Mel Gibson was Luc Besson's first choice for The Fifth Element

And Chris Tucker got the role of Ruby Rhod “because she was a shrimp.”

Updated January 7, 2025 : This evening, at 9:10 p.m., TF1 rebroadcasts The Fifth Element. Before we watch it again, here are some casting anecdotes.

Article from March 30, 2017 : Just after revealing the new trailer for Valerian and the city of a thousand planets, Luc Besson answered some fan questions about Reddit. Quickly, Internet users made the link between this space opera ambitious and The Fifth Elementhis successful sci-fi film released in 1997.

“As I realize both, they will have things in common, that's for sure, replied the French director. You can expect a new blockbuster that is very colorful, fun and, most importantly, doesn't take itself too seriously. (…) It was frustrating at the time of The Fifth Element, because the visual effects were not as good. Whereas now we can do whatever we want. The only limit is our imagination. Valerian would not have been possible to do ten years ago.”

Valérian/The Fifth Element: Laureline in Leeloo's shadow

His film with Bruce Willis And Milla Jovovich being very popular, the director continued to talk about it, notably confirming thathe had offered the role of Roby Rhod to Prince:

“I had imagined this character for him, I met him and he said yes. The problem was that then he went on tour for 10 years!! We couldn't make our schedules coincide, so we organized a casting and the two finalists were Chris Tucker And Jamie Foxx. Jamie was great, but he was as big as Bruce, while Chris was a shrimp. I found this discrepancy funnier. And then, it's a luxury to have to choose between these three very talented people.”

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Still about the casting of Fifth element, Luc Besson explained that he had first offered the lead role to Mel Gibson :

“He was the first person I talked to about it, because his office was next to mine at Warner Bros. We saw each other every morning and we talked about the project, he told me what he thought about it. After three months he told me he couldn't do it, but we remained friends after he left, Bruce was the only actor I had in mind.”

Trailer

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