Luc Besson is a French director, writer and producer.
Besson's parents were scuba diving instructors, and his initial ambition was to become a marine biologist. However, at age 17 he had a diving accident which left him unable to dive, and out of the resulting boredom he began to write stories and work in the film industry.
Since then, he has worked on more than 50 movies with
EuropaCorp
(the studio he founded), although he only directed 15 of them.
He is one of the three directors credited with creating the French "cinéma du look", a French film movement of the 1980s whose films favoured style over substance. At least that's what the critics say. They often featured young people, often in love with each other, lost in urban Paris.
Cheap action movies written and produced by him have been
widely panned as "slick, commercial", "so interchangeable—drugs, sleaze, chuckling supervillainy, and Hong Kong-style effects—that each new project probably starts with white-out on the title page" by Scott Tobias of the AV Club, and other critics usually haven't been kinder. Seems if you're French and make films, you really can't win in this wiki; either you'll be accused of making a Euroschlock
Le Film Artistique, or, if you try being mainstream, you'll be accused of being a banal sell-out!
Films directed by Luc Besson:
Films written and/or produced by Luc Besson include:
Tropes associated with Luc Besson
- Always Save the Girl
- Dirty Cop: Corrupt cops factor into many of Besson's film
- Invincible Hero: Besson's action heroes are typically supreme badasses set against impossible odds.
- Production Posse: Besson has cast Jean Reno in several of his films, including his first four. He cast his former wife Milla Jovovich as the female lead in two films.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Besson married former fashion model Milla Jovovich.
- Write What You Know: Not surprisingly for a former diver, Besson's first wide release film was The Big Blue, which is about divers.