Luc Besson

Infobox actor
name = Luc Besson


imagesize =
caption = Besson at "Taken" preview, 2008
birthdate = birth date and age|df=yes|1959|3|18
birthplace = Paris, France
yearsactive = 1981 - present
occupation = producer, director, screenwriter
spouse = Anne Parillaud (div.)
Milla Jovovich (1997-1999)
Virginie Silla (2004-)
baftaawards = Best British Film
1997 "Nil by Mouth"
cesarawards = Best Director
1998 "The Fifth Element"

Luc Besson (IPA2|lyk bɛsɔ̃; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, writer and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company.

Biography

Early life

Besson was born in Paris to parents who were both Club Med scuba diving instructors. This had a profound influence on his childhood as Besson planned on becoming a marine biologist. He spent much of his youth traveling with his parents to tourist resorts in Italy, Yugoslavia and Greece. ["Luc Besson," "Contemporary Authors Online", Gale, 2008.] The family returned to France when Besson was 10 years old. His parents promptly divorced and were remarried to other people. "Here there is two families, and I am the only bad souvenir of something that doesn't work," he said in the "International Herald Tribune". "And if I disappear, then everything is perfect. The rage to exist comes from here. I have to do something! Otherwise I am going to die." [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/20/arts/20besson.php Luc Besson: The most Hollywood of French filmmakers - International Herald Tribune] ]

At the age of 17 he had a diving accident which left him unable to dive. However, he has since fully recovered.cite web | title=Biography for Luc Besson | work=IMDb | url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000108/bio | accessmonthday=5 March | accessyear=2005]

"I was 17 and I wondered what I was going to do. ... So I took a piece of paper and on the left I put everything I could do, or had skills for, and all the things I couldn't do. The first line was shorter and I could see that I loved writing, I loved images, I was taking a lot of pictures. So I thought maybe movies would be good. But I thought that to really know I should go to a set. And a friend of mine knew a guy whose brother was a third assistant on a short film. It's true," he said in a 2000 interview with "The Guardian". [ [http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,,153490,00.html Luc Besson interviewed by Richard Jobson | | guardian.co.uk Film<] ]

"So, I said: 'OK, let's go on the set.' So I went on the set ... The day after I went back to see my mum and told her that I was going to make films and stop school and 'bye. And I did it! Very soon after I made a short film and it was very, very bad. I wanted to prove that I could do something, so I made a short film. That was in fact my main concern, to be able to show that I could do one." [ [http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,,153490,00.html Luc Besson interviewed by Richard Jobson | | guardian.co.uk Film] ]

Career

Out of boredom, he started to write stories, including the backdrop to what would later become one of his most popular movies, "The Fifth Element." [ [http://zakka.dk/euroscreenwriters/interviews/luc_besson_514.htm EuroScreenwriters - Interviews with European Film Directors - Luc Besson] ] Besson directed and co-wrote the screenplay of this Sci-Fi thriller with the screenwriter, Robert Mark Kamen. The film is inspired by the French comic books Besson read as a teenager. He also reportedly worked on the first drafts of Le Grand Bleu while still in his teens. ["Luc Besson." "International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 2: Directors", 4th ed. St. James Press, 2000.]

At 18, Besson returned to his birthplace of Paris. There he started to become involved in film, taking on odd jobs to get a feel for the industry. He worked as an assistant to directors including Claude Faraldo and Patrick Grandperret. Besson also directed three short films, a commissioned documentary, and several commercials. [Elley, Derek. "Pop pic auteur," "Variety", 23 June 1997 v. 367 n. 8 pp. 44-45.]

After this, he moved to the United States for three years, but returned to form his own production company which he called "Les Films du Loup". The name was later changed to Les Films du Dauphin.In the early 1980s, Besson met Éric Serra and asked him to compose the score for his first short film, "L'Avant dernier".cite web | title=Biography for Éric Serra | work=IMDb | url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0785385/bio | accessmonthday=5 March | accessyear=2005]

In recent years, he has written and produced numerous action movies, including the "Taxi" series, "The Transporter" series, and the Jet Li films "Kiss of the Dragon" and "Unleashed/Danny the Dog". Besson was also in charge of the promotional movie which was presented to the IOC members for the bid of Paris for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

His future projects include "The Ice People", which is to be set in Antarctica. This is, however, at odds with a report by CNN aired September 11, 2006 in which Besson announced his pending retirement with plans to establish a foundation for French inner city youth. [CNN.com, , 12 September 2006.] ["Luc Besson." "International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 2: Directors", 4th ed. St. James Press, 2000.]

