximum security prison.

I'll leave you to make up your own mind regarding the films. But the judges were adamant that since the films featured their heroes using a glider/space shuttle to the prison, finding briefcases that were integral to the plot, both films' sidekicks die, and both sets of villains were led by a chief with a peculiar right arm, Luc Besson should pay up.

Numerous reviews for Lockout made reference to just how familiar its plot was to the John Carpenter action extravaganza. Just check out CinemaBlend's own review for Lockout. This provoked Carpenter, co-writer Nick Castle, and Studio Canal to launch the lawsuit against Besson, his fellow Lockout screenwriters James Mathers and Stephen St. Ledger, and Europacorp.

John Carpenter was originally after 2.2 million euros, which comes to around $2.4 million. But last year when the French court found in favor of the Halloween filmmaker, Luc Besson was only ordered to pay 85,000 euros. Despite this leniency Besson appealed, as he insisted that the decision was a "block on artistic freedom," and that Escape From New York itself stole from Rio Bravo and Mad Max. The court disagreed with this assessment, and now Besson has been ordered to pay over five times the amount originally asked of him.

What do you think of this legal battle? Sound off in the comments below.

Luc Besson's The Fifth Element is a seriously weird movie. There's no other way to look at it, and I'm not disparaging the film at all. In fact, I think that's what makes the movie so iconic. The 1997 sci-fi adventure has become a bona fide genre classic, but the world has changed quite a bit since Besson first brought it to theaters. It's a change that has not gone unnoticed by the French filmmaking legend as he prepares to finally bring the endlessly bizarre Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets to the silver screen.

Luc Besson took to Hall H stage this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con and compared the world of today to the world of twenty years ago when he released The Fifth Element. He said:

In his own opinion, Luc Besson thinks that The Fifth Element was incredibly ahead of its time when it landed on the scene in 1997. The sci-fi tale of a futuristic cab driver protecting a lethal yet innocent alien woman proved itself as a modest success and subsequently became a cult classic as the years wore on. Science fiction has evolved since then with the increasing popularity of comic books and nerd culture, so Besson seems to think that Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has a chance to immediately make an impression on audiences who have come to expect that sort of weirdness from the genre.

We've actually seen exclusive Comic-Con footage of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and we have to say that we think it definitely captures the same weird sprit of The Fifth Element. It's got the hallmarks of a Luc Besson sci-fi classic: snappy dialogue, vibrant colors, exotic creatures, and even Rihanna as an alien stripper. In true Besson fashion, the project is based upon a relatively obscure (but equally beloved) science fiction graphic novel that likely wouldn't even have had a chance at getting a green light twenty years ago.

If Luc Besson is right about this, then we can likely expected Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets to be one of the movies to watch next summer. We will bring you more information concerning the sci-fi epic as more details become available to us. Valerian will hit theaters on July 21, 2017.

Last year, despite minimal fanfare, Luc Besson’s imaginative spin on femme-fatale ass-kickery, Lucy became a $458 million global sensation. Yet, those imaginative events in the film also seemingly rendered it a one-and-done affair. However, a recent presentation from Besson’s production company reveals that a sequel is, indeed, in the works.

At the CineEurope convention in Barcelona, Spain, the presentation for Besson’s Paris-based EuropaCorp unveiled a number of their upcoming titles. However, in a rather understated, but nevertheless intriguing final side-note, a Lucy sequel was reportedly revealed to be part of that cinematic lineup. That, unfortunately was the extent of the revelation, with the tide of speculation now left adrift, wondering if star Scarlett Johansson will be returning for the fantastical follow-up.

While Besson was not on hand to further expound on the exciting admission, it does come to represent no less than a complete 180 degree turn from his on-the-record opinion regarding a prospective Lucy sequel. As Besson told THR last year:

Of course, Besson’s views on the matter reflected how things played out in the movie. Spoilers from here on out, if you haven't seen Lucy. The film saw Johansson’s reluctant drug mule, Lucy gain extraordinary physical and cognitive abilities after a supply of an experimental drug surgically stashed in her body became ruptured. Throughout the course of the film, her abilities expand exponentially, as she dispatched the film’s array of wretched gangsters with ease, evolving to a point where her command of space and time had her essentially ascended to a virtual god of sorts. In the end of the film, she has little need for her fetching corporeal vessel (what a waste) and embeds her newly-ubiquitous essence into the very fabric of the universe, itself.

Thus, as Besson previously intimated, a sequel would seemingly make little sense. With the protagonist having become a formless entity of sorts, it might be a bit bizarre and ham-handed for the franchise to come back to the well, having Lucy save the world by the rudimentary means of being reconstituted once again as a sexy femme-fatale to decimate legions of armed ne’er-do-wells with cosmic karate. Yet, with the sequel confirmed by Besson’s company, we just might expect such a premise, seeing as it’s the only one that’s feasibly workable without taking a dramatic detour into the arena of hard science-fiction; a tone shift that might be problematic for a sequel to a film that marketed itself successfully as an action vehicle.

Certainly, a prospective return by Scarlett Johansson would help the Lucy sequel’s chances as far as marketability and continuity. However, it’s possible that she may not want to risk typecasting herself as a generic go-to femme fatale type. This is especially relevant seeing as she continues to play Black Widow in the vast array of Avengers-connected Marvel movies, with no end currently in sight and will soon round the action-centric anime adaptation, Ghost in the Shell. Whether or not an encore performance as the drug-mule-turned-deity lines up with her continuing career vision remains to be seen.

Last summer, French action auteur Luc Besson had one of his biggest hits with the Scarlett Johansson-fronted sci-fi actioner Lucy. Sticking with the genre for his next outing, he’s adapting the popular French comic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and bringing along a couple budding young stars Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan along for what promises to be an epic production and what he calls the "biggest challenge" of his filmmaking career.

Besson has never been on social media before, but went whole hog today in order to announce Valerian to the world. The 56-year-old Fifth Element director took to Twitter to unveil the first logo for the film:

Over on his brand-spanking-new Facebook page, Besson offered up a longer explanation of the project, as well as his motivations for attempting to bring this story that he loves to life:

While the 800 days of work he mentions surely includes various stages of pre and post production, as well as the actual filming of the movie, that is still in hell of an undertaking. Principle photography is set to kick off at the end of this year, and they have their eye on a release in the summer 2017 neighborhood. But it also sounds like this will more than be worth the wait.

