FIB Film of the Week: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Although the title might be a mouthful, The Fifth Element director Luc Besson’s upcoming sci-fi film has everyone excited. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets has just released the first teaser trailer and it looks like a wild ride…

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Photo credit: JoBlo

The film was announced 18 months ago and it is set to be mind-blowing. The huge budget film will create a universe full of incredible creatures and technology. It’s an adaptation of of the highly acclaimed graphic novel, Valerian and Laureline by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres, which has been inspiration for many sci-fi films in the past, but had yet to be adapted for cinema, until now.

Besson has signed on the same concept artists for this film that he worked with on The Fifth Element. Mezieres, illustrator of Valerian and Laureline, has worked with Besson again to create the amazing concept art for the film, bringing the graphic novel to life in the big screen.

The film stars Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan as two government agents who are charged with maintaining order throughout the universe. They are sent to investigate a galactic empire full of different species from all over the universe that has been threatened with extinction.

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Photo credit: Omega Underground

The film contains a stellar cast with Clive Owen and Ethan Hawke starring in the film but none are more exciting than Rhianna, who will take on the role of a mysterious performer working in a space brothel. According to the director this is only one of 20 personas that she takes up in the film.

Besson told Entertainment Weekly, “Rihanna was my first wish. First, because of her voice and the way she smiles and looks and how she expresses herself. Second, because you know she won’t be intimidated on the set. She plays stadiums with 100,000 people. You know that girl isn’t shy about the camera and the crew and all this.”

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Set to the Beatles, the trailer beautifully explores this new and exciting universe and provides us with a glimpse of the characters awaiting us. The trailer gives us just enough to pique our interests, but lacks any real insight into the storyline of the film as to not spoil any surprises.

It is set for release in July next year and we can’t wait to see more teasers while we count down the days till its release.

You can check out the trailer below.