Luc Besson is keeping things interesting by casting a slew of Hollywood A-listers for his upcoming sci-fi film.
Titled “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”, the movie has reportedly added Ethan Hawke (of “Boyhood” fame) and John Goodman (of “Rosanne” fame) to its cast.
Besson himself announced Hawke’s casting through his official Instagram account:
Hawke’s role in Besson’s big-budget sci-fi film has yet to be announced, but he will star alongside Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, and Rihanna.
According to TheWrap, Goodman is also “nearing a deal” to star in the movie. He will reportedly be voicing a CG alien, but no further details regarding his role were revealed. The role will mark the 2nd time he’s voicing an alien after voicing Autobot Hound in “Transformers 4“. The actor is also known for his previous voice roles including Sully in Pixar’s “Monsters Inc.” and Pascha in “The Emperor’s New Groove”.
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“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” will be based on “Valerian and Laureline”, a popular French sci-fi comic series that was first published in Pilote magazine in 1967.
With influences from the classic literary science fiction, writer Pierre Christin created the series with artist Jean-Claude Mézières. It follows the adventures of Valérian, a dark-haired spatiotemporal agent who travels the universe through space and time with his redheaded female companion, Laureline. All of the stories have been collected in a graphic novel album format, comprising of some 21 volumes plus a short story collection and an encyclopedia.
Though the final installment of the comic series was published in 2010, it is one of the top 5 biggest-selling Franco-Belgian comic titles of its publisher, Dargaud. It also became a landmark in European comics and pop culture as traces of its concepts, storylines and designs can be found on popular sci-fi films such as “Star Wars“, “The Fifth Element”, and “Avatar“.
Earlier in May, Besson confirmed that DeHaan and Delevingne will be playing the traveling agents in the movie. Owen will also be starring in it as a character named Commander Arün Filitt.
Best known for his work on “Leon the Professional” and the “Taken” franchise, Besson is writing and directing “Valerian”. The movie will begin shooting next month at a reported budget of USD180 million. Virginie Besson-Silla will produce on behalf of Besson’s production company EuropaCorp, which is financing, producing, and distributing the movie.
Hawke will be seen next in a plethora of movies including “The Magnificent Seven“, “Regression”, “Maggie’s Plan”, and “Born to Be Blue”. As for Goodman, he currently stars in “Trumbo” and “Love the Coopers”. He will be seen next in Bad Robot-produced thriller “Valencia” and “Kong: Skull Island“.
“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” is due to be released on 21st July 2017.
Source: TheWrap.
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