If your not familiar with Valerian, it garners frequent comparisons to Star Wars and Star Trek, which aren’t bad things to be associated with for a sci-fi property. Created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres in 1967, the title has sold more than ten million copies, and tells the story of the adventures of Valerian (DeHaan) and his gorgeous, sharp-witted partner Laureline (Delevingne). They explore the planet Syrte, the capital of a system with 1000 worlds, trying to figure out if the Syrtians are a threat to Earth. They discover an empire in decline, led by a debauched ruling class who lives in opulence, a mysterious class of masked wise men, and a population primed for revolt. Before long, Earth will have to choose a side.

This sounds like an epic, promising space opera that will translate like gangbusters to the big screen. We know that Luc Besson can handle sprawling action on this scale, and Delevingne and DeHaan are both charismatic young actors to have in the lead. By the time Valerian hits, we’ll already have seen her as part of Suicide Squad, where she plays Enchantress. DeHaan, who first made waves with Chronicle, has moved on to the likes of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and will even play a young Karl Rove in Young Americans (and let us not forget the weird post-apocalyptic Metallica concert movie).

This marks producers EurpaCorp’s most ambitious project to date, and with all kinds of crazy futuristic machines, exotic worlds and peoples, and complex, crazy alien architecture from the comics, Valerian promises to be an epic, inventive time. Maybe it will be all of the things Jupiter Ascending wanted to be but wasn’t.

It looks like we’re going to give "Kevin Costner – leading man" one more shot.

The trailer and poster for 3 Days To Kill just popped up online, the latest joint from McG (Terminator: Salvation). Following in the stellar tradition of Aaron Eckhart’s Erased and Nicolas Cage’s Stolen this appears to be an effort to re-frame an older leading man as an invincible action badass not unlike Liam Neeson in Taken, mixed in with a little Crank just for good measure.

Opening on February 21st, this Relativity release sees Costner as a suave international spy looking to get out of the game. But in movies, spies never quit, and his retirement is interrupted by a steely boss (Amber Heard, naturally) who injects him with a cocktail that ensures he’ll die in three days. That is, unless he completes one final high octane-mission, one that sees him pursuing an evil terrorist while also attempting to bond with his daughter (Hailee Steinfeld).

Now that we’ve seen the trailer, it almost plays out like two movies. The first half portrays this as a straightforward actioner, with Costner as the slick shit-kicker we’ve seen in thousands of these types of films already. Heard seems to relish camping it up as if she were still in Machete Kills and by the sounds of it, she gets to say the title out loud a few times. Costner, at least, still seems like the kind of actor that can convincingly ground these theatrics, though unlike Neeson and his ilk, it doesn’t seem like Costner lifted a single weight or ran even one mile to prepare for the action theatrics.

Of course, that second half of the trailer is where the dumb comedy starts, and it’s revealed that this isn’t some tongue-in-cheek genre re-invention, but a full-on goofball convention. Will there be moments where Costner has to do one lethal exciting thing while doing another, much more mundane thing? Is he going to burn breakfast because he was too busy torturing a henchman? Daaad! You’re the worst dad ever, Dad! Steinfeld deserves better, but so too does Connie Nielsen, so regal when we first met her in the early aughts, reduced to playing "the wife." The song in the trailer is Problem by Natalia Kills, a song that you can bet 100% that Kevin Costner has never ever ever heard, nor would he listen willingly.

McG’s a helluva talker, the kind of salesman you need to be to coax studios to part with their millions. This looks like a more modest b-movie than his last film, the deeply stupid This Means War, but the scale might be due to the influence of (oh hey!) Taken writer Luc Besson and his From Russia With Love collaborator Adi Hasak. At one point, you would have loved to see Besson tackle this sort of material, but after this year’s stillborn The Family, we’d have to say his semi-retirement didn’t do him any favors. Check out the new Kill poster. Will you go see this next year?

It's been 10 years since Bruce Almighty, but admit it-- you still think of Morgan Freeman as God. The actor has carried an undeniable authority for his entire career, even when he was squabbling with a prejudiced Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy, but his casting as God in Bruce Almighty somehow struck a chord-- since then it's been nearly impossible to see him in a movie without just assuming he knows everything and has the power to control the world.

Luc Besson will be getting a bit of that authority in Lucy, the thriller set to star Scarlett Johansson that now has Freeman on board to play a professor hunting down Johansson's titular character. According to The Wrap Lucy is a drug mule who becomes a super-powered ass-kicker thanks to a highly specialized drug that enters her system; even though she's able to see the future, move objects with her mind and not feel pain, Lucy is somehow also on a race against the clock to survive-- and Freeman's character is on the chase as well.

Besson produced the Zoe Saldana-led Colombiana, created Leeloo of The Fifth Element, cast Milla Jovovich as flippin' Joan of Arc and made Natalie Portman a pint-sized assassin in The Professional. You could say he knows his way around badass women, and all the credit in the world to him for continuing to craft movies around them, even though his biggest hit in recent years is the testosterone-heavy Taken (which he wrote but didn't direct). He's made a good pick with Johansson, too, since she obviously has her Black Widow experience to bring in as well. In fact, she'll be playing the roles back to back-- production on Lucy is set to start as soon as she finishes her duties on Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

As for Freeman, he's keeping plenty busy as well, having appeared in three movies already this year-- Oblivion, Olympus Has Fallen and Now You See Me-- and booking a bunch of new roles as well. Soon he'll team up with Diane Keaton for the first time for the romantic comedy Life Itself, and he's preparing to guide Johnny Depp in his transition into a supercomputer (or something) in Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence. Finally, this November you can watch him yuk it up Hangover style with Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas and Robert De Niro in Last Vegas, which opens November 1 opposite Ender's Game. You can watch that trailer below, but be warned-- next time you see Morgan Freeman on screen, he might not have as much gravitas as usual. It's hard to unsee him complaining about drinking Red Bull and vodka.

