Subway de luc besson biography

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His childhood was, by and large, a solitary one. He followed with a cinematic love letter to the ocean with "The Big Blue" (1988), an adventure about the rivalry between two free divers (Jean-Marc Barr and Reno). After establishing the slick, visual aesthetic known as "Cinéma du look" with early efforts like "Subway" (1985), "The Big Blue" (1988) and "La Femme Nikita" (1990), Besson officially crossed over to Hollywood with the films "The Professional" (1994) and "The Fifth Element" (1997).

Following the disappointment of his historical epic "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999), he returned - usually as a writer-producer - to stories featuring hard luck heroes and spectacular chase sequences in genre movies like "Kiss of the Dragon" (2001), "The Transporter" (2002) and "Unleashed" (2005).

After him are Alain Resnais (1922), Robert Bresson (1901), René Clair (1898), Jacques Audiard (1952), Jacques Tati (1907), and Claude Lelouch (1937).

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By the turn of the decade, Besson felt he was ready to begin his career in earnest.

Through his various jobs as a casting director and work on several promotional films, Besson met and began what would be lengthy collaborative relationships with actor Jean Reno and guitarist-composer Eric Serra.

Besson performed similar duties on the parkour-infused action-adventure "District B13" (2004), "Transporter 2" (2005) and the Jett Li crime drama "Unleashed" (2005).

That same year, Besson returned to directing with the modestly budgeted fantasy-romance "Angel-A" (2005), a redemption fable which he, not surprisingly, also wrote and produced.

For Besson, it was a label that he neither embraced nor refuted. He is most famous for directing the films "The Fifth Element" and "Leon: The Professional."

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Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Luc Besson ranks 72 out of 2,041.

He won Best Director and Best French Director for his sci-fi action film The Fifth Element (1997). Gleefully over-the-top and boasting eye-popping special effects, the film remained Besson's most commercially successful movie in the U.S. for decades to come. Luc Besson is the 72nd most popular film director (down from 55th in 2024), the 624th most popular biography from France (down from 460th in 2019) and the 10th most popular French Film Director.

Luc Besson is a French film director, screenwriter, and producer.

Read allOn improvising a burglary at a shady tycoon's home, Fred takes refuge in the hip and surreal universe of the Paris Metro and encounters its assorted denizens, the tycoon's henchmen and his disenchanted young wife.On improvising a burglary at a shady tycoon's home, Fred takes refuge in the hip and surreal universe of the Paris Metro and encounters its assorted denizens, the tycoon's henchmen and his disenchanted young wife.

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    6Karl Self

    The fuzz, the handcuffs, the big house.

    This is a pure exercise in style from the Luc Besson school of film making.

    subway de luc besson biography

    Buoyed by the formative experience of his first film, he went on to write, produce and direct his ambitious sophomore effort, "Subway" (1985).

    A visually stunning crime-fantasy starring Isabelle Adjani and Christopher Lambert, "Subway" was one of the most commercially successful films in France that year. It's amazing how Besson brings together great style, action, fun, pace, acting, dialogue and amazing characters.

    Although begun prior to "Nikita," he returned to theaters with the stunning "Atlantis" (1991), a documentary tone-poem focusing on the beauty of marine life, with Eric Serra's haunting score providing the text. An eye-opening experience came in 1979, when he was able to travel to Los Angeles and witness first hand the American style of filmmaking.

    He directed and produced the films Subway (1985), The Big Blue (1988), and La Femme Nikita (1990). With Serra providing the musical score and Reno, along with musician Pierre Jolivet in the lead roles, Besson produced his innovative, black and white, eight-minute film, "L'avant Dernier" (1981). By Bryce Coleman

    On improvising a burglary at a shady tycoon's home, Fred takes refuge in the hip and surreal universe of the Paris Metro and encounters its assorted denizens, the tycoon's henchmen and his d...

    The trouble is that head honcho Fred has fallen in love with the pretty but stroppy wife of one of his BCBG victims, and strife ensues below the streets of gay Paree.

    Christopher Lambert is amazing as the stylish rebel gangster with a heart, Fred; Isabelle Adjani is pretty but, as always, deeply annoying -- she just exudes arrogance from the bottom of her dainty little heart.

    Undeterred, Besson spent the next few years writing scripts, forming his own short-film production company called Les Films de Loup, and working as a production assistant in Paris. Associated with the Cinéma du look film movement, he has been nominated for a César Award for Best Director and Best Picture for his films Léon: The Professional (1994) and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999).

    The son of scuba diving instructors who worked for Club Med, Besson's early years were spent along the shores of such far-flung locales as Italy, Greece and Yugoslavia. Always keen to further explore heroic female characters, Besson wrote and directed the period fantasy-adventure "The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec" (2010), scripted and produced the Zoe Saldana revenge tale "Columbiana" (2011), and directed Asian superstar Michelle Yeoh in "The Lady" (2011), a biopic about Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

    Switching to a male protagonist, he co-wrote and produced the sci-fi action-adventure "Lock Out" (2012), starring Guy Pearce as a wrongly-convicted felon sent to free the president's daughter, who is being held hostage on a high-tech orbiting prison taken over by the inmates.