Role: Leeloo
Genre: Action , Adventure , Sci-Fi
Director: Luc Besson
Written by: Luc Besson
Running time: 127 min
Budget: $90 million
Release Date: 7 May 1997
Additional Cast: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman
Synopsis
April Delongpre (Sherilyn Fenn) is the well-born daughter of a powerful Alabama senator and heiress to an old and respectable Southern family. One summer, while her fianc? Chad Douglas Fairchild (Martin Hewitt) is away on business, April commences an affair with Perry (Richard Tyson), a carnival roustabout she had met a few days previously.
April’s grandmother Belle Delongpre (Louise Fletcher) has assigned the local sheriff Earl Hawkins (Burl Ives) to keep an eye on her. Belle and the sheriff conspire to get rid of Perry on the day of April and Chad’s wedding. Perry escapes, and the film ends with April, wearing Chad’s wedding band, finds Perry and they kiss.
Filming
Production began in early August 1995. Besson traveled to various places for casting, including Paris, London, and Rome. He hired Gary Oldman (who had starred in Léon) for the role of Zorg, describing Oldman as “one of the top-five actors in the world”.
For the character Leeloo, Besson chose Milla Jovovich from the 200–300 applicants he met in person. The “Divine Language” spoken by Leeloo is a fictional language of 400 words, invented by Besson. To practice, Jovovich and Besson held conversations and exchanged letters in the language. Besson was then married to Maïwenn le Besco, who played the role of the Diva Plavalaguna when filming began. He left her to take up with Jovovich during filming. Jovovich and Besson later married but divorced two years later in 1999.
Although he wanted to shoot in France, Besson was unable to find suitable facilities, so filmed in London. It was primarily filmed at Pinewood Studios on seven soundstages including the 007 Stage. Construction of sets began in October 1995. The opera scene was filmed at the Royal Opera House. Scenes depicted as being in Egypt were filmed in Mauritania; the first shoot, a background shot of the desert, occurred there on 5 January 1996. Filming with actors began in late January, and was completed 21 weeks later. Willis finished filming on 16 May, while Oldman only commenced filming the following week; the protagonist (Korben) and antagonist (Zorg) never actually share any screen time. Despite being filmed in London, The Fifth Element was a French production, the costliest European film ever made at the time.
The New York designs were derived from both metabolist-inspired masses of modular apartments from the 1960s and the futuristic designs of architect Antonio Sant’Elia in the 1910s. Besson demanded that most of the action shots take place in broad daylight, as he was reportedly tired of the dark spaceship corridors and dimly lit planets common in science-fiction films, and wanted a brighter, “cheerfully crazy” look as opposed to a gloomy, realistic one.
Gaultier designed each of the 900 costumes worn by extras in the Fhloston Paradise scenes and checked each costume every morning. His designs, described as “intellectually transgressive”, were said to challenge sexuality and gender norms. A single jacket he designed cost $5,000. Jovovich’s costume worn from when her character was first revived was inspired by typical hospital dressing and bandages that provided minimal modesty.
The original name of the character Ruby Rhod was Loc Rhod, which appears both in the original script and in the novel adapted from the film. Hayward speculated that the name change was a play on data in the periodic table. Rubidium is the first of the period 5 elements, and exactly halfway along that row is the element rhodium. Using the first half of each element yields “Rubi Rhod”. Others have speculated this name is a play on the character’s gender-bending persona, with a feminine first name and phallic surname. Musician Prince was originally cast to portray Rhod, but could not schedule filming around his Jam of the Year World Tour dates. Chris Tucker and Jamie Foxx were each considered for the role; Besson liked Foxx, but felt that Tucker’s smaller body suited the character better.
Awards
The Fifth Element was nominated for Best Sound Editing at the 70th Academy Awards, and for Best Sound Editing at the 1998 Golden Reel Awards, but lost to Titanic in both cases. It won the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects, and the Lumières Award for Best Director. It was nominated for seven César awards, winning three: Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Production Design. It was nominated for Film of the Year at the 1997 European Film Awards, as well as the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, and the Satellite Award for Best Visual Effects. Thierry Arbogast was awarded the Technical Grand Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for his work on both The Fifth Element and She’s So Lovely. The film received four Saturn Award nominations: Best Science Fiction Film, Best Costume, Best Special Effects, and Best Supporting Actress for Milla Jovovich. Jovovich’s fight against the Mangalores was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight, and the actress was also nominated for Best Actress – Newcomer at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.
Conversely, Jovovich received a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Supporting Actress, and Chris Tucker was nominated for Worst New Star for his performances in both The Fifth Element and Money Talks. The film also received four nominations at the 1997 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Supporting Actor for Tucker, and Worst Supporting Actress for Jovovich.