From Anne Parillaud in La Femme Nikita to Natalie Portman in Leon to Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element, director Luc Besson has made a career out of heading his action films with strong female characters, and today it appears that he may have found his next kick-ass heroine.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Scarlett Johansson, who was seen beating down alien scum in last year's The Avengers, is now in final negotiations to star in Lucy, the Besson's latest directorial effort based on a script he wrote himself. Should she sign on, Johannson would play a woman who is forced into being a drug mule, but finds strange side effects occur when the contraband accidentally gets into her system. Not only does she become what the trade describes as "an ass-kicking machine," she also gains telekinetic abilities, can absorb knowledge instantly and has the ability to completely block out all pain.

Besson recently wrapped production on the crime thriller Malavita, in which Robert De Niro plays a crime boss who is relocated to Normandy, France as part of the witness protection program, and finds himself having a hard time letting go of his old profession. Meanwhile, Johansson has just recently jumped back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Widow, having started production on Captain America: The Winter Soldier with Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Redford. She will next be seen in Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut Don Jon, which will be in theaters in October.

Whether or not you think Prometheus holds a candle to Alien, we can all agree on this: it's very, very good to see Ridley Scott returning to sci-fi. The director got his start in the genre before moving on to all kinds of different films, some great (Gladiator, Thelma & Louise), and more recently, a lot that were terrible (A Good Year, anybody?) The return to sci-fi with Prometheus seemed to revitalize Scott, get him back in touch with his younger self and help show a way that, even in his 70s, he could still be making some of the most exciting films out there.

So if it worked for Ridley, why not other directors? Everyone has a director they love who's seemed off their game in recent years, and we came up with 5 who don't just need a change of pace, but who need to get back to what they focused on in their younger years. Check out our suggestions below, and let us know of your own picks for directors who need to revisit their own pasts in the comments.

David Gordon Green

Not long ago I was firmly on the other side of this fence. Despite the success of Pineapple Express, not to mention a few great episodes of Eastbound & Down, the clamor for director David Gordon Green to return to his rural indie roots had already begun. It was quite a departure to see the man behind George Washington, Undertow and Snow Angels turn to stoner comedy, but since he was proving himself as deft at the broad blockbusters as he was at his deceptively simple and beautifully shot character stories, I simply saw no reason for him to look back. He had been there and done that (and done it quite well) so why not keep moving forward?

Well, my tune started to change as Eastbound grew increasingly old hat and Your Highness was a mixed bag at best, suggesting that his creative relationship with Danny McBride was perhaps starting to run dry and shooting something other than a comedy started to seem like a good idea. After the The Sitter, a film I actually turned off - and I turn nothing off - I was sure of it. The director could use some creative electroshock therapy and perhaps a return to his small town settings and intense, often familial, conflicts is just what David Gordon Green needs? His Suspiria remake, while not a return to his roots, at least offers the director a chance to shake things up but what I’d really love to see from him is a small dramedy. Perhaps Prince Avalanche, DGG’s secretive project starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch, based on the small Icelandic comedy Á Annan Veg (Either Way), is a step in the right direction?

Robert Zemeckis

Aside from Steven Spielberg, it's hard to think of anyone who brought more to mainstream films in the 80s than Robert Zemeckis. After getting his sea legs with the goofy Used Cars, he gave us four of the best adventure comedies of that decade, defining a genre that doesn't really even exist anymore. Between Romancing the Stone, the Back to the Future trilogy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Zemeckis created films with the broadest possible appeal that were also never dumb, uniting audiences by giving them something they all wanted: sheer, perfect entertainment.

But success, as it so often does, wound up leading him astray, first to sappy Oscar bait like Forrest Gump and Cast Away, and then directly into the uncanny valley, where the fascination with mixing live action and animation that began with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? led to expensive failed experiments like Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, and the outright disaster Mars Needs Moms (which he produced). He's returning to live action for Flight, which looks promising, but it's still more of a character drama than the kind of guns-blazing adventure that Zemeckis perfected in the 80s. Nobody really makes movies like those anymore-- maybe Zemeckis is the guy we've been waiting for to bring them back.

Luc Besson

Offering up colorful characters and breathtaking shootouts in worlds that were both incredibly dangerous and yet infused with a vibrant joie de vivre, French writer-director Luc Besson used to unleash some of the most exhilarating and inventive action movies the world had ever seen. Regrettably, his latest directorial efforts have been largely mired in the forgettable yet ongoing adventures of Arthur and the Invisibles. Still, there's hope on the horizon of a return to form with Besson prepping the crime-thriller Malavita, about a gangster in witness relocation. Of course, La Femme Nikita is great, but he's already revisited it through a remake (Point of No Return), a TV series, and two sort-of spiritual spin-offs (the classic Leon: The Professional and the flopped and forgotten Colombiana).

So if I had my druthers, Besson would return to the candy-colored world of The Fifth Element where hover cars fly around a sky-high metropolis, work uniforms are taken to a whole new level, and Gary Oldman is still one of the scariest things in the universe! The world(s) he laid out in this kinetic sci-fi action-comedy was so lush and expansive; it'd be easy to imagine entirely new stories within its purview. Of course, if Korben Dallas was set to ride again, I'd be more than on board with that as well.

Sam Raimi

Will the real Sam Raimi, please stand up? We’d really like to know if Raimi’s the quirky, gonzo indie director who helmed three masterful Evil Dead films, an animated (yet live-action) vengeance comic in Darkman, and an unpredictably unconventional Western in The Quick and the Dead? Is he a “serious” filmmaker content to explore “real” human emotions in manipulative, clichéd pap like For Love of the Game?

No clue. But we DO know we’d prefer Raimi to dabble in offbeat horror, even as he drifts further away from that format with each passing film. Raimi redefined the haunted-cabin template, changing the game so thoroughly that the equally brilliant Cabin in the Woods not-so-subtly shouted out to Evil Dead in multiple spots. Yet Raim regularly slips off this track, reaching for bigger-budgeted (and noticeably hollow) studio fare instead of streamlined and silly exercises in gory thrills.

