Luc Besson

Luc Besson (born March 18, 1959) is a French film director, writer, and producer.

Biography

Little is known about Luc Besson's private life since he rarely discusses his personal life in interviews. He was born on the 18th of March, 1959 in Paris, France. His parents were both scuba diving instructors. This had a heavy influence on his childhood and throughout his childhood Besson planned on becoming a marine biologist until the age of 17 when he had a diving accident which left him unable to dive any longer. He has since fully recovered.

During his childhood, and especially during adolescence, Besson showed amazing creativity. Out of boredom, he started to write stories, including the backdrop to what would later become one of his most major movies, The Fifth Element.

At 18, unable to dive, Besson returned to his birthplace of Paris. There he started to become involved in film, taking on odd jobs to get a feel for the industry. After this, he moved to America for 3 years, but returned to form his own production company which he called ‘Les Films de Loups’. The name was later changed to Les Films de Dauphins.

In the early 80s, Besson met Eric Serra and asked him to compose the score for his first short film, Avant dernier, L’.

Besson married Milla Jovovich on the 14th of December 1997, but they divorced in 1999. On August the 18th 2004, Besson married Virginie Silla.

Filmography as director

• The Last Battle or Le Dernier Combat (1983)
• Subway (1985)
• The Big Blue aka Le Grand bleu (1988)
• Nikita aka La Femme Nikita (1990)
• Atlantis (1991) – underwater wildlife documentary
• Léon aka The Cleaner aka The Professional (1994)
• The Fifth Element (1997)
• The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc aka Jeanne d'Arc or Joan of Arc (1999)
• Yamakasi – Les samouraï des temps modernes (2001)

External link

• Luc Besson on IMDb

References

• "Biography for Luc Besson." IMDb. Accessed on March 5, 2005.
• "Biography for Eric Serra." IMDb. Accessed on March 5, 2005.