Luc Besson might just be getting back into science fiction, according to a new interview. It seems he's preparing his very own Avatar...
Luc Besson, the veteran French director of The Big Blue, Nikita and Leon, has most recently been busying himself with the Arthur And The Invisibles series of movies, adapted from his own children's books, and acting as writer and producer on films such as Taken and From Paris With Love.
But on a promotional tour for the latest Arthur film, The War Of The Two Worlds, Besson has revealed that he's working on a new, large-scale science fiction movie, his first foray back into the genre since 1997's visually lavish romp, The Fifth Element.
In an article excitedly headed "Luc Besson is preparing his own Avatar", the director's description of the project loosely translates to "The Fifth Element to the power of ten". Apparently, the arrival of James Cameron's mega-bucks fantasy, Avatar, has prompted Besson to return to sci-fi.
"With the advent of digital technology, it is amazing what you can do," Besson said. "The technique has caught the imagination. One can imagine anything, there will always technicians to follow you in your visions."
His project, as-yet unnamed, is said to be at the creature design stage, with production set to begin properly for a projected release in either 2013 or 2014.
Whenever it appears, we hope it gets a better distribution outside France than Besson's most recent live-action movie, The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adèle Blanc-Sec. An adaptation of a French comic book of the same name, it featured an Edwardian heroine (the title's Adèle, played by Louise Bourgoin) battling against a fantasy world of monsters and Egyptian mummies.
In terms of sheer strangeness, it looked to top even The Fifth Element, but aside from a brief showing at the Cambridge Film Festival, the film seems to have sunk without trace. Let's hope Besson's Gallic take on Avatar will fare better.