Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Trivia: The welcoming Captains were writers and directors who have worked with Luc Besson.

Trivia: Igon Sirruss tells Valerian "I will find you and I will kill you," to which Valerian replies "Good luck." This dialog exchange is taken almost word-for-word from the film "Taken" as a bit of an inside joke, as "Valerian" director Luc Besson was also the producer and co-writer of the "Taken" film trilogy.

TedStixon

Trivia: At one point Valerian mentions "I don't speak French." This is a bit of an inside joke, as the original "Valerian and Laureline" comic books are from France.

TedStixon

Trivia: In this film, at the start of the Big Market scene, a character named Hawker is told he has a "nice hat" by Laureline. In the 1997 film "The Fifth Element," a mugger is told he has a "very nice hat" by Korben Dallas. Both characters are played by Mathieu Kassovitz. Just a cute little inside joke you might not have noticed the first time.

TedStixon

Trivia: About 200 different alien species were created for the film. (Albeit, many of them were just created to be background characters).

TedStixon

Trivia: Despite the film being a disappointment at the box office, director Luc Besson has remained optimistic that a sequel could be made. He has stated that his plans for a second film would be a smaller story in terms of scope, and thus the film would cost considerably less than the original.

TedStixon

Trivia: The movie contains over 2700 special effects shots, whereas the Fifth Element featured less than 200.

Trivia: Director Luc Besson waived his salary as he was so keen to get the film made.

Trivia: The film was such a commercial failure that the French motion picture company behind it, EuropaCorp, lost 40% of its stock market value and its deputy CEO had to step down.

Trivia: The film opens with a short scene set in 1975. 1975 was also when the Valerian comic "Ambassador of the Shadows," upon which much of the film was based, was released.

TedStixon

Trivia: Alex says the spaceship has travelled 700 million miles since leaving Earth 400 years ago - but that would make the ship incredibly slow, as it would not even have passed Saturn, which current probes can do in 10 years.

Trivia: Director Luc Besson was a huge fan of the original comic series, and making the film was one of his dream projects. He first thought about making the film in the mid-90's while working on "The Fifth Element", but opted to push it back due to the daunting visual effects work the movie needed, as he felt that he wouldn't be able to bring the comic to life properly at that time. It wasn't until after the release of James Cameron's "Avatar" over ten years later that Besson felt confident that the film could finally be made. The film finally debuted in 2017 - twenty years after he first seriously considered making it.

TedStixon

Trivia: The film was financed by director Luc Besson, who organized project backers and funding himself. With an estimated budget of somewhere between $180-$200 million, this makes "Valerian" not only the most expensive French film ever made, but also the most expensive independent film ever made as well, as it wasn't produced through traditional studio-funding.

TedStixon

Trivia: Rutger Hauer receives prominent billing in the opening credits... however, he actually has less than sixty seconds of screentime in the entire film, and only appears in one scene during the film's opening ten minutes. He was cast for this cameo due to his notoriety within the sci-fi genre, as a playful homage by director Luc Besson.

TedStixon

Trivia: The film contains a few minor nods and references to director Luc Besson's previous film "The Fifth Element." This is quite fitting, as "The Fifth Element" was partially inspired by the original "Valerian and Laureline" comic books, and Besson even hired the original comic artist to help in the production design department for that film.

TedStixon

Continuity mistake: When Valerian makes the thug fall through the floor in Big Market it leaves a hole behind, but when he is chased out a few moments later the hole is gone.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The hole is still there. It's just not visible in most of the shots because it's blocked by Valerian or the camera angle is too high. When it cuts to him running out of the doorway, it's again mostly blocked by characters. When it's not blocked, you can see the hole.

Bishop73

More mistakes in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Doghan-Dagui: We know how humans work. They are all so predictable.
Sergeant Laureline: Clearly, you have never met a woman.

More quotes from Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Question: Where did the Mül converter, the creature that replicates any product, come from? A lot of people seem to know about it even though planet Mül is unknown and unvisited, and more importantly, completely destroyed. The only survivors of the planet were hidden inside a damaged spaceship along with the only pearl they managed to save, so where did the creature come from? Isn't it native to the planet as well?

Answer: As portrayed in the film, the Mül converter is a native creature from the planet Mül. Given that several decades have passed since the destruction of the planet and its former citizens have been traveling to the stars, it's obvious that over time, other people and races learned about the Mül converter's powers, hence it became sought after on the black market. It was likely among the few beings who were saved before they planet's destuction - the Pearls seemed to keep them as pets, so it's very likely that one or two were brought along when they escaped, even if we didn't see it happen.

TedStixon

More questions & answers from Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

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