{"id":616507,"date":"2026-09-06T18:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T18:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/616507\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T18:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T18:44:08","slug":"luc-besson-praises-madonna-says-hes-developing-another-sci-fi-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/616507\/","title":{"rendered":"Luc Besson Praises Madonna, Says He’s Developing Another Sci-Fi Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLuc Besson<\/a> is writing another sci-fi story right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s going to be crazy, believe me. Maybe you will need a ticket and an aspirin at the same time. I\u2019m older, so I\u2019m trying to explore everything now,\u201d he admitted during a masterclass at Venice Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s funny, because my first film was sci-fi [\u2018The Last Battle\u2019], then I made \u2018The Fifth Element\u2019. There were only 182 special effects in that film \u2014 \u2018Valerian\u2019 was 4,000! I\u2019m excited [to try something new]. It\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, he\u2019s not too worried about ongoing technological changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis whole technical evolution \u2026 As a director, you just digest it. It\u2019s always just a tool,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI know lots of people are afraid of AI. But it\u2019s a tool! Don\u2019t be afraid. It\u2019s a tiger \u2014 but you are a guy with a whip, speaking German to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNo stranger to Venice, Besson wrote and produced this year\u2019s \u201cFather Joe<\/a>,\u201d directed by Barth\u00e9l\u00e9my Grossmann.\u00a0The film, which premiered out of competition, features Kiefer Sutherland as a priest fighting a crime boss played by Al Pacino<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tPacino missed the press conference<\/a> for the film, instead sending a video message and praising Besson: \u201cIt\u2019s great to say his name,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the presser, Besson said: \u201cThe good thing is I\u2019m also a director. I don\u2019t want to be bothered when I\u2019m a director so I tried not to bother [Barth\u00e9l\u00e9my]. As long as he doesn\u2019t have a problem, I\u2019m not there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLater, he added: \u201cI have to feel that I\u2019m the best director to do it. With \u2018The Big Blue,\u2019 half of it is in the water. Forget it \u2014 I had to do it. And then there are many that I love, but some of my friends can do it better than me. Take \u2018Taken\u2019 or \u2018Father Joe.\u2019 I just love cinema and I love to share.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRecently, Besson directed \u201cDracula: A Love Tale\u201d with his \u201cDogman\u201d star Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI hate horror films. I\u2019m too scared of them. But \u2018Dracula\u2019 is a love story \u2014 that\u2019s the point. I believe you should do what you feel like, and I\u2019m in love with this actor, Caleb Landry Jones. He\u2019s a genius. For a director, working with a guy like that, it feels like you have a cocktail in your hand when you call \u2018action\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe can play anything. I made that movie for him, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTalking about his process, he also opened up about \u201cL\u00e9on: The Professional\u201d with Jean Reno and Natalie Portman in her feature film debut.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was walking in Paris, it was so hot, and I saw this huge guy walking by. I thought: Why is he wearing this coat in the middle of the summer?\u2019 I turned around and I was following him. I lost him, and then heard two gunshots. \u201cMaybe he was carrying all this acid so that he could dispose of his victims\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis guy is stupid, he\u2019s a killer, doesn\u2019t know how to read and write. I thought about all these things he could react to, from his family to a dog, to a plant. I went one by one, until I got to this little girl. And plant was good, because it can\u2019t talk but it needs him. Suddenly, he\u2019s useful. And the plant will never betray him, and it has no roots, like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added: \u201c\u2018L\u00e9on\u2019 was easy for me. \u2018The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc\u2019 wasn\u2019t. I\u2019m so proud of that movie.\u00a0It\u2019s a movie where you are talking to God, so you have to be careful of what you say,\u201d he joked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBesson also recalled the time he made the music video for Madonna<\/a>\u2019s song \u201cLove Profusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMadonna called me up. \u2018I have to make this video tomorrow and the director sucks\u2019 \u2014 that\u2019s how she speaks! I listened to the song for 11 hours on the plane. I think we shot it the moment we landed, because she was in a hurry,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe\u2019s a phenomenon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn recent years, Besson faced controversy because of sexual assault allegations. He was eventually cleared<\/a> of all charges, and continued working as a filmmaker.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m going to make movies or I\u2019m going to die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe first time I was on set [as a director], I vomited. But then you learn, and you don\u2019t think anymore. It\u2019s this or death,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI didn\u2019t choose it, exactly, but it just makes you strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe said: \u201cIf you are not passionate as an artist, if it\u2019s not in your DNA \u2026 The success doesn\u2019t matter. It may come or not, or it may come 40 years later. We all see movies and it\u2019s the same shit. Most of them are not interesting. If you are not passionate, just don\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI do it the way I want, or I don\u2019t do it. There were some movies where I was in deep shit because of that, but it\u2019s ok. Today, it\u2019s difficult because there\u2019s so much pressure from everyone and you get lost. You don\u2019t know when to say \u2018yes\u2019 and \u2018no\u2019,\u201d he told a young director in the audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t guide you, but I can tell you how I am. Some people make compromises and they are rich, and I\u2019m happy for them \u2014 they have a great life. But that\u2019s not me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luc Besson is writing another sci-fi story right now.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s going to be crazy, believe me. Maybe you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[14909,93,261612,61,60,104611,664,270,802],"class_list":["post-616507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-al-pacino","tag-entertainment","tag-father-joe","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-luc-besson","tag-madonna","tag-movies","tag-venice-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}