VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS (Thursday) – Fifth Element Luc Besson’s newest potential masterpiece Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets took the stage on first day of Hall H, with the beloved director, his producer/wife Virginie Besson-Silla (Lucy), and stars Dane Dehaan (Amazing Spider-Man 2) and Cara Delevingne (Suicide Squad). The film is based on human territory government special ops, Valerian (Dane) and Laureline (Cara), charged with serving and protecting through the universe. Our Han Soloesquw hero continually chases after Laureline as they chart across the universe keeping the peace.
http://youtu.be/5K_8IAqU3Cg
Adapted for the screen and directed by Besson, this is the most expensive film ever produced out of Europe–even rivaling such films as Avatar. Lucy fell in love with this classic comic as a kid and Valerian has become his baby and dream project ever since. Funny story: Besson had already started pre-production on Valerian when Avatar was nearly complete. Aftee Luc came on set to meet with James Cameron — and saw what Avatar was doing — Luc threw out all the work he had started on Valerian and started over, wanting to wait till technology was ready.
Walking into this panel, this Nerd Apostle knew absolutely nothing about the project nor what the hell Valerian was. I originally thought it was a whole panel on steel Game of Thrones weaponry. The good news: Valerian looks like everything we wanted the new Star Wars to be, mixed with the humor of Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s intensely possible that Besson has another cult classic sci-fier on his hands, perfectly summed up by Dehaan as a “Space Bro”. Bro! 4.5/5 Hall H Campers Agree.
SNOWDEN (Thursday) – For a first coverage of SDCC 2016, it’s a shockingly not superhero or nerd-related one. Also for the first time ever, Oliver Stone dropped by the Con to promote his brand new movie, Snowden. It’s based on the life of the most famous computer consultant to rock the US by exposing government surveillance operations, which led to his becoming also a fugitive on the run in Russia. While a surprising choice for the fabled Hall H the panel covered Stone chasing down Snowden, and the process of not only getting Edward’s approval but also the pains of getting this new film financed. Originally, no big studios would tackle the film; it took the combined financing of money from France, Germany and Open Road Distribution.
(Cont.) Now as any goer knows, no panel is complete with out some kind of swag. Snowden may just take the cake for one of the most creative and cheap hand-outs, an adhesive bandage to promote the film and use as a NSA video phone blocker. This also came in handy when Oliver brought on his cast: the talented Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley and Zachary Quinto. More surprising was the appearance of Edward Snowden himself. Following a live Google Hangout, the former National Security Agent joined the cast and director for a private screening and Q&A of the film for fans.
“I don’t think anybody looks forward to having a movie made about themselves, particularly somebody who’s a privacy advocate,” Snowden said. “Some of my family members have said, ‘He sounds just likes you.’ For me, it sounds weird because the voice in your head is never the same thing, but if he passes the family test, he’s doing all right,” Snowden spoke on his approval of the film and also Gordon’s portrayal. This spoke volumes, considering Gordon was only able to meet with Snowden once in Moscow for 4-hours and based the rest of his voice patterns and character off of footage. 3.5/5 Bible Spies.