Ever since watching Luc Besson’s amazing movie The Fifth Element twenty years ago, I’ve been waiting patiently for him to make to another crazy large-scale science-fiction movie. Even before visual effects went into hyperdrive, Besson was able to take us to new worlds, create innovative characters never seen on movie screens, and craft action set pieces like no other. So when Besson announced that he was going to helm Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and that he would have access to modern VFX and a big enough budget to bring his wildest ideas to life, you could say I was kind of excited.

Thankfully, while it’s taken a long time to bring his dream to life (he first fell in love with the comic when he was 12 years old) it was well worth the wait as Valerian is one of my favorite films of the year. Loaded with insane visual effects, great chemistry between Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, and action set pieces like you’ve never seen, Valerian is the type of film that will take you back to when you first fell in love with going to the movies.

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Image via EuropaCorp

With Valerian now available on Blu-ray and VOD, I recently sat down with the busy director for an exclusive interview. He talked about what he’s excited for people to see on the Blu-ray, some of the cool Easter eggs in the Big Market action set piece including a nod to The Fifth Element, if he’d ever consider doing Valerian sequels as animated movies, the lower box office numbers this year and if he thinks this is an anomaly or the beginning of a trend, his thoughts on Netflix and streaming content, the status of Valerian sequels and if they might be cheaper than the first film, and a lot more. Check out what he had to say below and make sure to pick up Valerian this holiday season.

Collider: You know how much I love this movie. Seeing the Blu-ray special features really informed me as to how much was being created in the computers and how much was just not there in real life. And when you see the finished film it's crazy. How did you pull this off? Because there's so much blue screen and yet it looks so real.

LUC BESSON: I think you have to go the only way... is little pieces by little pieces, layers by layers. You have to work the background, you have to work left, you have to work right, you have to work each category first, one by one. And then hoping that at the end of the puzzle will match. But you cannot have... you can't embrace it once. In fact the designers were designing like a view of the market, for example, and that's where we want to be at the end. But then after that you have to take the elements one by one and work on it.

For example, in the big market there's a million shops. So for many weeks the designer just made drawings of the facade of a shop, you know, just like the facade. We have three, four hundred of them, and then they can choose. This one next to this one, next to this one, and then you we create the market like this. But you need to... then when you resolve this problem you talk about the light, “How the light is in the other world? What kind of thing? Okay put some string on the roof to see how it's going. Or some tissue.” And then you have the good light okay, now we have the good light. The ground, how are we going to make the ground? So you really go one by one, in fact.

What are you excited for fans to see on the Blu-ray?

BESSON: The details, I think, it's…a lot of people, when they watch it the first time, if they have seen it only one time, they can't take everything, it's impossible. The film is... I know it now, people are just like [makes explosion noise] a kind of blast of images and feelings. And then some people get even, not lost, but confused about the thing because there it's too much. The DVD is a great opportunity to, now they know the story, they can see the visuals and see, really, the emotion of the actors and everything. So, I think that the second vision is really the best.

Is there places, because...

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Image via Universal

BESSON: I have the same trouble. I remember that when I was sixteen I'd seen Star Wars. When the film finished, I couldn't even remember the beginning. There's so much things, like new characters and in every way, I was lost. And I think I liked it the first time but I was in shock, and I loved it the second time. You know, you need to you need two to at least start to really get in.

I'll be honest, when I saw Valerian, I had the same reaction seeing Blade Runner 2049, where these were both worlds I wanted to get lost in and I immediately went to go see it again because the level of detail. They're just tremendous. I'm curious if there are certain shots you would suggest people hitting pause on, on the Blu-ray, to see just how much detail is there.

BESSON: Oh, the big market, for sure. You can go frame by frame. There's hundreds and hundreds of aliens that you see sometimes for a second and they're still there. There's some tricks in it, in the big market there's seven of them. You will see Korben Dallas, you will see...

Oh for real?

BESSON: Yeah you will see the cab. There's a couple of alien that you will remember, you know...

So you're saying, in the big market sequence there are seven Easter eggs?

BESSON: Yeah.

I did not know...

BESSON: Not put by me.

By the animation team?

BESSON: Yeah. They told me there's seven. I find five of them there are still two that I don't know where there are.

Is Korben Dallas easy to find or is it hard?

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Image via STX Films

BESSON: It's his name.

Oh okay, I've got it.

BESSON: His name is somewhere.

I'm now I'm very curious where these Easter eggs are. Have you said these online or no?

BESSON: No.

So, it's after the movie is out or maybe the Blu-ray down the road.

BESSON: No, I think I talked once or twice about it but, no there's seven of them, but I find only five.

Are they in like a single frame or is it where you'll see it for a few seconds?

BESSON: No, no you'll see it for a few frames, not just like one frame.

As you know, the movie did okay at the worldwide box office, I'm really hopeful that the Blu-ray is going to do spectacular, I want to see more in this world. I know you've written the scripts for two and three. The whole time I've been wondering, is it possible to make these sequels as animation? Is that even something that you've considered or...

BESSON: No.

It would only be live action?

BESSON: Yeah, it would be live action.

You’ve written the second and third scripts. Do you think that what you've written is exactly what you still want to make or do you feel—

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Image via EuropaCorp

BESSON: [nods yes]

So what do you think, as far as the future of the franchise, because there's a lot of us like me that just loved it and want to see more.

BESSON: You know, if the video, the DVD/Blu-ray and the VOD and all this goes well... because if you watch it, it's very it's very funny. In fact, we have a very, very bad campaign for theatrical in U.S, very bad. That's my opinion. Some articles like, 70%, was very good and 30 was bad, as usual. Some of the bad hit the rest of the world; there are some articles who goes...

