If you’ve never heard of the French sci-fi comic Valerian and Laureline, then you’ve missed out on the stories that have proven to be influential on Star Wars, The Fifth Element, and space opera tales for over five decades. This summer, director Luc Besson is fulfilling a longheld dream by bringing Valerian and Laureline to the big screen with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. For the film, Valerian will be played by Dane DeHaan, while Laureline will be portrayed by Cara Delevingne.
On Free Comic Book Day, Besson and DeHaan made a joint appearance at Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles to promote the Valerian FCBD reprint and the upcoming feature film. Among the topics that came up were Besson’s first Valerian and Laureline comics, the relationship between the two main characters in the film, and the first-ever team up of ILM and Weta on this project.
IGN: Luc, tell us about your first exposure to Valerian and Laureline when you were growing up.
Luc Besson: I’m not sure, but I think it was my dad who would bring me this comic book at the time, called Pilote, and I read two pages of Valerian in this comic book, every week. Then I was very intrigued and said “whoa.” So, I waited for the week after to buy it again and I have two more pages. That's how I got totally involved in Valerian and Laureline, just to have two pages every week. When you compare it to the internet now, when kids have like millions of information in two seconds. Me, I had two pages every week.
IGN: That must have been agonizing.
Luc Besson: No, it's for your capacity of dreaming, in a way. And imagining, and it teaches you patience, also.
IGN: I imagine so. Dane, what’s the first time that you saw the comic?
Dane DeHaan: It was after I read the script, that's for sure. I met with Luc, and he told me about the movie and sent me the script and I read it. It wasn't until I was certain that I was doing the movie that I started to read the comics.
IGN: What was it about Valerian that made you want to portray him?
Dane DeHaan: Well, I never played a hero before; which was a really exciting opportunity. He's a really fun hero in that he is...There's a lot of luck involved with what he does and he relies so much on Laureline to be kind of the brains of the operation. And I liked that kind of humanity to him, a hero that most fanboys could see themselves in. Somebody that’s not this big muscular guy that can save the world by being super strong. But a really capable every-person kind of hero.
IGN: Luc, when you were coming up with the story, how did you decide which parts of the comics to put up on the screen? Because there’s so much material to deal with, how do you narrow it down?
Luc Besson: I choose one particular album to be the base of the script. Because, as you know, you read a comic book in 20 minutes, so you can't make a film of two hours with just one. You need to start with the heart, so the heart of the story is “The Ambassador of Shadows,” the one we gave out today. That’s the original, then I start building around that to make it longer and bigger. I took a couple of elements from other albums of Valerian.
IGN: This is a question for both of you: can you tell us about the relationship between Valerian and Laureline in this movie and how it plays out on screen?
Dane DeHaan: Valerian and Laureline spend all of their time together. You know, they are partners in crime and they travel around together on their spaceship, The Intruder, all of the time. So they are really close and they have a real witty banter that goes on between them. But also, Valerian has a huge crush on Laureline, he wants to take their relationship to the next level.
Laureline, being the more grounded, thoughtful one wants to focus on what they’re doing. She wants Valerian to prove himself to be a worthy partner and doesn't just want to dive in head-first to a relationship. She wants to maintain their professional relationship. So, they really are kind of flirtatious and fun, and friends as much as they are partners.
Luc Besson: What's interesting in what he described is that even if the movie was not a sci-fi, it’s interesting. That's what I like about the two characters, and anyone can relate to their story. They are really human in a world that is totally inhuman.
IGN: Now, if you get a chance to do a sequel, will Laureline get top billing with Valerian this time?
Luc Besson: I don't know... I think it’s funny because he's a major and she's a sergeant, and he always teases her with that. It’s kind of a gimmick in the film, she’s always complaining. Even in the 28th century, we still have this difference of salary. But we’re making fun of it, so I don't know. We’ll see. She’s so important to it.
IGN: Well, of course. You can’t have a Valerian movie without Laureline.
Luc Besson: Take Batman. You never say “Batman and Robin.”
IGN: Except for that one time. There was a Batman and Robin movie.
Luc Besson: Oh really?
IGN: Don’t worry, we’ve all tried to forget it. Now, when you were making this film, how much of it was practical special effects and how much was greenscreen? I imagine it was hard for you, Dane, to react to something that wasn’t there.
Dane DeHaan: Yeah, none of it was there. We were in front of a bluescreen almost every day. The spaceship was practical, and obviously Cara was practical. But it was mostly all imagination. You know, it was all the world that we created. That’s why now, even when I see the trailers, I get so excited because it’s like I’m seeing a movie that I haven’t seen at all before, whatsoever. And then I just happen to be in it.
Luc Besson: But what was also important is that even if there were bluescreens everywhere, every time they play with someone, like any kind of alien, they have an actor in front of them. Even if it is in grey, they always have someone to play. So, it's for the quality of the feelings in the play, it was very important. You forgot the bluescreen if you have someone to play with.
IGN: You’ve also got ILM and Weta providing special effects on this film. I think that’s the first time that they’ve ever collaborated on the same project. How did you bring them together on this movie?
Luc Besson: In fact when we met them, they realized – we assume – that none of them can take the entire film. It was too big. It was 2,700 shots, they can not be done just by one [company]. They were okay to work together and share, because anyway, they can’t take it with them. So we had Weta get a part, ILM did almost 25 minutes, and there’s also Rodeo [FX], who did another kind of [scene] with all of the spaceships. And then there's two other French companies who did a little on the side. So, we shared and gave a package to each of them. But I was very surprised in a good way...happily surprised, you say?
Dane DeHaan: Pleasantly surprised
Luc Besson: Yeah, to see how clever and gentlemen that ILM and Weta are. Because they were really very complimentary to each other and they shared some info. They were happy to finally play together. It was very nice to see.
IGN: Dane, I’ve heard that you’re actually seeing it for the first time later today. What else have you seen so far?
Dane DeHaan: I’ve just seen what everyone else has seen
IGN: You haven’t seen an early cut?
Luc Besson: No, an early cut is unwatchable.
IGN: If you get the opportunity to make a sequel to Valerian, would you both return for that movie?
Luc Besson: I say “where’s the paperwork?”
Dane DeHaan: Yeah, we’re just focused on this and hopefully everyone loves this movie and has as much fun going to see it as we had making it. And if it feels like the world wants another one, then I think we would want to.
Luc Besson: It’s not our decision, to be sure. It’s the decision of the people. But when we finished the film, on the last day, Dane, and Cara, and me were crying so much. “I want to do another one!” [laughs] So, we want to! For sure.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets comes to theaters on July 21, 2017. Are you excited for it? Let us know in the comments!
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