The Fifth Element is a 1997 English-language French science-fiction action film conceived and directed by Luc Besson, and co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker. Primarily set in the 23rd century, the film’s central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxi driver and former special forces major, after a young woman named Leeloo (Jovovich) falls into his cab. To accomplish this, Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defense of Earth against the impending attack of a malevolent cosmic entity.
During this time, Besson approached both Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson for the lead role, and also considered Julia Roberts for Leeloo. Willis expressed interest, though he was reluctant to take on the role as the film was considered risky after his previous two films, Hudson Hawk and Billy Bathgate, had been poorly received. Gibson eventually turned down the role. While the production team impressed film companies with their designs, they struggled to find one willing to take on a budget approaching nearly $100 million. In December 1992, production stopped without any prior warning, and the team disbanded.
Besson wrote and directed the commercially successful Léon: The Professional (1994). During that period, he continued to work on the script for The Fifth Element, shortening it. He reduced the film’s budget to $90 million before again attempting to find a studio willing to produce it. Columbia Pictures, which had a partnership in Leon, agreed to finance the film. By this time, Besson had decided to go with a lesser-known lead actor to save on production costs. Besson happened to be in Barry Josephson’s office when Willis called regarding a different film. Besson asked to speak to Willis “just to say hello” and told him that The Fifth Element was finally going ahead, explaining his decision to go with a less-expensive actor. After a short silence, Willis said, “If I like the film, we can always come to an arrangement.” After reading the script, Willis agreed to take on the role.
Production began in early August 1995. Besson traveled to various places for casting, including Paris, London, and Rome. He hired Gary Oldman (who had starred in Léon) for the role of Zorg, describing Oldman as “one of the top-five actors in the world.”
For the character Leeloo, Besson chose Milla Jovovich from the 200–300 applicants he met in person. The “Divine Language” spoken by Leeloo is a fictional language of 400 words, invented by Besson. To practice, Jovovich and Besson held conversations and exchanged letters in the language. Besson was then married to Maïwenn le Besco, who played the role of the Diva Plavalaguna when filming began. He left her to take up with Jovovich during filming. Jovovich and Besson later married but divorced two years later in 1999.
Although he wanted to shoot in France, Besson was unable to find suitable facilities, so he filmed in London. It was primarily filmed at Pinewood Studios on seven soundstages including the 007 Stage. Construction of sets began in October 1995. The opera scene was filmed at the Royal Opera House. Scenes depicted as being in Egypt were filmed in Mauritania; the first shoot, a background shot of the desert, occurred there on January 5, 1996. Filming with actors began in late January, and was completed 21 weeks later. Despite being filmed in London, The Fifth Element was a French production, the costliest European film ever made at the time.
The New York designs were derived from both metabolist-inspired masses of modular apartments from the 1960s and the futuristic designs of architect Antonio Sant'Elia in the 1910s. Besson demanded that most of the action shots take place in broad daylight, as he was reportedly tired of the dark spaceship corridors and dimly lit planets common in science-fiction films, and wanted a brighter, “cheerfully crazy” look as opposed to a gloomy, realistic one.
Jean Paul Gaultier designed each of the 900 costumes worn by extras in the Fhloston Paradise scenes and checked each costume every morning. His designs, described as “intellectually transgressive,” were said to challenge sexuality and gender norms. A single jacket he designed cost $5,000. Jovovich’s costume worn from when her character was first revived was inspired by typical hospital dressing and bandages that provided minimal modesty.
Three different teams handled the three different types of special effects used. Nick Allder directed mechanical and pyrotechnical effects, Nick Dudman was placed in charge of ‘creature’ effects, and Mark Stetson headed the visual-effects team. Visual effects company Digital Domain was hired, and Karen Goulekas was given the role of digital-effects supervisor. Alias, Autodesk Softimage, Arete, Side Effect’s Prisms, RenderMan, and in-house software were used by Digital Domain to create effects. Some individual shots used a combination of live action, scale models, computer-generated imagery, and particle systems. The lanes of traffic in the New York City scenes were created with particle systems.
Among the scale models used for filming were the buildings representing New York City. Dozens of apartment blocks and 25 skyscrapers, some 20 feet (6.1 m) high, were constructed in 1⁄24 scale. It took a team of 80 workers five months to build all the models. The windows of the buildings were cited by the team as one of the most time-consuming tasks, along with details behind the windows, such as furniture, blinds, lightboxes, and tiny pieces of flat artwork. Virtual sets built within digital environments were created to enhance the use of miniatures. Motion-control cameras moved throughout the scale sets, and the data they collected were exported to track and generate the computer animation and particle systems. Other techniques used included digital matte paintings for backgrounds and the NURBS mathematical model for certain animations, including the sequence in which Leeloo’s body is reconstructed.
Here, a gallery of 50 amazing behind the scenes photos from the making of the film:
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