Wednesday, 6 April 2016

VALERIAN the next 5th Element?


-->
Every once in a while, a movie is announced that gets me very, very excited… even though I’m unfamiliar with the source material. This year, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is that movie. So, why am I so excited?



First, it’s based on a beloved French comic called Valerian and Laureline written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières. Secondly, Mezieres worked as a conceptual designer on The 5th Element, which just so happened to be directed by Luc Besson who’s also directing this film. Full disclosure, I love The 5th Element, and not just for the deep nostalgia — it’s a visually stunning and totally original looking sci-fi (Although, it borrows heavily from the animated Heavy Metal film, which I also love.) And in these first few images of Valeria, it looks as though Besson is going for a similar vibe as 1997’s 5th Element. 



You’ll notice in the photos a couple of comic book movie aficionados. Dane DeHaan (aka Harry Osborne from The Amazing Spider-Man 2) plays Valerian and Cara Delevingne plays Laureline and will also be Enchantress in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. In Valerian, the two play spatio-temporal agents who travel through space and time to protect mankind.



Recently, Besson is best known for the Taken films and Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, so not exactly a surefire win. But the photos look promising. And, the last movie based on a French comic was Snowpiercer, a bloody fantastic film. So, for now, I’m full of hope that Valerian will be the comic book movie adaptation I’ve been waiting for. What do you think?



To read more about Valerian, check out this interview with Luc Besson from Entertainment Weekly.






No comments:

Post a Comment