Poppyest of pop stars, fashion icon and all round party extravaganza Rihanna will board Luc Besson‘s upcoming space opera, Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planets. The film, which is based on Besson‘s favourite French comic series Valérian and Laureline, follows a pair of space adventurers; one a dedicated agent of a galactic empire, the other a strong willed woman from 18th Century France, will star Dane Dehaan and Cara Delevingne in the title roles. With a budget of £118 million, this is a high risk project for the director who has found medium success after his style-over-substance pulp classic The Fifth Element. The 2013 sci-fi turkey Lucy managed to pull in Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman, but was not received well by critics. Valérian looks to be a return to form for Besson; the source material is full of wonderful alien landscapes and fast paced action, a strength of the French director.
Rihanna has had small roles in a number of films, including Peter Berg‘s hammy board-game adaptation and Michael Bay clone Battleship. While she never got chance to show her action chops, Besson has been more than enthusiastic about the casting choice, taking to Twitter to post about the development:
https://twitter.com/lucbesson/status/659404431151206401/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planets recently went through a script rewrite, which left the film with only five human parts.
#Peace.Love.Valérian
