Last Friday, world famous director Luc Besson and his two star actors Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan sat down for a little Q&A at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons.
The occasion was of course the visually stunning sci-fi action movie Valerian that is soon to be released in theatres. Just like in any of his films the spectators will be drawn into the so peculiar and imaginative world of Besson; full of aliens, forlorn dimensions and stubborn female heroines. But they are especially in for a treat with spectacular special effects that will teleport you to worlds beyond your imagination. Nevertheless, this movie has a particular place in Besson’s filmography as it is a passion project of his. Having been a fan of the French comic book ‘Valerian and Laureline’ since it came out in the early 60s it has been a dream of his to put into film the alien packed, planet pullulating and stunningly strange world depicted through the comic strips. Mr. Besson, Cara Delevingne (Laureline) and Dane Dehann (Valerian) tell us all about it…
Q: What was it about Cara and Dane that got your attention to play Valerian and Laureline?
Luc Besson: The thing is I have known the comic book sine I’ve been ten years old. There’s 29 albums of it so I really know Valerian and Laureline very well. So it was more for me that I had a picture of who I wanted and set off to check who could fit this image I had of them. So it was really easy but I must say that for both of them, when I saw them for the first time, the first hour of conversation I knew it was them. One aspect that was very important was the timber of the voice and Dane has the voice. Cara too was certainly Laureline except she had to work for a couple of months on her accent so she wouldn’t sound so British and it’s a hard thing to loose a British accent but she did it very well. In the end, on the phone, you really couldn’t tell. So I knew that it was them but my only fear was putting them together because sometimes both are perfect but they don’t match. So I tried to organise the day they would meet because I wanted to be there the first time they met. I looked at my calendar to see how I could organise and then she called me saying “oh I saw Dane last night, I was at a meeting and he was there too!”. I was so frustrated that I wasn’t there when they met. So I asked her “how did it go? What did he say? How was he?” and she replied “yeah it was good” without giving me any information. So I had to wait a month to get them together and honestly it takes ten seconds. After ten seconds you can tell if it matches or not. I was so happy when I saw that it worked. I tried not to show it that much but I was so thrilled because I was sure about the couple.
Q: This looks like a demanding action movie where there any physical challenges?
Luc Besson: I’m very proud of them because they spent every morning two hours at the gym and on the set they had their little plastic lunch box, the two of them in space suit eating on set. I have to say, you were very brave, and I am very thankful for that, thank you so much.
Cara Delavigne: And then Luc was on his table eating his beautiful French baguette with the best cheese because filming in Paris is a wonderful opportunity but also the food is so good and when you only have to eat a piece of fish with some vegetables that was probably the biggest challenge.
Q: Cara, you were in suicide squad now in Valerian; where do movies fit into your life these days with your modelling career and do you pick your roles as a role model for young women and in your life do you see yourself as a role model for younger girls?
CD: I mean I’ve been given a tremendous opportunity. I’ve been blessed to have a strong influence with young girls and teenagers and I would say that it has been a goal of mine to be a role model for young girls to be able to look up to me. Because again, I am following every single one of my dreams that I’ve ever had in my life through hard work and determination. You know my message is that you can do anything that you put your mind to as long as you work hard and never give up. So for me acting is now what I spent most of my time doing. We’ve just spend six months doing this, I spent another six months doing suicide squad. The times I do get of I do like to do other things like modelling or charity work or whatever comes up. Also a break occasionally which is important but acting has been my dream and my passion so I’m going to carry on following it.
Q: One thing that sets your action movies apart from others and that we like about them is that all your films have very strong, capable, complex female characters, I was wondering if you could tell us if that has always been intentional add why that’s important to you.
LB: I think its normal. The way I see it is that in the seventies and eighties the movies where totally on the men side and its not fair. I pay the exact same attention, believe me, to the female part than the male part. So I don’t see any difference. You make the difference because most of the other films are all about men going of on adventures and girls in the back crying “Please come back”. That’s not my vision of the relationship between men and women and maybe I was raised a certain way where I was lucky enough to see that men and women are equally strong. So same attention for me.
Q: Along the same line, American films should also take example on your films because they are always very diverse, especially in the opening shot of Valerian where all the aliens are meeting and there are talks of immigration as it appeared in 5th element, why is it important for you to show that aspect?