Do we blame Spider-Man, particularly the misguided and oft-maligned third installment? Yes. But we thought Raimi was getting back on track. He purged the filth of Spider-Man 3 with the taut, terrifying Drag Me to Hell. Fans screamed, “He’s back!” Only he isn’t. Raimi’s collecting a studio paycheck by helming a Wizard of Oz prequel. Maybe it’s great. He just seems like the wrong talent for the job. Know what Raimi should tackle? The proposed Evil Dead reboot. Save us from a tired rehash of a story we’ve committed to memory. Take cues from Prometheus and give us an original spin on the story. There are signs Raimi wants this to happen. But wouldn’t it be great to see him back it up, and reclaim the genre he helped redefine in the first place?

Kevin Smith

Stupid people will tell you Kevin Smith is great when writing thoughtful, raunchy movies about New Jersey and shitty when writing about anything else, but the outspoken director’s filmography really doesn’t reflect that. Zach and Miri Make a Porno was great, and Red State is weird, clever and absolutely worth seeing. What Kevin Smith needs to do is start having some fucking fun making movies again. In 2010, he took a job directing Cop Out, which he was clearly less than excited doing. A year later, he self-released Red State after preemptively deciding most people would hate it, and now he’s supposedly retiring to do podcasts and wear out his Center Ice package after his upcoming hockey movie is released.

I miss the guy who wrote like a motherfucker and churned out hilarious shit because he was having too much goddamn fun hanging out with Scott Mosier, Jason Mewes and the rest of his buddies. If he doesn’t want to return to Jay & Silent Bob for awhile, I’m completely fine with that. I just want to see more joy and less rampant hate for the system. Maybe Hit Somebody will be universally acclaimed and make millions. Maybe a thousand people will see it. I don’t know, but regardless of what happens, I want to see Smith get back to writing brilliant, envelope-pushing dialogue he secretly laughs about with his buddies.

Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro have been in two movies together and have been very 50/50 so far. In 2007 they starred together in Stardust, a wonderful, underrated live-action fairy tale that helped introduce American audiences to director Matthew Vaughn. The other, unfortunately, was last year's New Year's Eve, which was an absolutely dreadful piece of work that neither acclaimed star should have had anything to do with. Hopefully, their third time working together will be more successful.

Variety has learned that Pfieffer is now in talks to join Malavita, the new film from director Luc Besson that already has De Niro attached. The project is based on the book "Badfellas" by Tonino Benacquista and is about a mafia family that gets relocated to France as part of the witness protection program. It's a fish out of water comedy that sees the family slowly begin to fall back into old habits. Pfieffer will play the mother of the family - and De Niro's wife - who "has a penchant for arson when crossed."

Besson will be making the film as his follow-up to last year's The Lady, which didn't earn much attention during awards season got got a lot of positive notice from critics. He will also be adapting Benacquista's novel himself and producing along with Relativity Media. Production on the project is scheduled to begin in August and the plan is to release it some time in 2013 (though no official release date has been set yet).

With those pouty lips, the intense stare and her shapely figure, Angelina Jolie looks like an animated Disney villainess … and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Her casting as Sleeping Beauty nemesis Maleficent in a reimagining of the same name sounds pretty perfect, and so I’m excited to hear that – after months of misdirection – the actress confirmed that Maleficent will be her next project.

Speaking over the weekend at the Berlin International Film Festival, where her directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey screened out of competition, Jolie told THR, “I haven’t acted in two years, and I haven’t done anything else since this [meaning Honey]. The next thing I am looking at is a Disney movie.” In the interview, she also confirmed that a Luc Besson project she had been circling was now back in limbo.

We noted a few weeks back that Disney had hired Robert Stromberg to make his directorial debut on the project (after Tim Burton and a handful of other name had passed). As Katey pointed out at the time, Stromberg worked under Burton on his Alice In Wonderland, and it looks like the studio would like Maleficent to mirror that film’s formula and – hopefully – it’s box office success.

I think, however, that it has two other fairy tale features to compete against, namely Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror, both of which will be in theaters at some point this year. The two Snow White films place extreme emphasis on their evil queens, played by Charlize Theron and Julia Roberts, respectively. And while I don’t doubt that Jolie can carve her own unique approach to a wicked Disney villain, I wonder if audiences will have A-list villainess fatigue by the time Maleficent finally hits theaters.

The latest trend in Hollywood (outside of remake, prequels and sequels) finds studios latching on to a foreign action thriller – The Raid, Sleepless Night – and producing an American version. The same seems to be happening to Pierre Morel’s District B13, though significant strands of the creative thread will remain in place while the action shifts from Paris to the States.

Deadline reports that Paul Walker is in negotiation to head up a version of the nimble, violent, Parkour-heavy thriller that would be set in a large American city, likely Chicago. But according to the site, Walker would team up with original District B13 co-star David Belle, who would be playing a different character than the one he played in Morel’s original and its sequel. The plot of this new film, titled Brick Mansions, also would follow an undercover detective who must enter one of the city’s worst neighborhoods to unearth a stolen weapon of mass destruction.

Fans ready to balk at what they fear might be a watered-down version of the hard-hitting film they worship will be pleased to know that legendary Luc Besson, a credited writer on both District films, appears to be the driving force behind this new effort. He even has handpicked one of his protégés to helm the U.S. version, though Deadline could not report who the chosen director will be at this time.

Still, if Besson is involved I feel better about an American District B13. And if you need a fit, white male to sprint through explosive action sequences and gritty fights, you can do worse than Walker, who reportedly would film Brick Mansions before diving into a sixth Fast and the Furious alongside Vin Diesel and The Rock.

When it was reported back in April that Maggie Grace would be returning for Taken 2, I began to have bad flashbacks to the second season of 24. While it was thrilling when Kiefer Sutherland had to save Elisha Cuthbert from evil captors in the first run, when it happened a second time it was uninspired and ridiculous. Now plot details have come out about the Olivier Megaton-directed sequel and, fortunately they're actually doing the complete opposite.

