New Images And Details About Luc Besson's Sci-Fi Film Valerian

Yesterday, French filmmaker Luc Besson shared the first official image from his current project, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, an adaptation of Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières' long-running graphic novel series Valérian and Laureline.

The image was a promotional picture featuring the director and his two stars, Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, whom in the film play Valérian and Laureline, respectively, a couple of spatio-temporal agents who protect the universe from various threats.

Now, while speaking to EW, Besson offered to share additional images as well as details about the characters and story. 

"It’s a part of the first mission," Besson says of the image above. "Beginning of the film. Like when you see James Bond, there’s always that one mission first. It’s the James Bond-style pre-story mission. They are in the middle of this big mission, and they’re disguised, so that’s why they’re dressed that way. They try to escape. It,s pretty funny how they have to escape."

"There is flavor from the comic, for sure," Besson revealed when asked about how faithful to the graphic novel the film would be. "When you read a comic book, it takes you 20 minutes. The film is two hours. So I take the essentials, but I have to go to other worlds. But when you see the film, you will remember in the comic and say, “Oh yeah, yeah, this and this.” The characters are there and a big chunk of the story."

"His name is K-Tron. He’s a police officer," the director says of the chromed figure. "You can’t even deal with him. You don’t argue with him. He’s not really important in the film, but he’s just like the the military police. Believe me, I have hundreds of these characters like him."

Opening in theaters on July 21, 2017, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets also stars Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke, Rihanna, John Goodman, Ruger Hauer, Kris Wu, supermodel Pauline Hoarau, Kris Wu, and Jazz legend Herbie Hancock.

Rooted in the classic graphic novel series, Valerian and Laureline- visionary writer/director Luc Besson advances this iconic source material into a contemporary, unique and epic science fiction saga.

Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are special operatives for the government of the human territories charged with maintaining order throughout the universe. Valerian has more in mind than a professional relationship with his partner- blatantly chasing after her with propositions of romance. But his extensive history with women, and her traditional values, drive Laureline to continuously rebuff him.

Under directive from their Commander (Clive Owen), Valerian and Laureline embark on a mission to the breathtaking intergalactic city of Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis comprised of thousands of different species from all four corners of the universe. Alpha’s seventeen million inhabitants have converged over time- uniting their talents, technology and resources for the betterment of all. Unfortunately, not everyone on Alpha shares in these same objectives; in fact, unseen forces are at work, placing our race in great danger.

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