Called "the French Steven Spielberg" by some, Luc Besson made an impressive debut at age 24 with "Le Dernier Combat" (1983), an apocalyptic drama noted for its striking black-and-white photography and bold lack of dialogue (a clever low-budget strategy). His subsequent films were box-office hits at home, more popular for their exhilarating visuals than for their thin storylines. After going underground to helm "Subway" (1985), starring Christopher Lambert and Isabelle Adjani, this son of scuba divers mined his first love (the sea) to make the underwater epic "The Big Blue" (1988), a huge commercial success in France and his international breakthrough, excluding the US market. Besson's next project, the aggressively violent and wildly improbable "La Femme Nikita" (1990), provided a great part for his then wife Anne Parillaud and finally registered with American audiences. An entertaining story of a hedonistic young woman who becomes an undercover assassin for the French government, the film did so well in the USA that it spurred the dreadful remake "Point of No Return"(1993).
Besson returned underwater to film the stunning "Atlantis" (1991), a documentary tone-poem focusing on the beauty of marine life (with no intrusions from humanity this time around), for which Eric Serra's music passed as the text. His first Hollywood film, "The Professional" (1994), followed the blossoming relationship between a hitman (frequent collaborator Jean Reno) and an orphan (Natalie Portman in her screen debut), and the filmmaker again garnered praise for skillful direction and stylish action sequences that overshadowed the less than satisfactory story development. Besson followed with the blockbuster sci-fi extravaganza "The Fifth Element" (1997), a visually stunning triumph of sophisticated production (Dan Weil) and costume (Jean-Paul Gaultier) design starring Bruce Willis, future wife Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman. Based on Besson's visions of the future that had been distilling for two decades, "The Fifth Element" was a delight to watch (if only eyeball-deep), a comic book with Willis' jocular finesse at its center. He also produced Oldman's impressive writing-helming debut "Nil By Mouth" that year and the following year produced and scripted Gerard Pires' "Taxi".
Besson established on "Le Dernier Combat" the hands-on approach of operating the camera himself, a practice he has continued on all his successive films. "Why lose time explaining everything to someone else? He's going to be slightly off, and then I'm going to freak out and say, 'No this is not what we discussed. I want the camera here!' So it's better for everyone involved if I just do it myself." (AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, May 1997) His first foray into historical drama, "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999), was no exception as he plunged with his camera into the midst of battle scenes, presenting the furious, close-quarters fighting which was the best reason to see the film. With names like John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway and Dustin Hoffman, the picture boasted his most Hollywood star-studded cast to date (apologies to Willis and Oldman). Unfortunately, his use of Jovovich as his leading lady did nothing to elevate his otherwise eye-catching version of the frequently filmed story. (The couple separated soon after filming was completed.) He then produced Fred Garson's "The Dancer" (2000), as well as providing the idea for the film.