Line #37 Trivia/TheFifthElement


1	* CastTheExpert: Creator/MillaJovovich is fluent in four languages, and so had little trouble learning the alien language written by Luc Besson. They were apparently able to have fluent conversations in the language by the end of filming.
2	* {{Corpsing}}:
3	** If you look closely when Ruby Rhod sings "All Night Long", Bruce Willis can be seen trying not to laugh.
4	** There's also the infamous "give me the cash" scene near the start of the film. Willis smiles and aborts his initial attempt to get out the "nice hat" quip. The scene plays appropriately as Korben finding the situation funny, but Willis might be unintentionally losing his composure here as well.
5	* CreatorBacklash: Asked in a 2014 interview for ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' if he liked the film, Creator/GaryOldman stated, "Oh no. I can't bear it." He had explained in 2011: "It was me singing for my supper because Luc had come in and partly financed [my film]."
6	* CreatorCouple: Creator/{{Maiwenn}}, Creator/LucBesson's wife at the time, played the Diva Plavalaguna. She got the role after the original actress failed to turn up.
7	* DuelingWorks:
8	** With ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', both works featuring a girl who is TheChosenOne to stop the forces of evil. Both came out in 1997.
9	** With ''Film/StarshipTroopers'', both sci-fi films released in 1997.
10	* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/MillaJovovich's hair was to be dyed from its natural brown color to her character's signature orange color. However, because her hair had to be re-dyed regularly to maintain the bright color, Milla's hair quickly became too damaged and broken to withstand the dye. Eventually a wig was created to match the color and style of Leeloo's hair, and was used for the remainder of the production.
11	* EnforcedMethodActing:
12	** The wonder on Creator/BruceWillis' face when the diva sings is real. That was the first time he'd heard it.
13	** When Korben first meets Leeloo and she starts talking to him in her language, Creator/LucBesson didn't tell Willis what Creator/MillaJovovich was going to say to him, so Bruce's reactions are real.
14	** Creator/LucBesson got Chris Tucker into Ruby Rhod's ImpossiblyTackyClothes with a BaitAndSwitch; his first request was an outfit so hideously ridiculous no-one will speak of it.
15	* ExtremelyLengthyCreation: Creator/LucBesson wrote the original screenplay when he was in high school. He had conceived the story of this movie, and invented the world of the movie, as a child so he could escape his lonely childhood. He began writing the script when he was sixteen, though it was not released in theaters until he was thirty-eight.
16	* FakeAmerican:
17	** British actor Creator/GaryOldman plays Zorg, a character who speaks with an extremely exaggerated southern US twang (illustrated by the line "Leave them one crate. For the cause." which is so heavily accented it comes out sounding like "For the course.")
18	** Also counts for Creator/ChristopherFairbank playing Professor Mactilburgh in an early scene. He's generally more well known as Moxey, a Scouser, in British comedy-drama ''Series/AufWiedersehenPet''.
19	* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/GaryOldman is such a good friend of Creator/LucBesson, he took the part without reading the script, doing this film to repay Besson for part-financing his film ''Film/NilByMouth''.
20	* NonSingingVoice: Opera singer Inva Mula dubs the Diva's singing voice, while Maïwenn Le Besco portrays her. Reportedly Mula told the composer that the notes written for her were impossible, because the human voice cannot transition that way. The solution was for her to sing all the notes in isolation and then splice them together digitally.
21	* PlayingAgainstType:
22	** Creator/GaryOldman, sporting a slicked-down partial Mohawk, a beard like a misplaced Hitler mustache, a southern accent and giving one of the most low-key but still awesome performances of his career.
23	** Creator/TinyLister as the level-headed, ReasonableAuthorityFigure President, playing a more prominent and powerful role than his typical ScaryBlackMan parts.
24	** Creator/BrionJames usually typecast as a low-life criminal scum, is Korben's former commanding officer who charges him to save the world, and implicitly trusts him as the right man for the job.
