In an interview for Radio Télévision Luxembourg, the French film director Luc Besson announced that his tenth film, Arthur et les Minimoys, would be his last. Instead, he intends to devote his energies to creating an artistic academy in Paris for under-privileged children from its poorest suburbs. ‘It’s time I concerned myself with some of the citizens of my planet,’ he says.
Certainly Besson is best known for his contribution to movies way beyond earth’s orbit, in particular The Fifth Element, a science fiction action thriller starring Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, and Bruce Willis as a futuristic taxi-driver who reluctantly accepts the mission of finding the mysterious elements that can prevent the arrival of a black evil planet. Besson had the idea for this movie during an enforced period of rest in his youth, following a scuba diving accident. Until then Besson, encouraged by his parents, both scuba diving instructors, had wanted to become a marine biologist; but he turned to the film industry after this became difficult because he was no longer able to dive.
Besson’s influence on films made in the US, where he spent several years, has been wide ranging. His Nikita, made in 1990 with Anne Parillaud as the female criminal turned into a trained assassin, inspired the highly successful 1993 remake. This starred Bridget Fonda with Harvey Keitel as the government “cleaner” or hit-man, a role reprised in several productions, including the acclaimed Fox-TV drama, 24.
Besson married his leading lady, Milla Jovovich, soon after The Fifth Element was completed in 1997 but the couple split up less than two years later. His second wife is Virginie Silla, a French writer and producer, by whom he has two children, Talia and Satine.
From our October 2006 e-newsletter