THR has learned that Rade Sherbedgia, whom folks might now as Boris 'The Blade' Yurinov in Snatch, the jacket-appreciating homeless man in Batman Begins and the Russian general in X-Men: First Class, has signed on to play the central villain of the new movie as well as some new information about the story. Sherbedgia will play a man named Murad, who is actually the father of the kidnapper Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) kills in the first movie. Exacting his revenge, Murad takes both Mills and his wife (Famke Janssen) hostage, leaving their daughter (Grace) to save them. The film was written by Robert Mark Kamen and Luc Besson.

While I am glad that they aren't just repeating the same plot from the first movie, there are two things that worry me about this. The first is that it would seem Mills is no longer the central character, which is a real shame because Liam Neeson being an absolute badass is what made the first Taken work so well. Secondly, the idea of script written and produced by Luc Besson featuring a killer female lead is something we've seen about a thousand times now, most recently in this past summer's Colombiana (which I didn't particularly enjoy). Hopefully there's more here than meets the eye and Taken 2 will be filled with as much Neeson-awesomeness as the first movie.

Given the constant stories about how few powerful, interesting lead roles Hollywood will give to women, it seems insanely lucky that we're about to get not one but two biopics about famous female political leaders. The higher-profile one, The Iron Lady, sees Meryl Streep bringing her typical chameleonic acting skills to the role of Margaret Thatcher-- that one hasn't really been seen by anyone yet, and comes to theaters later this year. But the more interesting one may very well turn out to be The Lady, a biopic starring Michelle Yeoh as Aung San Suu Kyi, a leader of the democratic movement in the military-controlled Burma who spent 15 years under house arrest before he release last year.

The facts are a little dizzying to sift through, and require understanding the Burmese politics and also the iron strength it takes for a woman to leave a cozy home in England, stay in her native Burma and sacrifice everything for her beliefs. So why not check out the movie's new trailer, which debuted at Yahoo and is also embedded below. Michelle Yeoh's already impressive performance will explain things better than I possibly could.

Directed by The Fifth Element and Leon: The Professional's Luc Besson, you can bet The Lady will focus on the action and the gun-powered drama behind any political revolution. But early word from the movie's premiere at the Toronto Film Festival suggests there's more going on here too, and that the performances from Yeoh and David Thewlis as her husband bring an extra element here. The Lady is getting a release this fall in time for Oscar consideration, but it's an open question as to whether new distributor Cohen Media Group can muster up the funds and immense manpower that an Oscar campaign requires these days. Either way they'll drum up attention for the movie, which looks plenty worthy of our support.

Seeing a short teaser for a film may not be enough to light the fires of excitement in your heart, but when the words Luc Besson appear on the screen that should be plenty to get you going. The legendary director delivered one of the greatest films of all-time, Leon: the Professional, and is the mind behind The Fifth Element which reinvigorated the sci-fi genre in the mid-90s.

The French director is back with The Lady, the incredible true story of Aung San Suu Kyi, the woman at the front of the Burmese democratic movement who spent years under house arrest as punishment for her beliefs. Check out the brief trailer below.

As you can see you don’t really get too much out of the trailer, but the beautiful imagery will hook you even if the political trappings of the story don’t. Leading the way in The Lady is Michelle Yeoh, who unfortunately will probably not be showing off her extraordinary martial arts skills as the Burmese leader. Opposite her starring as her husband will be David Thewlis, better known to most of us as Professor R.J. Lupin from the Harry Potter franchise.

The Lady will be premiering later this year at the Toronto Film Festival during one of the festival’s many gala events. The film will then be showing in France to a limited number of potential distributors should nothing come of its showing in Toronto. However, with Luc Besson at the helm, they shouldn’t have much trouble finding someone to put this one out. The Lady is scheduled to show September 12, 13, and 17, so check back around that time to learn whether or not the film has been picked up.

There's supposed to be a line that separates an actor’s personal life and belief system from his or her professional career. Just because performers like Anthony Hopkins and Christian Bale have played mass-murdering psychopaths in films like The Silence of the Lambs and American Psycho doesn’t mean that they are going to be a problem with the authorities somewhere down the line. But Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star Michelle Yeoh is running into obstacles with Burmese officials because of plans to play a key political figure in an upcoming biopic, and it could end up delaying the production.

Yeoh actually was deported from Burma earlier in the week when she arrived in Rangoon to work on director Luc Besson’s biopicof Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi. Yeoh planned to play Kyi in the film, titled The Lady, but found herself blacklisted by the Burma government because of her “presumed support” of the pro-democracy leader, Sky News reports.

Besson’s picture, which is in post-production, would be a love story centered around Kyi and her husband, Michael Aris (played by the great David Thewlis), who suffered through the former’s extraordinarily long house arrest – totaling just shy of 15 years – due to her opposition of the Burmese government. Apparently Burma’s State Protection Act allows the government to imprison persons for up to five years without a trial, and officials exercised that power to keep Kyi detained.

Now they are using their power to keep Yeoh out of the country. The actress had visited Burma earlier in the year to meet with Kyi. Let’s hope she obtained all of the research she needed to complete the role. Besson’s The Lady is due in theaters at the end of this year.

The selling points of the upcoming action thriller Colombiana are pretty clear. It's got Zoe Saldana, who is beautiful, and she spends the time avenging the death of her parents and killing bad guys, which is awesome. The movie, directed by Olivier Megaton and written by Luc Besson, doesn't seem to be going for subtlety or hiding its assets, and neither is the first poster, which popped up online today at IMP Awards. Take a look at it below.

I love the fact that Saldana is now a big enough star to merit the giant credit on the top of the poster, since I feel like she wasn't given nearly enough credit for the success of either Star Trek and Avatar. And again, I love the blatant obviousness of the tagline: "Revenge Is Beautiful." It ain't subtle, but that isn't really what you want when seeing a film with Besson's name attached anyway. Hopefully it will be like other recent Besson-produced efforts Taken and From Paris With Love-- dumb but undeniably enjoyable. Colombiana hits theaters on August 26; if you missed it the first time you might also want to check out the trailer that went online earlier this month.

Welcome back to FlixWorthy, your weekly guide to Netflix streaming. Yet again we're bringing you a handful of new or notable selections from Netflix's streaming catalogue. Some will be classics, some will be little-seen gems, some will be shows you might have missed, and some...some will be crap so awful they simply has to be seen to be believed. Here's what's FlixWorthy this week, kids.

