Luc Besson premieres 'city of thousand planets' in China

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Luc Besson premiered his new film "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" in China on Sunday and sat down with Chinese media to reveal the ideas behind the work.

In a Xinhua interview, Besson explained his personal motivation to make the movie and disclosed the marvelous things that were not to be noticed in the film.

He also reacted to the usual barrage of widely diverse comments from audiences and critics after the movie was shown during summer time in the United States, that ranged from ecstatic praise to incomprehension and dislike.

"The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvelous subjects. We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvelous; but we do not notice it," the French film master said mentioning Baudelaire's famous quote.

"Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" is scheduled to open in China on August 25.

"It's a personal story, since childhood when I fell in love with the comics of Jean-Claude Mesieres. Cops in space was fresh and new. I waited impatiently for each new installment and imagined what was going to happen next. The Valerian character was cool and a little goofy and Laureline was my first love," he joked in the exclusive interview with Xinhua on Saturday.

Leading actors Dane DeHaan (L) and Cara Delevingne. /Photo via Mtime.com

But more seriously, he added, "Valerian's world is a magical place. It reminds me now of New York City, but with aliens, where everyone of all kinds can live together in harmony. This we need, not more hate. By this day and age, it should be possible. This is its message."

Besson always imbues his films with poignant social commentary that elevate them into auteur pieces with social relevance, taking a stand against oppression, political corruption and abuse.

Valerian is no different. "There is 'right' and there is 'wrong'. Children from 6 to 15 understand this. Adults, not so much... So, as a director, one's message must be either positive or cynical. I am not a cynic," Besson said.

So, in Valerian, he has us rooting for the "Mülians," a lovely, primitive, but spiritually-advanced species that bear a kinship resemblance to James Cameron's Na'vi of Pandora who provide the moral compass for the film.

Still from "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets". /Photo via Mtime.com

The Mulians live utopian lives in blissful harmony with their world until it is ruthlessly destroyed by Clive Owens' character in a ruthless, military-backed land-grab deal. This giant galactic cover-up eventually forces heroes, Valerian and Laureline, into a crisis of conscience that leads them to defy orders and help the few surviving Mulians escape to tell their tale.

Besson is undoubtedly one of the most experimental and visionary artists working in cinema today. A master of what the French call the Cinéma du Look, his work, even at its campiest or most stylized, is never without originality or intellectual subtext. He's an idea man, and, win or lose, has the guts to try to capture his ideas on the big screen.

Chinese singer/actor Wu Yifan, also known as Kris Wu, stars in "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets". /Photo via Mtime.com

Valerian is a designer's dream - a visual masterpiece, Besson told Xinhua, he brought it to life with two of his gifted, longtime collaborators, production designer, Hugues Tissandier and cinematographer, Thierry Arbogast.

The film features some of the coolest and most intelligently-conceived GCI-VFX and aliens in the galaxy. And this latest foray into futuristic fiction is hardly mindless designer eye candy. Moreover, the many exotic worlds and cultures on display in the film required tremendous thought, socio-political analysis and creativity to create in a logically coherent fashion.

Still from "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets". /Photo via Mtime.com

"To impact the audience, it must be real," Besson told Xinhua, "So I wrote an 800-page bible on every alien, every society, every planet in the film and I gave this to the actors so they know how to act when they meet each species."

"Hollywood movies are always good," he says, "But sometimes the heart and the art is secondary to the same old formula. First must always be the 'Art'."

(Header image credit to Mtime.com)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency