The Fifth Element director Luc Besson has debuted his very own Twitter account and revealed his next project, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. An adaptation of the French comic series Valerian and Laureline by Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières, Besson also revealed that Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne will play the iconic characters Valerian and Laureline.
Besson will write and direct the film. Virginie Besson Silla will produce on behalf of EuropaCorp, which will finance, produce and distribute the film.
Valerian was created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres in 1967 and has since sold over 10 million copies in 21 languages. Production is set to begin at the end of this year with a global release slated for summer 2017. The film shares a similar name to the second volume of “Valerian and Laureline” stories, titled “The Empire of a Thousand Planets.” The series is described as follows:
“Valerian and Laureline are exploring Syrte, capital planet of a system of 1,000 worlds. Their mission is to discover whether the Syrtians could present a danger to Earth. What they find is a decaying empire led by decadent aristocrats, a population ripe for revolution, and a mysterious caste of masked wise men who discreetly pull the strings from hidden fortresses. Swept up by the winds of history, the agents of Earth will have to choose a side.”
