Luc Besson Biography

Summary

"Luc Besson" () (born March 18, 1959) is a French film director, writer and producer.

Biography

Little is known about Luc Besson's private life since he rarely discusses his personal life in interviews. He was born in Paris to parents who were both scuba diving instructors. This had a profound influence on his childhood as Besson planned on becoming a marine biologist. At the age of 17 he had a diving accident which left him unable to dive, However, he has since fully recovered.

During his childhood, and especially during adolescence, Besson showed amazing creativity. 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." Besson directed and co-wrote the screenplay of this Sci-Fi thriller with the screenwriter, Robert Mark Kamen. The film is inspired by the American comic books Besson read as a teenager.

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. 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".

He was married to Anne Parillaud, who starred in the film he wrote and directed, "La Femme Nikita".

Besson later dated model Maïwenn Le Besco. Their daughter, Shana Besson, was born in 1993.

Besson married Milla Jovovich on December 14 1997, but they divorced in 1999. On August 28 2004, Besson married Virginie Silla.

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.

Cinéma du look

Besson was a prominent face in the era of Cinéma du look in the '80s into the start of the '90s. "Subway", "The Big Blue" and "Nikita" are all considered to be in this era.

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)

"The Fifth Element" (1997)

"The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" aka "Jeanne d'Arc" or "Joan of Arc" (1999)

"Angel-A" (2005)

"Arthur and the Invisibles" (2006)

"Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard" (2009) (filming)

"Arthur et la guerre des deux mondes" (2010) (filming)

Works

Besson has been the author of the Arthur trilogy which features "Arthur and the Minimoys", "Arthur and the Forbidden City" and "Arthur and the Revenge of Malthazard". Besson has also turned the first of this book series; Arthur and the Minimoys into a part live-action, part-CG 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. The next two books in the series are in pre-production.