Its the end of a long journey, making this film.
Seven years, was it?
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We bought the rights 10 years ago.
So what was your starting point?
Oh, the script.
Without the script, you have nothing.
First you choose the album theres 29 albums of Valerian, so I chose one.
So I studied for a long time the script, the characters, what can help the story.
The big, big challenge of the story for me was the villain.
Because Im kind of fed up with the villains in sci-fi over the past couple of years.
I said, I dont want to do a sci-fi like this.
I want to do something different, more human.
So my two acts were, the two heroes are basically Mr and Mrs Dupont theyre two cops.
Hes charming but a little bit stupid sometimes.
I dont know how you say it in English…
Cocky is one word that springs to mind.
Yeah, hes a little cocky.
He always thinks hes the best.
But she saves the day most of the time.
But if he has to fight with a sword monsters of three hundred kilos, he goes.
I really love that, thats what I want.
Real people, a real couple.
When they say, Did you read the memo, he says Yeah, sure.
We know hes lying!
He doesnt do his homework.
Its so typical of who we are today, in a way.
I want to go there.
I want the little story in the middle of a big story.
You almost have the feeling that it couldve been on the news yesterday.
I thought that as I was sitting there.
The conglomeration of aliens in space is like the European Union, isnt it.
Yep, its the same.
He has the feeling to fight for his people.
He did it for his people, not for him.
We all go: the English, the French, the Americans we all go.
Then there are no weapons of mass destruction.
So why did we go there?
Then you realise, you see how societys working, and it was a big inspiration for me.
But theyre not evil.
How did you finance this, because its the most expensive film in French history, isnt it?
Oh, its pretty easy [Chuckles].
Pretty easy in a way.
I love this moment, in fact.
So in fact, at the end of the day, we got almost 80 percent of the financing.
But at least you have an answer!
You know, you have one or another, but at least you know.
Its like running, and you get the time.
Is the time enough to get to the Olympic games, or not?
If your time is not good, go again in four years.
Train, and youll probably go in four years.
Its not self-confidence, Im just happy no matter what, because at least I will know.
Some people put some equity in it, so the financing of the film was not really the issue.
Today, its little more than 90 percent of the film that is covered.
Im talking about the sentimentality, or the rhythm, the pace.
Thats the most panicking thing.
You just hope youre right.
So it was pre-sold.
If youre not one of the big studios, like Warner Bros, thats how you proceed.
I sort of assumed it might have been a different arrangement with that much money.
We saved about $70m, if you look at it this way!
[Chuckles]
Also, I dont think a Hollywood studio would necessarily make it.
No, there was a lot of un-trust from them at the beginning.
I was just worried.
I was worried that it was a way of controlling the enemy.
By taking the film, they put it here [slaps back pocket]…
I see, so theyd buy it and effectively never make it?
No, theyd make it, but youre always under their thing.
I was scared of that.
To have it grounded.
Like, all this is true it started in 1975!
It grows and grows.
I took it from the script.
I took the scene out for a while, for a couple of months.
And then I put it back, because I missed it.
So what was the process of shooting all these CGI sequences?
I assume you have a similar virtual camera system to James Cameron for these?
No, Im a little bit more old-fashioned than him.
So Im holding the camera all the time.
I want to film actors no matter what.
All the aliens, all the animals, anything that moves, its an actor.
I dont want Dane [DeHaan] and Cara [Delevingne] playing with a tennis ball.
And I want him to play the alien I dont want him just to be there.
The same for the animal who jumps on his arm?
I have a dog and I have a guy!
It always makes it more human.
There was lots of rehearsal for that.
Then Cara played with them, the three guys.
So they were in grey, with dots, but it doesnt matter you forget after a while.
What was the most difficult scene to conceive and shoot?
We prepped so much.
We were scared not to be ready.
But to keep track of this whole world in my head was complicated.
The big market scene was [challenging].
I had a meeting with all the technicians, and I explained the big market.
I explained it for an hour.
So I said, god, how am I going to do that?
How am I gonna make them understand?
Because when you watch it now, its easy.
You put on a helmet, and you’re free to see everything.
So what I did is, I took the 120 students from my school for three weeks.
I put storyboards on the wall.
We rented a sound stage, and I filmed the 600 shots one by one with them.
