Previously, we reported that Luc Besson is rolling the dice on an adaptation of the French-Belgian comic Valerian, which is going to cost $180 million and is a huge gamble, even for the guy who made The Fifth Element. And now he’s started adding cast members.
According to Deadline, Clive Owen has joined Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne on the cast. He’ll be playing Commander Arün Filitt, one of the five human characters in the movie. Yes, everybody else is some kind of alien or special effect. Hey, the last time Besson made a huge SF movie, he had a Twi’lek sing opera. As for Owen’s exact role in the plot, well, Besson’s announcement should make that clear:
After #danedehaan & #caradelevigne I'm proud to announce that mister Clive Owen is part of the Valerian adventure!!:) pic.twitter.com/SaW3mX5OzP
— Luc Besson (@lucbesson) August 19, 2015
Besson hasn’t talked plot at all, but the comics are about Valerian, who’s essentially Doctor Who meets Timecop, and Laureline, a medieval peasant who gets swept up in his adventures and quickly has to defend the timestream herself. Together, they save the universe, inspire Star Wars, and serve as political commentary on the issues facing France and Belgium.
If you’d like to read the comics, you can find them on Amazon: For some reason, they haven’t yet turned up on comiXology, and you tend only to see them at better-stocked comic book shops. But as the movie ramps up, we’re sure that’ll change. As for the movie itself, we’ll see it July 21st, 2017.
(Via Deadline)
