{"id":5171,"date":"2017-07-18T11:20:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T15:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=5171"},"modified":"2017-07-18T11:20:46","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T15:20:46","slug":"valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=5171","title":{"rendered":"Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"copy-snippet fontset1 scale3\">\n<article class=\"art\">\n<header>\n<hgroup>\n<h5 data-bind=\"text: articleTitle\">FANTASY COME TRUE:\u00a0 Filmmaker Luc Besson took more than a decade to realize his vision<\/h5>\n<\/hgroup>\n<ul class=\"art-byline\">\n<li class=\"art-author\" data-bind=\"text: byline\">Montreal Gazette\u00a0 <time data-bind=\"text: shortDateString\">18 Jul 2017\u00a0 <\/time>BOB THOMPSON<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/header>\n<figure class=\"art-pic\">\n<p><figure style=\"width: 272px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"articleImage\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn2-img.pressreader.com\/pressdisplay\/docserver\/getimage.aspx?regionKey=NFPTYJ9TWpXQBhbwg5coeg%3d%3d\" alt=\"\" width=\"272\" height=\"220\" data-bind=\"attr: { src: imageUrl }\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Luc Besson hired 10 designers and then had them prepare separate visions of space without really knowing what the goal was.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n<div data-bind=\"foreach: articleBlocks\">\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\"><strong>Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Opens July 21.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">French filmmaker Luc Besson usually gets things done quickly. But it took him more than a decade of care and attention to realize his cinematic dream Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The movie is based on the French comic books Valerian and Laureline by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude M\u00e9zi\u00e8res. The series enthralled Besson as a child growing up in Paris. As a 58-yearold, he\u2019s finally promoting the English language version of the sci-fi fantasy.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The Besson movie features Dane DeHaan as Valerian and Cara Delevingne as Laureline. They are a squabbling but in-love couple who are also space detectives assigned to uncover a lethal menace at the gigantic space station named City of a Thousand Planets. If they don\u2019t find the device, it might destroy the city and maybe the universe.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">But some of the city\u2019s inhabitants \u2014 made up of separate spheres for humanoids, robots, methane aliens and marine extraterrestrials \u2014 aren\u2019t in the mood to co-operate with the investigators.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Co-stars include Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Rutger Hauer, Kris Wu and singer Rihanna, who stands out as a shape-shifting entertainer.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Certainly, Besson flirted with the fantasy genre in 1997 when he released The Fifth Element, to modest success at the box office. His latest effort is much more expansive and expensive.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The eye-popping designs and the state-of-the-art special effects are the real stars of the production, although the director admits during an interview that the casting of Valerian and Laureline were key.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cIt\u2019s almost a $200-million film and you know it\u2019s going to be tough,\u201d says Besson, who acknowledges that he has to compete with the trendsetting superhero movies. \u201cSo I start 10 years ago and I start very slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">He hired 10 designers and then had them prepare separate space visions without really knowing what the goal was. \u201cWeird\u201d was the operative word, Besson says. \u201cI received more than 6,000 drawings to start my puzzle and then I could think about my two (lead) actors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">DeHaan was the Green Goblin in 2014\u2019s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Delevingne portrayed the evil Enchantress in last year\u2019s Suicide Squad, but they had more to offer than previous experience in a special-effects movie.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cI\u2019ve known the comics since I\u2019m 10 years old, so I really know Valerian and Laureline very well, so it was more for me like I had a picture of who I want, and then I check who can fit,\u201d Besson says. \u201cWhen I (met with) them the first time, the first hour of conversation, I knew it was them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">The director wanted \u201cthe salt and the sugar in the same story\u201d and that\u2019s what he received from his headliners. Still, he had them do the onscreen chemistry test.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cSo I have to wait a month to finally get them together and honestly, it takes 10 seconds,\u201d Besson says. \u201cAfter 10 seconds you can tell. I was so happy. I tried not to show it too much at the time, but I was so thrilled because I was sure about the couple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Casting the very busy Rihanna as the exotic dancer was more of a leap of faith.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Says the director: \u201cI didn\u2019t even know if it was realistic or not, but it was just my dream, and you never know until you ask.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Apparently, his timing was just about right because Rihanna was considering making the transition into movies just like many of her music colleagues. Rihanna\u2019s commitment meant a month of costume preparations for her and six days of filming some of the more complicated sequences in the film.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cShe was exceptional,\u201d Besson says. \u201cWhen she was (on set), her entire entourage is out of the set. She was by herself. She was very focused and asking you to direct her, which for a director is a dream.\u201c<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Indeed, females make up a strong component of the film, as they usually do in Besson\u2019s movies.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cI think it\u2019s normal,\u201d Besson says. \u201cI pay the exact same attention, believe me, to the female part as I do to the male part &#8230; maybe I was raised a certain way that I was lucky enough to see that they\u2019re both very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">Typical, too, is the blend of comedy and drama, slapstick and action.<\/p>\n<p data-bind=\"text: $data\">\u201cEvery time I try to get too serious, I have to crack a joke and I think my films are like this,\u201d Besson says. \u201cBut I can\u2019t just make a film like a cheeseburger and nothing (else).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span id=\"jc78e4aa0\">Aside from this, testosterone pills can  <a href=\"http:\/\/appalachianmagazine.com\/2019\/03\/01\/why-the-blue-ridge-mountains-are-blue\/\">cheap viagra overnight<\/a> produce a list of unwanted side effects, among them facial hair and rashes. 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French filmmaker Luc Besson usually gets things done quickly. But it took him more than a decade of care and attention to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=5171\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[229],"tags":[751,910],"class_list":["post-5171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","tag-luc-besson","tag-valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5171"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5174,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5171\/revisions\/5174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}