So they were playing the actors, doing the grip, electrician, costumes, everything.
They had a lot of fun, because I was holding the camera just a D5, by hand.
So now all the technicians can understand.
That was the only way we could make them understand!
But back when you didThe Fifth Element,something like that wouldnt have been possible.
The Fifth Elementhas 180 shots with special effects.
This one has 2734.
So its two world.
ButThe Fifth Element,Id shoot something and then the day after Id watch the dailies.
Then I can say, Hmm, its too slow.
Lets do one more take.
And we have to do that, because the special effects need so much time.
Some of the special effects work starts four months before shooting, so we start in September 2015.
How many teams of people did you have working on those effects?
Altogether, its 950 people.
The two leaders were Weta and ILM.
One has 600-something shots, the other has about 1000.
And then the third company was Rodeo in Canada.
Rodeo, I worked with them on the chase inLucy, the chase with the car.
So theyre very good when it comes to vehicles.
They did all the space ships.
Weta did the characters, the pearls, all the aliens.
ILM did the entire did market.
As a filmmaker, thats a completely different way of working.
Reviewing at the beginning was once a week, then twice a week, then every day.
I was in LA.
Everyone is sending the shots to one office in LA.
Then the day after it comes back.
In fact, its just two hours of work, shot by shot, and you just give details.
Thats too slow, thats too fast, maybe the hand should be higher.
Maybe the colours not perfect.
The first shot you see, you could change it five times.
Five times I can give corrections, but after the fifth time, thats it.
Wow, so you have to be careful about your decisions.
If you want to change it the sixth time, you have to pay!
I can see how that could get expensive.
Yeah, its expensive.
So if I cancel a shot at $10,000, I put the $10,000 in my box.
So I was playing with the box for the entire film.
And so far, so good!
Ive spent what Ive saved.
What I appreciated as well, is that the film isnt overwhelmed by action.
A lot of the shots arent things exploding, theyre world building and detail.
Do you think that its sometimes too easy for directors to get carried away with digital action sequences?
You see that sometimes in films and they talk, and its slow.
Yeah, and they talk for five minutes.
And suddenly the camera is going everywhere theres no relationship between the way they film.
Because not the same director, thats all.
Me, Ive been on sets since I was 17.
I learned my art from the ground.
Im like the guy who blew the glass it takes 20 years to be great.
For me its manual Im an artisan, you know?
So I do every shot.
I dont have a second unit, I do all of them.
Because I want a unity in the film.
So when theres a chase with space ships, its pretty elegant, and you could see everything.
No, its there, you know?
Its very important for me.
We work so much on the background of every alien.
I have a bible of 500 pages.
We know our shit.
Im not afraid to have the camera slowly do a 360.
I have no problem with seeing things, like, we are there.
Not cheating so much, as we see often.
We dont hide anything!
When you watch it, you feel like youre there.
A writer I once spoke to thought you might be quite influenced by Japanese manga.
Ive never read a manga in my life.
My background is really in Mobius, Tintin, Asterix.
Its really the French-Belgian area.
Especially Kubrick, for example, where everything is really…
Geometric.
Geometric, yeah, like an architect.
I was influenced by Kurosawa a lot.
Kurosawa I was very impressed by the way he did things.
Do you think youll do anotherAdele Blanc-Sec,veering off on a tangent?
I would love to do others.
You cannot afford, in French, to do this kind of film.
You have to be in English, and I dont want to do it in English.
Theres something so French about it that I want to do it in French.
So its too bad, but thats life.
Thats such a shame.
Your films generally have great female characters in them.
Why do you think its so taken American action filmmakers so long to make something big like Wonder Woman?
It feels like they shouldve done it years ago.
Well, it took forever for women to get the right to vote.
It took forever for black people to be freed from slavery.
It took a lot of time for the British to accept homosexuality, I heard [chuckles].
Its about the muscles, and the girl is there to stay home and cry.
Just to say, Hey, women are strong.
They can do things.
But what was interesting is, as soon as it appeared, it was very well respected.
They were like, Yeah, nobody fought it.
I like it, you know?
Thats a good sign.
It means theres not a hostility deep inside people.
It was just a tradition, and if you push it, sometimes, it works!
Luc Besson, thank you very much.
Valerianis out now in UK cinemas.
