In 1997, The Fifth Element hit our movie screens, and no-one had ever seen anything like it. Directed by Luc Besson, it starred Milla Jovovich in a role that rates as probably the best of her career as the ‘perfect’ humanoid, Leeloo. Bruce Willis who was one of the biggest action stars of the 90’s, parodied his John McClane character as anti-hero Korben Dallas. Actors Gary Oldman, Ian Holm and Chris Tucker all brought their own skills to create even quirkier roles in this intriguing movie that actually gets better with every rewatch.
Take a look at these amazing facts for this popular sci-fi action movie (source: IMDB):
Milla Jovovich beat out over 3,000 women who auditioned for the role of Leeloo.The wonder on Bruce Willis’ face when the Diva sings is real. That was the first time he’d heard it and seen the actress in full make-up.In most shots of Gary Oldman, there is a circle around his head. In fact, a circle in the middle of the frame is a nearly constant motif in this movie. Bruce Willis, on the other hand, is more often framed by a rectangle or doorway behind him.When composer Éric Serra showed soprano Inva Mula (who dubs the voice of the Diva) the sheet music for the Diva Dance, she reportedly smiled and relayed to him that some of the notes written were not humanly possible to achieve, because the human voice cannot change notes that fast. Hence, she performed the notes in isolation, one by one, as opposed to consecutively singing them all together, and they digitized the notes to fit the music. There are a few moments when you can hear the differences in the vocal tones of the Diva’s voice.Many of the Mangalores aboard the Fhloston Paradise can be seen wearing “combat goggles.” This was a practical solution to hide the actors’ eyes (which were visible through the masks) and save money on make-up (contact lenses, adhesive, and coloring around the eyes).It took a team of 80 workers five months to build the models used in this movie.The “Divine Language” spoken by Leeloo was invented by co-writer and director Luc Besson, and further refined by Milla Jovovich, who had little trouble learning and developing it, as she was already fluent in four languages. The language had only 400 words. He and Milla Jovovich held conversations and wrote letters to each other in the language as practice. By the end of filming, they were able to have full conversations in this language.Luc Besson wrote this story in high school and made the hero a taxi driver because his own father worked a second job as a taxi driver. He did this to support Luc going to art school. Luc has a taxi driver in almost all of his movies to honor his father.At the time, it was the most expensive movie ever produced outside of Hollywood, most expensive production in Gaumont’s history, and at $80 million USD, the visual effects budget of the movie was the highest of its time.As Korben and Leeloo approach an intersection in his cab, the camera whips forward to reveal to the audience that six police cars are waiting for him. In the far background, behind the police cars, is a chase between a police car and a long black car complete with muzzle flashes which represent gun fire between the two cars. Ever an eye for detail, Luc Besson noticed the embellishment the first time the visual effects shot was reviewed and thought that it was funny, and it remains in the final movie.Jean-Paul Gaultier personally checked the costumes of 500 extras used in one scene.According to the Ultimate Edition DVD, Prince and Michael Jackson were sources of inspiration for the part of Ruby Rhod, and both were even considered for the role, with Prince being the first choice. He reportedly declined as he found the costumes too “outlandish,” and Chris Tucker got the part instead. Tucker claimed that the secrecy around the script was so high that not even he knew how the character was supposed to be played, but the outlandish costumes actually helped him get into character. As a result, many of the reactions of other actors to his performance were quite genuine.Bruce Willis spoke favorably of this movie in a 1999 interview, concluding “it was a real fun movie to make.” Chris Tucker and Milla Jovovich also spoke favorably of both their experiences making this movie and working with Luc Besson. In interviews on the Ultimate Edition DVD, Jovovich described Besson as “the first really amazing director I had worked with.”Luc Besson cast Milla Jovovich as Leeloo because “Milla has the physical thing, she can be from the past or the future. She can be an Egyptian or a Roman. She can be Nefertiti and she can be from outer space. That was one thing that I liked physically about her.”Luc Besson demanded that most of the action shots in the movie take place in broad daylight, as he was reportedly tired of the dark spaceship corridors and dimly lit planets common in science fiction movies, and wanted a brighter “cheerfully crazy” look as opposed to a gloomy, realistic one.
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