Luc Besson‘s filmography is fairly impressive for a director that’s never really received support from critics. He directed “Nikita,” “Leon,” and “The Fifth Element” back to back to back from 1990-1997. Fine. Those three films alone have allowed him enough creative freedom to direct whatever he’s wanted to since. The problem is the ensuing films weren’t very good (“The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc,” “Angel-A,” “Arthur and the Invisibles,” “The Family“). He made somewhat of a comeback in 2014 with the underrated “Lucy.” The recently released ‘Valerian‘ was one of the most frustrating and dazzling movies I can remember, and what worked — those incredible visuals — was spectacular and sucked you into the film’s original world. It also was some of the best use of 3D I’ve ever seen. Of course, the movie tanked. Nobody came to see it. Its $200M budget has given a headache to the distributors and producers tied to the project.
Besson has been doing the interview rounds in the U.K, which has given him a chance to throw a few darts at the superhero genre and comic book culture. That’s too bad, because it would make sense for him tackle the genre — his visual prowess has always been his strength and that blends well with Marvel and DCEU films. One minor swipe was delivered in an interview he did with Bleeding Cool:
“It’s very hard for me to identify with a superhero because he has a superpower, and I don’t have a superpower, all I can see is his power and say ‘oh, thank you so much for saving my life, me, poor little human being.’ I don’t like this relationship. I cant identify with the guy, I’m not like him.”
Now Comic Book Movie has the director saying harsher words about Marvel/DC films, especially “Captain America”:
“Totally tired of it,” the French director said when the subject of these movies came up. It was great 10 years ago when we see the first Spider-Man and Iron Man. But now, it’s like number five, six, seven; the superhero is working with another superhero, but it’s not the same family. I’m lost.”
“But what bothers me most is it’s always here to show the supremacy of America and how they are great. I mean, which country in the world would have the guts to call a film ‘Captain Brazil’ or ‘Captain France?’ I mean, no one! We would be like so ashamed and say, ‘No, no, come on, we can’t do that.’ They can. They can call it ‘Captain America,’ and everybody think it normal. I’m not here for propaganda, I’m here to tell a story.” It’s safe to say Besson won’t be working with Marvel Studios in the near future.
Yikes. Could this bitterness stem from the fact that Besson tried making his own superhero movie? ‘Valerian’ was an adaptation of a popular French comic book, but was met with a resounding yawn at the box-office. Whatever the case may be, don’t expect Marvel or DC to come knocking at his door anytime soon.