Director Luc Besson discusses all things 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' in Hall H.
What did we just watch? And can we see more, immediately?!
Director Luc Besson, the mastermind behind such iconic films as La Femme Nikita and The Fifth Element, debuted the very first footage from his new movie, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, at Comic-Con on Thursday and...we really don't know how to describe it.
So, we'll let Besson do it. The film centers on Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne). "They're space agents, they go through time and space. And they're so cute!" he exclaimed.
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Besson created an entire universe for the movie, filled with new planets -- hence the title -- aliens and spaceships. If it's all sounding reminiscent of another sci-fi flick featuring blue aliens, well, he said of his process bringing the comic to the big screen, "I had a version of [the script] that was pretty good. And then Avatar came, so I threw my script in the garbage."
Exactly how out-there is Valerian? Hall H was treated to a handful of in-progress sequences that showcased Ethan Hawke with a nose ring and Delevingne kicking some serious a**. (In one standout scene, Laureline is escorted through a space station by two guards. "Don't you think you should cuff me? Firstly, because it's protocol. Secondly, because I'm very tempted to escape," she deadpans before promptly beating them up.)
"It's a long, extremely impressive list of extremely strong female characters," Delevinge said of Besson's pedigree. "Laureline is on that. She's an extremely strong, independent, determined individual."
The teaser concluded with DeHaan's "space bro" Valerian visiting a Club, where Rihanna, looking like the intergalactic version of Velma Kelly from Chicago, is...performing?
"Really, you guys don't even know. Rihanna's part is so crazy. It's so awesome," DeHaan gushed. "I worked with her the first two weeks of the shoot. And whenever I told anyone what I'd be doing for those first two weeks, their jaws were on the floor and they were so jealous."
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets hits theaters on July 21, 2017.