Family Guy

(1999 - 2009, TV-PG, eight seasons available)

Ah, Family Guy. The show that wouldn't die. Bane of the Parents Television Council. The template for pretty much everything Seth MacFarlane has created since. You either love it or hate it, but there's no question that Family Guy has become a genuine phenomenon. South Park quite accurately mocked its short-attention-span style of cutaway humor (going so far as to suggest the show was written by manatees), and it's a style that can be annoying as hell if that's not your thing. Fortunately I fall more into the "I just snorted milk out my nose" camp than the "I want to kill Seth MacFarlane with a shovel" camp, so I'm happy to see that Netflix has added eight seasons of Family Guy to its streaming catalogue. It may be uneven and formulaic, but the adventures of the family Griffin have brought me to tears many a time over the years, and now they're on call on my 360 whenever I want to revisit them.

Double-Feature It With:

American Dad

(2005 - 2008, Not Rated, five seasons available)

And in good news for my wife, Netflix has also added five seasons of American Dad, which my wife still insists is the superior series. I hated the show for the first few episodes, but it's definitely grown on me and found its own identity over the years. Hell, it's worth it just for the Rapture episode.

V: The Original Miniseries

(1983, Not Rated, 197 min.)

The reimagined V series lost my interest about halfway through its freshman season, but every nostalgic bone in my body is itching to revisit the original. The original miniseries is still remembered as one of the most iconic TV moments of the '80s, launching the story of the too-good-to-be-true alien Visitors and the humans determined to reveal their sinister true motives to the gullible human populace. By most accounts, the full series and the Final Battle miniseries that followed lacked the impact of that original installment, but my memories of them are so vague that I'm curious to see how everything holds up. Honestly, after all these years the most vivid memory I retain about the show is the moment where the homeless guy watches one of the Visitors swallow a rat. "Here, mousey mousey..."

Double-Feature It With...

Stargate SG-1

(1997 - 2006, Not Rated, 10 seasons available)

Last week I mentioned that Netflix had added every Stargate series but the original. Clearly, I spoke too soon. All 10 seasons of SG-1 are now available, so you've got the makings of an ass-crippling Stargate marathon if you're up for it. Just remember to stock up on food and water, and move around now and then so you don't get bed sores.

The Kingdom

(1995 - 1997, Not Rated, two seasons available)

Some of you might remember an oddball, short-lived ABC series called Kingdom Hospital. Set in and around a Maine hospital with a history of tragedy and an infestation of the paranormal, the show was mainly notable for having Stephen King's name attached to it and for featuring a rather intimidating talking anteater. What you might not know is that Kingdom Hospital was actually based on this Danish drama created by auteur director Lars von Trier. Like its American remake, The Kingdom examines themes of science vs. supernatural as the doctors and staff of the hospital are confronted by inexplicable phenomena. While Kingdom Hospital was often more odd than affecting, it had its charms and I was sorry to see it go and leave behind lots of unanswered questions. Maybe I'll finally find some answers by checking out the original. If the first series floats your boat, the second is available as well.

Double-Feature It With:

Torchwood

(2006 - 2008, Not Rated, two seasons available, HD)

Slightly less ominous, considerably more dashing, Torchwood examines a different group of folks who confront the paranormal head on -- namely the super-secret Torchwood organization, under the leadership of the unflappable, sexually omnivorous Captain Jack Harkness. Both seasons of this Doctor Who spin-off are available streaming, as well as the Children of Earth miniseries. Catch up before the show makes its move to Starz for the new season.

Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures

(2001, Not Rated, 84 min., HD)

For those of you who have never gained the acquaintance of inventor and cheese aficionado Wallace and his loyal, long-suffering dog Gromit, you're in for a treat. Created by animator Nick Park, the various adventures of Wallace & Gromit are unabashedly charming and fun, bringing out all the character their squishy, claymation origins can provide. This set includes three of the duo's short adventures: A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave, and finds W & G traveling to the moon, battling evil penguins, and dealing with a robotic sheep dog. Wrong Trousers and Close Shave both won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, and A Grand Day Out was nominated for the same award but lost out to Creature Comforts...also, coincidentally, the creation of Nick Park.

Double-Feature It With:

Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death

(2008, Not Rated, 30 min., HD)

This recent Wallace & Gromit outing has the pair opening a windmill-powered bakery, but then having to put on their crime-solving caps when other local bakers begin disappearing.

La Femme Nikita

(1990, Rated R, 117 min., HD)

As part of Hollywood's continued ransacking of not-too-distant film and television history, Luc Besson's 1990 action thriller La Femme Nikita is being repurposed into a CW action series starring the delightfully multicultural Maggie Q (not to be mistaken for Jackie Q). The original film casts Anne Parillaud as Nikita, a junkie who is transformed into a killer by a secret government organization. How much resemblance the new series (now dubbed merely Nikita) will bear to the original source material remains to be seen, although both have already shown a fondness for leggy shots of the lead in their promotional materials. For historicity's sake, it should also be noted that the movie has already been adapted for the small screen once before, as the mid-'90s USA Network series adapted by 24 co-creator Joel Surnow and starring Peta Wilson as Nikita. Regardless of how well the new series turns out, the original film is an action classic for a reason.

Double-Feature It With...

Subway

(1985, Rated R, 102 min.)

If you're wanting to dig into the Besson deep cuts, you can follow Nikita up with this 1985 cult classic starring erstwhile Highlander (and unconvincing Scot) Christopher Lambert as a safecracker named Fred who moves into the Paris Metro tunnels while blackmailing his former boss' wife with some incriminating documents.

To read the FlixWorthy archives, click here!

There's no young actress working today who's better at the action heroine thing than Zoe Saldana, and she knows it. While we can still hold out hope that Lt. Uhura gets to kick more ass in Star Trek 2, Saldana is moving on to another action project in the meantime, in early negotiations to start in Columbiana for producer Luc Besson and Transporter 3 director Olivier Megaton.