LB: I think every time I try to get too serious I have to crack a joke, and I think that my films are like this. I can’t just make a film like a cheese burger. I need some weight, I need to talk about people who get whipped out at the beginning of the film, no one is responsible, its just a mistake but who is going to pay? And society doesn’t want to pay. That’s what we have today. And these people say “we can forgive, but how can we forget.” And six million people died and then we have no planet what are you going to do about it? If I do that story seriously is going to be very depressing, and no one will go see the film. So I love to talk about all these things, to talk about ecology, about immigration with a little smile while having fun at the same time. Because I think at the end of the day, you watch the film and you could say to yourself “gosh we had fun, it was incredible but there is something left somewhere, especially for the kids.” I’ll tell you a story. I did a film, a long time ago called Arthur and the Minimoies for the kids. And it was basically talking a lot about ecology. And a friend of mine called me and said “oh thank you so much, now my kids refuse to walk on the grass and they are on the wall around the property.” And I said “Yes!” to myself. Because the kids are like sponges so all the subjects we have in the film, even if its not the main thing, the kids who are going to watch the film they are going to think about Rihanna being an immigrant, almost like being a slave in a way. I love to talk to the kids like this because if you talk to them straight about immigration it doesn’t work. But this way maybe we elevate a little bit the consciousness of the young.
Q: Dane, in Cure for Wellness we see you trying to escape these slimy creepy snake like creatures and here you’ve got all sorts of crazy creature chasing you. You just can’t seem to get away from them, is this a theme, are we from now on going to see you in these types of movies?
DD: I mean, I don’t see many parallels to be honest between this movie and cure for wellness. And that’s kind of what I like to do in my career is to do different kind of things. In my mind you couldn’t find two more different kind of movies. With this movie I’d ever played the uncomplicated hero. That was extremely fun for me and it kind of brought the joy of the work back. It made me remember why I do this; to have a good time and to have fun and I don’t always have to be torturing myself (although there is a time and place for that) but its nice to take a break and its nice to be a part of something that is artistic but also fun and here to entertain everybody and you can bring your kids or you can have a couple beers and go and see it and its just kind of there to sit back and enjoy. That’s what’s exciting about this movie for me because it is a departure from things that I’ve done in the past.
Q: So anything fun that happened behind the scenes? Anything that you guys learned from each other?
CD: Ouh, where to start, six months… I’ll start with what I learned. I think me and Dave working together I always though it was very interesting why Luc picked us both. Its funny because over the six months we definitely have a very different approach. I mean Dave is an incredible actor who went to drama school and I learned so much watching him work, his dedication and his work ethic. It all inspired me so much and honestly being on set we got to talk so much about how we do things and for me, I reminded Dave of how to laugh and to keep it fun because we where so lucky on set we got to have five day weeks, didn’t do night shoots. So we had a lot of spare time where we got to explore the movie, the characters but also Paris. I’m trying to think of one funny moment… I think when we where filming falling out of the trash shoot. The amount of odd stuff that was put in that trash, different slimy parts, and weird things to dive in too. Honestly the detail of the sets that where made were so incredible I never wanted to leave and spend my time just discovering all the sets.
LB: That was one of the sets that wasn’t blue. For me its not so much to funniest moment but the most exiting moment I was waiting for and it’s the scene without any special effects. The one where they are facing each other and she talks about love and has to break into tears saying: “I don’t ask you to die for me I ask you to trust me.” Its this scene. And I was Waiting for the right moment to film this scene for almost fifteen weeks because I love this kind of filming; these kind of scenes are the juice for a director. There is no special effect, the camera is up close, its just the two actors, you’ve thrown everyone out of the set. The delicate part is to know when to film it. If you do it to soon, they’re not ready, not comfortable, and then you always reach a moment when they are ready, they can do it. And when they are ready, just wait a little more. Just wait one more week because now they are dying to make it. And then you play with that a little bit. At first your scared about the scene, then you want to do it and now your dying to do it. The day of that scene was just magical for me. It was the first time we were just the three of us, in our little world and that makes it my best souvenir.
DD: For me I think I learned a lot from Luc and for Cara making this movie. A lot of it goes back to what I said before about going back to why we do this. And I watched Luc everyday on set having the time of his life making the film he has wanted to make his entire life. He would give me the biggest hug everyday I stepped on the set. And I have this tendency to take myself to seriously all the time and Cara doesn’t have that problem. She loves life and she knows how to live it and she living her dream and she’s doing all these things that she wants to do always running on this high octane in this incredible way and I remember Luc pointing out to me about half way through, that everyday when Cara arrives on set I can tell even before she walks in through the door and see her that she’s arrived with you because she puts this huge smile on your face. And I was just so happy to see her everyday and be around her every day and the kind of feed of that energy of Luc and Cara having the time of their life. And I think that’s why I think I was also able to have the time of my life, because I got to work with both of them.
The film hits theaters this Friday.
