Luc Besson Talks New Movie and Fifth Element

Luc Besson premiered footage of his upcoming film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets at New York's Comic Con. The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Besson to talk about the new film, as well as his film The Fifth Element. Here's what he had to say:

On Valerian, a French comic book series from the late 1960s:

"I've read the comic books since I was 10 years old. At the time, it was two pages every Wednesday in a magazine. You basically have to wait six months to read the entire story. In France at the time, there were 2 TV channels, one in black and white, one in color, and the only way to escape were these comics. Probably the first woman I fell in love with was Laureline when I was 10."

On how reading Valerian shaped his filmmaking:

"This kind of comic book built myself. I was living in the countryside, I would open my window and see cows. I wanted to escape, and every Wednesday, it's be Valerian and Laureline and yeah! It's building your imagination, your sense of beauty — it's important, it's almost your main food when you're 10 years old. That and music."

On The Fifth Element:

"Fifth Element was the last film done with old-fashioned special effects; if I had a green screen, I'd have to lock my camera in one place, and they'd put dots on the screen for hours. It was a nightmare. And then six hours later, digital arrived and basically, you can put your camera on your shoulder and they say, 'Oh, we can do it later.' I was like, 'Are you kidding?' I was really frustrated when The Fifth Element came out. I always said to myself, you will avenge one day, and now I avenge."