Luc Besson is one of the most talented directors and successful producers of our time, working in different genres. We know him from such films as "Leon", "Nikita", "Taxi", "The Fifth Element" and others, no less popular. How does Luc Besson live now?
Childhood
Luke's parents are diving instructors. Luke himself initially wanted to follow in the footsteps of his parents and continue the family's business. The childhood of the future director was spent on the Mediterranean coast in France, exactly where the guy was engaged in diving and photography.
He, perhaps, would have become what he wanted, but at the age of 17 he dived unsuccessfully, because of which he almost lost his sight. He managed to save his sight, but this unsuccessful dive crossed out his dream of scuba diving. The parents of the future director divorced and created new families, and Luke was left on his own.
Carier start
Once in Paris, Luc Besson was able to test himself in a variety of areas, until finally he felt all the joy of cinema. And a banal lucky chance helped him in this - friends were able to arrange the guy as an assistant for Patrick Grandperret and Claude Faraldo (directors).
When Luc was 19 years old, he went to Hollywood, but was not there for long - there was an army in France ahead. And at 22, Luke decided that he would be making films. And his first works were music videos, which he directed.
His debut work, with which his earnings began, was the short film "The Penultimate", 1983. And in 1984 he directed the feature film "The Last Battle". It was a silent black-and-white film that saw the light of day at Besson's studio. The picture is notable not only for the fact that it gave the green light to such an actor as Jean Reno, but also received two prizes and about 10 other awards at the international festival of fantastic films in Avoriaz.
Creative activity
The film "Subway", released in 1985, received even greater success, and Jean Reno also played in it. In general, the acquaintance and joint work of these two men during the production of paintings has become a very important support for a professional career.
A year after the film "Underground" was released, Luke decided to change his role, becoming a producer. In this position, he released two more films: "Taxi Driver" and "Kamikaze", and "Taxi Driver" in Russia changed its name to "Taxi". A couple of years later, the director changed the name of his own film studio from Films of the Wolf to Films of the Dolphin, after which he began work on the film Blue Abyss, which became a tribute to his childhood dream and depicts the world under water. This picture, in which Jean Reno also starred, brought Luke both world fame and nominations for "Cesar".
In 1990, the picture "Nikita" was released, and neither a broken leg, nor a divorce from his wife prevented its release. The film was so successful that it spawned a remake called No Exit.
Further, we can highlight such films as:
- Atlantis 1991. A documentary on a marine theme.
- Leon 1994. Luke did not receive an award for this film, which brought him to tears.
- Fifth Element 1997. The result of this film is a wedding with Mila Jovovich.
- Jeanne D'Arc 1999. The picture failed and was criticized.
Following them, after 6 years of rest, Luke released the film "Angel A", a series of films "Taxi", "Carrier", "Ong Bak", "13th district" and other films.
Personal life
Between 1986 and 1991, Luc was the husband of Anne Parillaud, for whom he shot Nikita. They had a daughter, Juliet. From 1993 to 1997, Luke was in a civil marriage with the magnificent Maywenn Le Besco, who played the singer Diva in the film "The Fifth Element". The marriage broke up due to infidelity on the part of Luke, but from a civil marriage they had a daughter, Shen.
In 1997, Luke became a husband for Milla Jovovich, but the marriage lasted only a couple of years, and the reason for the divorce lay in Luke's love. Finally, in 2004, Luke married Virginia Silla. Virginia is not an actress, but a co-producer. They had three children: daughters Thalia and Satin, as well as a son, Mao.
Luc Besson and his income
By the beginning of 2018, Luc Bosson, being the owner of the EuropaCorp studio, began to negotiate with the Netflix platform about mutually beneficial cooperation. The fact is that Netflix planned to shoot about 100 mid-budget films, and the active participation of a director like Luc Besson would be very helpful. For Luke and his company, such cooperation would definitely be beneficial, because the film company with the best technical equipment sites is now experiencing serious financial problems.
It is known that the company lost 136 million dollars in one of its last financial reporting periods, which is much more than the losses of previous years.
Also recently it became known that Luke has put up for sale his own mansion located in Beverly Hills. The director himself admits that he did not live in this mansion for a day, which also became the reason for the appearance of homeless people within its walls.
And, even if Luke bought the mansion for a little over 12 million dollars, the cost of the mansion at the time of its sale was almost 15 million. Some sources point out that such a high amount was assigned in order for Luke to be able to pay off some of the debts.
The mansion was built in 1959, and Luke, who bought it in 2013, initially thought to renovate it and expand it significantly. But, unfortunately, it didn’t come to that.