Personal life

Besson was married to Anne Parillaud, who starred in the film he wrote and directed, "Nikita". They have one daughter. He later dated model Maïwenn Le Besco. Their daughter, Shana Besson, was born in 1993. Besson married Milla Jovovich on 14 December 1997, but they divorced in 1999. On 28 August 2004, Besson married Virginie Silla, a film producer.

He has a total of five daughters: Juliette, Shana, Talia, Satine, and Mao. The fifth daughter was born in 2005. ["BESSON BECOMES A FATHER FOR THE FIFTH TIME," World Entertainment News Network, 29 September 2005.]

Cinéma du look

Critics cite Besson as being a pivotal figure in the Cinéma du look movement, a specific style of film being made in the decade of the '80s into the early 1990s. "Subway", "The Big Blue" and "Nikita" are all considered to be of this stylistic school. The term was coined in a 1989 essay in "La Revue du cinema" in which Besson was lumped with two other directors who shared "le look." These directors were said to favor style over substance, spectacle over narrative. [Austin, Guy. "Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction", Manchester University Press, 1999, pp. 119-120, 126-128. ISBN 0719046114]

Most of the filmmakers in the category, including Besson, squirmed uncomfortably at being labeled, particularly in light of their forebearers: France's New Wave. "Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut were rebelling against existing cultural values and used cinema as a means of expression simply because it was the most avant-garde medium at the time," said Besson in "The New York Times". "Today, the revolution is occurring entirely within the industry and is led by people who want to change the look of movies by making them better, more convincing and pleasurable to watch.

"Because it's becoming increasingly difficult to break into this field, we have developed a psychological armor and are ready to do anything in order to work," he added in this same interview. "I think our ardor alone is going to shake the pillars of the moviemaking establishment." [Tremblay, Anne. "France Breeds a New Crop of Auteurs," "The New York Times", 21 July 1985.]

Works

Many of Besson's films have achieved popular, if not critical success. One such film was Le Grand Bleu. "When the film had its premiere on opening night at the Cannes Film Festival, it was mercilessly drubbed, but no matter; it was a smash," observed the "International Herald Tribune" in a 2007 profile of Besson. "Embraced by young people who kept returning to see it again, the movie sold 10 million tickets and quickly became what the French call a film générationnel, a defining moment in the culture." [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/20/arts/20besson.php Luc Besson: The most Hollywood of French filmmakers - International Herald Tribune ] ]

Besson created Arthur trilogy, which comprises "Arthur and the Minimoys", "Arthur and the Forbidden City" and "Arthur and the Revenge of Malthazard". Besson turned the first of this book series; Arthur and the Minimoys into a part live-action, part-computer-generated animated film which was released as "Arthur and the Invisibles" in the UK and the USA and starred Freddie Highmore, Madonna, Snoop Dogg, Mia Farrow, Robert De Niro and David Bowie. Besson directed.

Filmography as director

* "The Last Battle" or "Le Dernier Combat" (1983)
* "Subway" (1985)
* "The Big Blue" aka "Le Grand bleu" (1988)
* "Nikita" aka "La Femme Nikita" (1990)
* "Atlantis" (1991) - underwater wildlife documentary
* "Léon" aka "The Cleaner" aka "The Professional" (1994) (Also appeared as a cameo performance)
* "The Fifth Element" (1997)
* "" aka "Jeanne d'Arc" or "Joan of Arc" (1999)
* "Angel-A" (2005)
* "Arthur and the Minimoys" (2006)
* "Eden Log" (2007)
* "Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard" (2009) (filming)
* "Arthur et la guerre des deux mondes" (2010) (filming)

Awards

Among Besson’s many awards are the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film Critics Prize, Fantasporto Audience Jury Award-Special Mention, Best Director, and Best Film, for "Le Dernier Combat" in 1983; The Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon-Best Director-Foreign Film, for "La Femme Nikita", 1990; the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, "Nil by Mouth", 1997; and the Best Director Cesar Award, for "The Fifth Element", 1997. ["Luc Besson." "International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 2: Directors", 4th ed. St. James Press, 2000.]

Videoclips

* "Pull Marine" : Isabelle Adjani (1983)
* "Mon Légionnaire" : Serge Gainsbourg (1988)
* "Que mon cœur lâche" : Mylène Farmer (1993)
* "Love Profusion" : Madonna (2003)

References

External links

*imdb name|name=Luc Besson|id=0000108
* [http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12003.html Luc Besson Interview, Angel-A]
* [http://www.jewreview.net/article.php?id=1394 JewReview.net video interview with Luc Besson and Rie Rasmussen about Angel-A]
* [http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,,153490,00.html In-depth interview with Luc Besson]

Persondata
NAME= Besson, Luc
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Film director
DATE OF BIRTH= 1959-3-18
PLACE OF BIRTH= Paris, France
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=