Luc Besson hopes to recapture the magic of The Fifth Element in his next movie, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and new behind-the-scenes photos from the set showcase a plethora of aliens, ships and psychedelic madness worthy of Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières original comic. It looks like the nearest thing we’re likely to get to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s cancelled Dune in the near future.
Besson decided to do his adaptation of Valerian and Laureline after visiting the set of Avatar and witnessing the expansiveness of James Cameron’s vision, with special effects that might finally encompass the galaxy-hopping madness of the French comic.
Pictures of aliens, robots and ships Besson posted to Instagram indicate the crazy scope at play here:
So far Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has kept a low profile. At Comic-Con he spoke to only a small group of reporters, including mainstream press that didn’t have a clue what he was barking on about. Here’s the New York Times :
“To be honest, this reporter at times lost Mr. Besson as he spoke about a princess who ‘expresses herself like an octopus’ and went on about something called ‘ambassador of the shadows.’
But a lot of the mainstream studio directors paraded through the Comic-Con convention halls could have taken a lesson from Mr. Besson. His against-all-odds passion for the material came through loud and clear, and that is what this convention used to be about.”
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets looks like The Fifth Element on steroids. Hopefully Luc Besson can pull off something as impressive as his last space epic.
