Luc Besson Is Making A Sci-Fi Epic That’s Even Bigger Than ‘The Fifth Element’

Luc Besson is set to direct his first outer space adventure since 1997’s The Fifth Element. The prolific writer/director/producer has just announced his latest project, an adaptation of Valérian, the classic French sci-fi graphic novel series that’s been around since the ’60s. Besson has been teasing a film version since 2012, but finally made things official by joining Twitter and revealing the name, release schedule, and stars for the film.

Dane DeHaan is best known for his roles in Chronicle and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, where he played Harry Osborn. Cara Delevingne is a name you’ll be seeing more of soon; she’s set to appear in the upcoming Pan and Suicide Squad films. She’s also the voice of the Non Stop Pop FM station in Grand Theft Auto V.

As for the plot, Deadline reports…

DeHaan and Delevingne will play Valerian and Laureline in the adaptation of the original story, which centered on a pair of spatio-temporal agents who help defend a utopian 28th century Earth and its neighboring planets from bad guys, with the pair’s adventures rooted in space opera and time travel themes not so much unlike Fifth Element, Besson’s seminal 1997 pic.

The comics are massive in their scope with Valerian and Laureline travelling across time and space, dealing with countless alien races and civilizations. The series was lauded for its detailed artwork, which inspired many of the major science fiction films to come out in the ’70s and ’80s. The original Star Wars trilogy has many elements influenced by Valerian… the Millennium Falcon’s design, Han being frozen in carbonite, and Leia’s slave girl costume were all lifted from its pages.

So, it seems appropriate that, as Star Wars returns, so should Valerian, and under the watchful eye of Luc Besson, no less! In the meantime, you should track down the comics and check them out. They definitely haven’t gotten the attention they deserve in North America.

(Via Deadline)