# Luc Besson

Luc Paul Maurice Besson (French: [lyk bɛsɔ̃]; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films Subway (1985), The Big Blue (1988), and La Femme Nikita (1990). Besson is associated with the Cinéma du look film movement. He has been nominated for a César Award for Best Director and Best Picture for his films Léon: The Professional (1994) and the English-language The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). He won Best Director and Best French Director for his sci-fi action film The Fifth Element (1997). He wrote and directed the 2014 sci-fi action film Lucy and the 2017 space opera film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

## Quotes

* This film is extremely visual. It is difficult to describe in words without running the risk of losing or boring the reader. I have come up with a simplified summary, therefore, like a readers guide, which will conjure up the images in as few words as possible :
    — the beginning is Leon: The Professional
    — the middle is Inception
    — the end is 2001: A Space Odyssey
    Don't interpret this as pretension on my part, merely a visual, emotional and philosophical point of reference.
   * "NOTA", for his film Lucy, as quoted in "Luc Besson's Statement Of Intent For 'Lucy' Compares The Film To '2001,' 'Inception' & 'Leon The Professional'" by Kevin Jagernauth, in Indiewire (28 July 2014)

### The Fifth Element (1997)

    Main article: The Fifth Element
* You no trouble. Me... Fifth element... supreme being... me protect you.
* You humans act so strange. Everything you create is used to destroy.

### Lucy (2014)

    Main article: Lucy (2014 film)
* Life was given to us a billion years ago. What have we done with it?
* Learning's always a painful process.
* I AM EVERYWHERE
Quotes from interviews
* "I would rather stop too soon than too late." - Interview for The Guardian (2011)
* "The most difficult part of filmmaking, is the need for directors to find a balance between being sensitive and being the leader." - Interview for The Hollywoodreporter (2017)
* “If you’re a race runner, and you run, and progress, and you have the feeling that, yeah, you’re pretty good. You watch your time, and every week you make it better, and there’s a certain moment that you feel that maybe you can go to the Olympic games because you feel good. And then you watch TV and you see Usain Bolt. And then you say, ‘I’m not going to go this year, I’m going in four years’. - Interview for The Alarabiya (2017)
* "The most important thing is always the story. Then come the actors." - Interview for The Cinema (2018)
* "I love the fantasy and it’s so enjoyable and so funny and fresh. You can reinvent everything and yeah, it’s very enjoyable." - Interview for The Denofgeek (2018)
* “I like to start on time because I love to let the people go on time because they have families. They have kids and I don’t want to abuse them for 2 hours. - Interview for The Cinemovie (2017)
* When you're watching sci-fi today, driven ninety percent by Marvel and DC Comics, there's feeling, there's a pattern, there's a thing, and then we get used to it. - Interview for The Slashfilm 92017)
* If you find the actress or the actor who is perfect for the role, that’s unbeatable. If you choose someone because he’s known or because you think he’s going to make money or things, three years later, you never know. - Interview for The Thriftyjinxy (2017)
* You know, money will never save anyone. Compassion can save someone, love can save someone, money will never save anyone. And as long as the entire society will put money first... Money should be like third or fourth or fifth, I'm not saying lets get rid of money, but how can we put money as number one? As the only value, like if you are rich, you're famous you go VIP, why? It's just insane, the way we've transformed the society. - Interview for The Huffpost (2017)
* Loving a film is like falling in love with a woman or with a man like you never expect it. It's not the one you think you will be in love with, you know. You think always that he will be with a beard, and black, and big and finally he's Chinese and you know it's the same thing. There's something very organic about the film and if you forgot it, if you don't have this seed in it...this organic flavor in it the film doesn't work it's wrong. - Interview for The Collider (2016)
* Sometimes I see people finish a film and they go, "Yeah, that was good. Where are we going to eat?" - Interview for The Slashfilm (2016)

## External links

* Luc Besson on IMDb
* Luc Besson Official Homepage at Luc-Besson.com
* Luc Besson Interview, Angel-A
* JewReview.net video interview with Luc Besson and Rie Rasmussen about Angel-A
* In-depth interview with Luc Besson