Interesting facts about the film “The Fifth Element” (12 photos)

How Bruce Willis got the lead role, why Milla Jovovich needed an artificial leg, and what role Luc Besson’s wife played.





Director and screenwriter Luc Besson came up with the idea for The Fifth Element in his teens, and brought it to reality at almost forty years old. All these years, he periodically returned to the love story that happened in the 23rd century between the taxi driver Zaltman and the alien girl Lilu - he edited, added, and rewrote. From this text of about 400 pages, the film script was later developed.



The idea required a lot of money, and not a single film studio would agree to such expenses for the sake of a young director. The chance appeared in 1990 after the release of the action movie “Nikita” - the film was a success in 95 countries, Hollywood bought the rights to a remake, and Luc Besson immediately received international fame, credibility with film companies and a very substantial fee. He immediately began to select a team to shoot the film of his dreams...





Besson was the first to invite his favorite comic book artists Jean Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières and fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier. He wanted the future to be bright, fun and not depressing, as it was for many directors. He sketched out approximate images of the heroes to Gautier: Korben Dallas - a street action hero, Zorg - a villain in the style of Hitler, Lilu - a girl from the film "Metropolis" and Frida Kahlo from the self-portrait "Broken Column", Ruby Rod - the singer Prince in the future. The designer created 900 costumes, including outfits for the extras in the background.



In 1992, work stopped - the French film studio changed its mind about investing in the project that was growing before our eyes. Besson went to America to film Leon, and at the same time cut costs - he threw out some spectacular scenes from the script, moderated his artistic appetites and decided to cast unknown actors in the main roles. However, “Leon” helped him! The drama, shot at the American film studio Columbia Pictures, did very well at the box office, and the studio offered Besson help with financing The Fifth Element, provided that the film was in English.



At the film company's office, he met Bruce Willis, who asked him about the project. Besson spoke, and the actor asked who would play the main male role. “I don’t have enough money for your fee...” said Besson and heard in response: “We’ll agree!” Willis liked the script, and they actually agreed on “friendly” money. Gary Oldman, who had just starred in Leon, agreed without even reading the script or asking the amount of the fee. True, he made a promise that Besson would produce his directorial work, the drama “Don’t Swallow.”



The selection of the actress was not so easy. Out of several thousand applicants, Besson personally examined the samples of 300 girls, and no one impressed him, including Milla Jovovich. She seemed uptight, dressed strangely and wearing too much makeup. When he saw her without makeup, in jeans and a T-shirt, he didn’t even recognize her right away! This image turned out to be just what I needed. Besson asked all final candidates to say without hesitation the full name of the heroine - Liluminai Lekatariba Laminachai Ekbat de Sebat. Jovovich coped, and then, together with Besson, came up with the “alien” language that her heroine spoke.



Before filming, Milla Jovovich went to practice karate, but some techniques never worked for her. For example, she could not lift her leg higher than her head in a strike, so an artificial leg was made, which the assistant used to beat the opponent. The make-up artists dyed the actress's brown hair bright orange with light roots - it looked impressive, but after a couple of touch-ups the hair simply began to fall off. I had to urgently make a wig, which the actress wore even outside the set.



The director saw singer Prince in the role of Ruby Rod, but sent Jean-Paul Gaultier to negotiate with him. Besson thought that the extravagant singer would be interested in the costumes and in general they would come to an agreement faster. According to designer Ruby, Rod was supposed to wear a fishnet suit with long black hair hanging from it, and at the back he had a sizable sirloin patch. Prince didn’t like the outfit, which for some reason he considered “too feminine,” or the interaction with the fashion designer... The role was given to actor and stand-up comedian Chris Tucker, but they still refused the hairy mesh.



The most striking episodic character - the singer Plavalaguna - was played by Luc Besson's wife, actress Maiwenn Le Besko, and the Albanian singer Inva Mula sang for her. She performed an aria from the opera “Lucia di Lammermoor”, and then with the help of computer processing her voice was brought to a fantastic sound.

By the beginning of filming, Besson and Le Besco had lived together for five years and raised their daughter Shena, and by the end of filming they broke up - the director began an affair with Milla Jovovich. After filming, they got married, but the marriage lasted only two years.



Futuristic cityscapes were created using miniatures and computer graphics. Flying taxis, except for Corben Dallas's car, were computer generated, and New York skyscrapers were only six meters high. Corben's car was made life-size and “flyed” on hinges and suspensions. All the sets were built in the pavilions of the British film studio, a few location shootings were carried out in Mauritania and Iceland, and the performance of the diva Plavalaguna was filmed in London's Covent Garden.



The villain Zorg had a pet - a touching creature with a trunk and short legs. Gary Oldman was delighted with the “animal”, carried it in his arms and came up with tiny scenes with its participation. He even had a name - his name was Picasso. Beneath Picasso's silicone skin was a complex mechanism operated by six people.



The Fifth Element was first shown at the opening of the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, and then released internationally. For a long time, it was not only the most expensive film in the history of French cinema, but also the highest grossing. The record of $264 million was broken by the comedy drama “1+1,” which grossed almost twice as much.