Luc Besson

The Biologist Who Never Was

Luc Besson wanted to spend his life underwater. But a diving accident at the age of 17 forced him to trade the oxygen of the deep for the smoke of film sets in Paris. In 1983 he presented Le Dernier Combat, a silent, black-and-white science fiction film that few understood at first.

That film was a fist slammed on the table of the French industry. It showed the young director that his priority was image over words. Besson has always trusted what can be seen more than what is said.

French cinema had just found its enfant terrible.

The Factory of Killers and Neon

With Nikita (1990) and Léon (1994), the director proved he knew how to create killing machines with feelings. He was not interested in the applause of his country's more intellectual critics. He was after a music-video aesthetic and a pace that could compete with the blockbusters of California.

His big bet came in 1997 with The Fifth Element. The film had a budget of 90 million dollars, an astronomical figure for a European production at the time. But the risk paid off, and audiences responded by filling theaters around the world.

And then he decided he didn't just want to direct.

The Collapse of His Visual Empire

He founded EuropaCorp to turn France into a powerhouse of commercial action cinema. He produced profitable franchises such as Taxi and Taken that filled the company's coffers for years. But excessive ambition eventually took a toll on his personal and professional finances.

In 2017 he released Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. It was the most expensive project of his career, with a budget of 197 million euros. Its box office failure in the United States triggered an unprecedented financial crisis at his production company, forcing it to sell off major assets.

Besson has never stopped working despite the financial blows.

In 2023, she shot DogMan in an attempt to win back critical favor at international festivals. For 2025, Dracula – A Love Tale is scheduled for release, a production shot mostly at the Cinecittà studios with an estimated budget of 100 million euros.