25	* ProductionPosse: The movie has three alumni from Besson's previous film ''Film/TheProfessional'': Eric Serra as the composer for the soundtrack, Creator/GaryOldman as Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (previously portrayed Norman Stansfield) and Creator/{{Maiwenn}} as the Diva (who was the prostitute girlfriend of the Fatman's wife in the former movie).
26	* ReferencedBy: The video game, ''VideoGame/{{Apocalypse}}'', which came out a year after the movie, starring Bruce Willis as the hero -- a retired ex-Special Forces soldier, not unlike Korben Dallas -- in a futuristic megacity. There's even a stage involving a chase scene on flying taxis, except this time it's Willis' character who ends up falling atop and clinging on the vehicle.
27	* RomanceOnTheSet: Luc Besson cheated on his then-wife, Creator/{{Maiwenn}} (who played Diva Plavalaguna) with leading actress Creator/MillaJovovich, which led to divorce with Maïwenn. Besson then married Jovovich.
28	* StarMakingRole: Creator/MillaJovovich, in her first lead after ''Film/ReturnToTheBlueLagoon''.
29	* StillbornFranchise: This movie was supposed to be a trilogy. Creator/LucBesson had three scripts that he condensed into one.
30	* ThrowItIn: Creator/BruceWillis ad-libbed the line "I only speak two languages -- English and bad English."
31	* UncreditedRole: Creator/VinDiesel provided the voice of Finger, but didn't receive any on-screen credit.
32	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
33	** The original storyline was set in the year 2300, and was about a "nobody" named Zaltman Bleros (later renamed Korben Dallas) who wins a trip to the Club Med resort on the planet Fhloston Paradise. There he meets Leeloo, a "sand-girl" who has the "beauty of youth", despite being over 2,000 years old.
34	** Alert film buffs will note that Korben and Zorg never meet each other face to face. In an original draft of the script, Zorg would have faced Korben during the hotel evacuation, where the latter beat the crap out of the former for firing him and attacking Leeloo before stealing his ship (the ZF-1 was out of ammo, which resulted in Zorg's VillainousBSOD). Zorg then survives the destruction of the hotel with the personal shield of the ZF-1, only to land in a massive glacier. He then calls his secretary to send another ship, only for the battery in his ZF-1 phone to fail. That ending is featured in the {{novelization}}.
35	** All the societal elites that Ruby points out at the opera were originally going to have more to do during the shootout at the hotel.
36	** Originally, the film was going to star Creator/MelGibson, Creator/JuliaRoberts, and Music/{{Prince}}. More explained [[http://www.themarysue.com/fifth-element-original-cast/ here.]]
37	** Creator/JeanReno was considered for Korben Dallas.
38	** Creator/KevinCostner was considered for General Munroe.
39	** Creator/JamieFoxx and Music/MichaelJackson were considered for Ruby Rhod.
40	** Creator/ElizabethBerkley auditioned for the role of Leeloo, but after the failure of ''Film/{{Showgirls}}'', studios were reluctant to hire her.
41	** Ruby Rhod's name was originally Loc Rhod. The name appears in the original script and the novelization.
42	** A set of alien garbage collectors were created for a shot that was cut from the final film. A huge pile of garbage has gone uncollected, which is still referenced in the film. The creatures would have been seen holding sandwich boards saying "on strike" beside the garbage.
43	** In an early script, Korben would have decided that Leeloo is too sexy and will distract him from saving the world, so he would have handcuffed her and left her half-dressed in his hotel room, before going to see the Diva sing.
44	** This is one of the rare pre-2020 movies where Creator/BruceWillis was ''not'' dubbed in French by Creator/PatrickPoivey. Besson wanted Poivey, but he was dismissed following a salary dispute with the local dubbing studio. He was instead dubbed by Bernard Métraux.
45	* WriteWhatYouKnow: Creator/LucBesson's father worked a second job as a taxi driver to support his son going to art school.

Context Trivia / TheFifthElement