Totally, I know exactly what you meant.

BESSON: They go for everyone who has a newspaper in China, they read this article coming from Hollywood. They're coming from there and because the film was like really … not only the film; the film, me, everything, the enterprise was shot by these one or two articles. The rest of the world became suddenly very, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on in U.S. with the film?” And it was very hard after that to talk to people, and to make them, say, “Guys, judge by yourself, watch the film.”

So there is many countries where, actually, it was really good. Like ten of them more than Lucy in fact. So, it was not so bad. It hurts in U.S., and it hurts for the rest of the world because of that, but I think that there is still lots of people who heard about the film and maybe want to see it. Not enough to go to the theater, but they will be there for DVD or VOD. So let's see how it's working, let's see how the thing ... but if it goes normally then, yeah, I want to do the number two for sure.

It is interesting because this year, the box office has been down and a lot of people are trying to analyze it. Being frank Blade Runner 2049 is phenomenal, I love the movie, it is not doing well at the box office. And these are big amazing, sci-fi spectacles, and it concerns me, for the industry as a whole, where... I mean these movies should be kicking ass. I mean both films, your film and Blade Runner, are fantastic. Do you think it's a larger issue of, that the audience is just not as enthralled by non-Superhero movies? Because the Superhero genre seems to be the only one that staying here and everything else is struggling and just I'm just wondering what you think.

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Image via EuropaCorp

BESSON: No, we cannot do anything against the loss of appetite of the audience, you know. The audience sounds like they prefer something, sure, even if it's average, but it's safe in a way. They know the franchise, they know it's safe. No one will bother them while they're eating their popcorn. And they will get out and say it was cool, was nice. It sounds like the audience, and probably because of the life... life is harder today, so when they want to... when they go to a cinema, they just want maybe a moment of peace and not to think too much and having things more normal. It's maybe the loss of appetite, that's the only thing.

But, we cannot do... we can't do so much, except you, in fact, the press, who can stimulate the audience and say, “Guys, don't go to fast food every day. Go to a restaurant. Go try Thai food, try Italian food.”

I'm also wondering....I feel like this is the first year, where older Americans and more people have become comfortable watching movies streaming at home and Netflix and streaming content. I think is the first year it's really impacted box office, and I'm wondering, because of the popularity, where younger kids are more than willing to watch a movie on their phone, where to me that's sacrilegious, I would never watch Valerian on a phone, but for some people that's how they're going to watch it. How much, in the future, as someone who runs a studio, are you thinking about the fact that like Netflix and the streaming services are really carving up a big path into what people want to watch at home, streaming?

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Image via EuropaCorp

BESSON: There’s nothing you can do against that. I mean you know when cinema arrived everybody in the theater were scared. “Oh my God, no one will go to see a play anymore because now we have the cinema.” When the TV, the television, arrived, same, people say, “Oh my God they won't go to cinema anymore because the television is there.” And then when the DVD arrived, the VHS arrived, they say, “Oh my God, now they can have the film at home whenever they want.” So, you cannot go against that; you just have to accept it and to see how things are going.

But, I think the proposition is just different, you have... when I'm listening to an album, by myself at home, it's a certain kind of pleasure. When I'm going to see the same artist on a concert, sharing with 8,000 people, it's another thing. Do I love one more than the other? No, I love both. So, if I have only my album and I never see the guy on stage anymore, I will be sad. It's the same for movies, you sat down in a big screen and you have the Atmos sound and then you fly with 400 people around you, it's just the same experience that's all.

We completely agree. Valerian cost a certain amount of money. Is it possible because—

BESSON: I would just make an analogy, but it's like love, you know, yeah you can watch some porn on your thing, that's one thing, but, believe me, make it live with a real person is way much better.

I completely agree.

BESSON: So, it's the same.

Completely agree. Say Valerian cost ten dollars, is it possible, because of the research and development, that you did making Valerian, that making of second Valerian can be done at a lesser price? Or is it, because, the world creation, and your imagination, it's very hard to make it at a lower price?

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Image via EuropaCorp

BESSON: The price depends on the story. The story of the second one is less expensive. The third one is almost the same than the first. But it depends on the story, the price doesn't go up because you want to. It depends of what you're saying. But the second one is less expensive.

Is it dramatically less or just a little bit?

BESSON: It's pretty less, the story's different so... and there's some elements that you can use that we have in the first one and then we have the knowledge now.

Sure, like all the research and development?

BESSON: Yeah.

Obviously, I love your work I'm very curious, I know you said you're going to do Anna, I believe, is that going to be the next thing?

BESSON: Oh yeah, I'm shooting soon.

For real? What can you tease people about it? I didn't know you were starting in a week.

BESSON: Nothing. I don't like to tease.

Sure.

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Image via EuropaCorp

BESSON: It's just, I'm in it so ...

So, can I ask, where you're filming it?

BESSON: In Europe.

I did not know that was coming up so soon. I looked online and...

BESSON: But the film is interesting. I wrote Anna a year ago. The special effects were so long on Valerian that I really had the time to write something else. So, I wrote Anna, so my plan was always to do Anna after Valerian. Because I wanted to do something with actors, no special effects. It's much more... I need that after Valerian. I need to go back to actors and playing you know?

Is it something with action or is more of a character piece?

BESSON: You will see.

I'm going to leave it there and say, sir, thank you so much for giving me your time.

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