According to THR, Saldana would star as a Colombian woman who becomes an assassin after witnessing her parents' murder as a child. After training as a hitman for her uncle, she takes on other vigilante murders that lead her to the ultimate target, the mobster who killed her parents to begin with. It's classic revenge cinema brought to its most basic level, but the male-heavy audiences who see these movies will probably be so engrossed by Saldana's mile-long legs they won't even notice.

Saldana's performance in Avatar demonstrated some serious dramatic acting chops, but I can't blame her for going the action route-- she's young, she's hot, and there's been a void for female action heroes ever since Angelina Jolie started adopting all those kids. I just hope she doesn't get caught in some gun-toting ghetto, where 10 years later we find her making Columbiana 10 and wondering where she went wrong. Luc Besson can be convincing, we're sure, so keep your head up Zoe!

When John Travolta enters a room, time stops. Okay, not literally, but the guy’s got an unprecedented presence to match his extraordinary film career. Luckily he came in with a full head of hair rather than sporting a shiny bald melon like his character in From Paris With Love, Charlie Wax. Could you imagine how overwhelming that would have been? Still, between Travolta and co-stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Kasia Smutniak as well as director Pierre Morel and writer Luc Besson, the room was filled with a tremendous amount of talent.

From Paris with Love is a thriller about an eccentric and trigger-happy spy (Travolta) who whisks away his more docile young apprentice on an assignment to stop a terrorist attack. It’s as intense as it sounds. There’s bullets flying, bad guys dying and even a cocaine shower. Check out what the group said about designing John’s unconventional character, working in Paris, a Travolta family cameo and more.

John, what’d you do to prepare for this role?

Travolta: It was beautifully written, so he was easy to fill because the verbiage was so ideal for me to attack. The look was very important in this movie. We saw Soldier of Fortune covers where these guys are suddenly, I don’t know why, but very glamorous looking with scarves, shaved heads and goatees. It was brave to take it all off, but I think we decided that was the only way it would work is to be bold with it and go all the way.

We’re so defined by our hair. What was it like when you first looked in the mirror after shaving your hair off?

Travolta: Pierre and I did a superimposed-type – what do you call it when you?

Morel: We did a Photoshop thing. We tried to erase John’s hair, we did different types of goatees. We did a little chemistry before.

Travolta: Then we had to get approval from Luc, of course!

Morel: Did we? [Laughs]

Travolta: And Luc loved it right away, but, you see, you’re right. Film is a visual medium and I remember with Pulp Fiction it was my idea to do that kind of Dutch boy thing because [Vincent Vega] had spent time in Holland and I thought this would be this Euro-trash look. I remember Quentin [Tarantino] and the producer just thinking it was not a good idea and I said, ‘Well, can we just test it?’ And then the next day when they did a screen test on it I made sure it worked and then they loved it. But it was iconic, meaning it was a signature of the character. So when you design these things for the screening, they’re very important and not to be looked at as superficial at all.

Luckily you have a nice head!

Travolta: Oh yeah! Well, no bumps, no bumps. [Laughs]

What’s the difference between Charlie Wax bad and villain bad?

Travolta: I would define it in three different ways. The villain in Pulp Fiction is misguided. The villain in, let’s say [The Taking of] Pelham 1 2 3, is just out and out criminal. And then the villain in this is not really a villain. He’s a good guy who has unorthodox methods. He is a rogue and so, even though he does things that we don’t agree with, he solves the problem. And he’s so good at what he does that he gets away with being a little naughty. You can take that liberty when you’re that good.

Jonathan, your character has a wonderful relationship with this woman, but doesn’t know anything about her life? How is that possible?

Meyers: Well, you know, love is blind. Really, how much do you know about your partner? He knows that she makes dresses, he knows that she’s into fabric, but he’s a naive guy anyway. It’s not like he’s being specifically naive because she’s so fantastically beautiful, yet it’s jarring and that’s why she’s there. These guys know what they’re doing so for us to have a challenge in the movie, these other guys have to be smart and they’re smart enough to know that this guy will go for this girl and he’ll go for her blindly because the beauty, the charm, the elegance, he’s living in Paris. This is the dream. This will all sort of divert him from what’s actually happening and I think it’s a great rouse. If you want to hide something, hide it in plain sight and they do.

Do you think you’d fall for it in real life?

Meyers: Absolutely! 100%! Hook, line and sinker!

Travolta: We all fell for her! [Laughs]

Smutniak: It shows how the guys are. They can play cool but in the end they’re like this. They get lost in their love!

Did any other filmmakers influence the style of this film?

Besson: No, the influence, honestly, I’m listening to rap music and eating sushi. I’m probably one of few generations where we eat every type of culture of food and saw American films and music from the world. It’s part of my culture now. I love and I cry in front of many American films, French films too, Japanese films too. I totally assume the fact that this multicultural thing, the more the people are mixed, the less we’ll have war.

What do you think are the necessary elements to turn an action thriller into a classic?

Besson: Oh my god, if we knew that we’d be like [sigh].

Morel: Is there a recipe for that?

Meyers: Can I jump in for a sec? I think it’s chemistry. I think that separates an action movie from a classic movie is the chemistry between the actors doing it. Why does Lethal Weapon work? Because Danny Glover and Mel Gibson work with each other and you can see the energy. They play off each other very well. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, if that had been Robert Redford and Warren Beatty, would it have been the same movie? Who knows, but it’s their energy that carries it. If you can get that one little moment where two people understand and they share a joke on screen or share a nice emotional moment that makes the movie. That makes a classic action movie to me. However, I may be wrong.

Travolta: I’m not going to disagree with him. [Laughs]

Besson: It’s also the amount of risk that you can take in the story. Sometimes, you know, if you say, ‘Okay, you know what, let’s shoot the girl at the table.’ And most of the people will say, ‘No, no, no. You can’t do that.’ ‘Fuck yeah I can, I just did.’ You also have to take some risk in the directing, in the script when you talk about he movement. You say, ‘checkmate motherfucker,’ you take the risk. You need to have to take risks otherwise you stay at the good level, you make a nice film, but you don’t have a chance to stay.

What’d you guys enjoy about shooting in Paris?

Travolta: [Jonathan] being a single man his joys may have been different than my joys. [Laughs] I think Luc and I enjoyed the food of France, Jonathan may have enjoyed something different.

Meyers: We watched a lot of movies, myself and Kasia. Look, Paris is the most beautiful city in the world and I was staying at a beautiful hotel, the [Hotel De] Crillon which is where Marie Antoinette learned how to play the piano.

Travolta: And I got married to my wife.

Meyers: And John got married to his wife. So you’re in an extraordinary elegant living museum because I’m right at the end of Place [de la] Concord so I walk out and I see the Paris that everybody dreams of. I also saw the Paris that is the living nightmare of an economic first world western country, which is there’s tons of people in Paris from different cultures all over the world trying to make a living, trying to make a life. I wasn’t the tourist coming in, going to Champs-Élysées, going to La Dorée and having macaroons. I was going out to these areas where people actually live and that type of Paris is not seen. Luc can show it to you, Pierre can show it to you, but I could never find it myself. So it’s great, it made it a real city to me and not just this Disneyland fantasy.

Smutniak: Hey! I was going to La Dorée.

Meyers: But you’re elegant and beautiful and, you know, you live in Rome!

Smutniak: I knew Paris before so I have some friends there. It’s a beautiful city.

Travolta: I came home from work around midnight one night and I said to my daughter and my son, who had a couple of friends with them, ‘How would you like to go downtown Paris where Pino Pizza on the Champs-Élysées is open? And we will have pizza and then we’ll go to the Plaza Athénée and have hot cocoa.’ They said, ‘ At this time of night?’ I said, ‘Yes, believe it or not.’ So we went downtown and we had pizza and then at 2am we’re sitting at the Plaza Athénée and having hot cocoa and they thought they had just, you know, this is a whole universe of lifestyle.

This movie is the epitome of pure entertainment, but it also has some deeper messages and meanings. What do you want audiences to walk away from this film with?

Travolta: Well, oddly enough I said this to Luc when the movie was over, ‘Strangely enough, this is the most authentic movie about terrorism that’s ever been made.’ Because in a very light way we’re not making a statement or giving a message, but there’s a truth that availed a thing that says wow, this is really the crux of it. It’s about misguided religion and misguided concepts and how things work in that terrorist world and yet we’re having fun disguising it almost. But I don’t think we intended for any particular message.

John, was that your family we saw in the background of the scene at the Eiffel Tower?

Travolta: You win the award for observation! That’s absolutely true. That was my wife and my daughter. We were shooting at the Eiffel Tower. My daughter hadn’t yet seen the Eiffel Tower and we were shooting in the middle of the day and I said, ‘Hey, you should come up and visit while we’re shooting there’ and then I asked Pierre if they could be the extras in that scene and Pierre graciously agreed and there you have it.

Morel: By the way, shooting the Eiffel Tower was the most challenging thing for us because the Eiffel Tower is a nightmare to shoot in actually. It’s a beautiful place. I love it, but it’s the most visited monument anywhere in the world. There’s millions of people coming every year to visit and there is no way to shut it down. Nobody’s privatized that, so you have to deal with like thousands of people peeping and trying to look at what you’re doing.

Meyers: Actually, I think it’s become one of the most difficult monuments to shoot in the world because now they charge you for shooting it because there’s blue lights on it and it’s privatized. So, if you want the blue lights on the Eiffel Tower in the background of your shot, it’s like 20 grand or something. It’s expensive! You know? It’s really expensive so you kind of got to do this and make sure that you pan off before you reach the Eiffel Tower.

Can you guys tell us about the physicality of your roles? Was there a scene that was particularly challenging?

Travolta: Well, for me the whole thing was challenging because I said to Pierre, ‘You really want me to do all of these stunts?’ I mean, I’m going upside down on a pole and shooting with two guns and rolling down buildings and jumping off and I said, ‘I’m an old man!’

Morel: I said, ‘So what?’

Travolta: And the odd thing was there was such a confidence in that I could do it that I decided that, well hell, I’m going to live up to their expectation and I went and did it and I really was proud that I attacked it in that full-bodied way. Even though I’ve been in two John Woo movies, this was the most running and jumping and fighting and flipping and the body’s still able to do it! Now [Jonathan’s] a young whippersnapper so his body is made to do this kind of thing.

Meyers: Physically okay. Yeah, it was okay. Except I don’t like heights and I have to go up these steel stairs and I’m not a good height guy and I drop the vase of cocaine, going up the stairs. And I could hear Pierre laughing from like three floors below and John’s still running. He’s like three floors ahead of me. And then we’re like ‘cut’ and it’s like I got to go all the way back down and I’m scraping the coke in and it was just awful. And this vase, of course, the physicality with me is I’ve got to hold this vase, which became a teddy bear. It’s like his blankie at one point. And I kind of felt sad when I had to drop it. It was kind of like this is what protects me from the whole world is this vase of washing up powder.

How’d you deal with balancing the comedy and the drama?

Travolta: I think that’s in the writing.

Morel: I think that was the whole point. It had to be. That’s what I was looking for when I read the script the first time, when Luc gave me the script. I had fun because the characters were written like that.

Travolta: In all fairness, I think Pierre was the balancing act. He knew when something was too funny or too serious and I think Pierre could modulate this beautifully for us because sometimes, you know, my instinct, I’m a comedian too, so my instinct is to go really funny and he’d sometimes pull me back and then sometimes he’d say you’re free now, you can make it funny and I’d go all the way so I think Pierre orchestrated that as well as a beautiful script.

Morel: Every single scene we did, we call it Chinese menu.

Travolta: We call it Chinese menu. I actually got that from Meryl Streep and she gives tons of choices and I decided that I had always done that but now there’s a name to it. Chinese menu is you give the director as many choices as he can handle and then in the editing room they pick the choice they like. If you trust the editor and the director. So I said to Pierre, ‘We’re going to do Chinese menu. I’m going to give you funny, straight, dramatic and as many styles as you want.’ And it works!

John, how are you doing on a personal level?

Travolta: It’s been a rough year. I’m not going to say it’s not been, but we’ve been working very hard everyday at healing and we still are, but it’s working. We’ve worked with our church and we’ve worked with each other and our friends and our family and it’s been a tough one and it’s going to be, but at least we have help and it’s working. Thanks for asking.