Marvel and DC characters aren’t the only super heroes coming to the big screen next year. With comic book movies on the rise, some independent heroes are starting to see some love in Hollywood, as well. Coming up in 2017, the classic French comic Valerian will be making it’s way to the silver screen, taking audiences on a time-traveling outer space adventure.
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On Thursday, we had the chance to speak with leading cast members Dane DeHaan, formerly Harry Osbourn in the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, and Cara Delevigne, who will also be appearing in Suicide Squad next month. In the film, they play Valerian and Laureline, a quippy couple of heroes burdened with saving the universe under Luc Besson’s direction.
“There’s a great history of it in being the original space opera which tings like Star Wars obviously took from, so in a lot of ways it’s the original but also we’re the new kids on the block who people haven’t heard of but should have,” DeHaan says of the comics finally being adapted to the big screen. “To bring that to the public’s conscious is really exciting.”
“I think it’s important to read the comics,” DeHaan says. “I just try to flood my mind with as much information as I can and then see what happens and what comes out. The script was amazing, the comic books were amazing, and Luc [Besson]’s mind was amazing. With those three it’s all we need to bring it to life.”
Chiming in on the character talk, neither were willing to share too many details but Delevigne is bringing her own flavor to Laureline and understands the pressure of bringing a character well-established on pages to life. “As an actor, you just try and bring the character to life and hopefully live up to their bad ass kicking butt, saving the world,” she says. “Saving the universe is a hard job and I hope we live up to that!”
As for whether or not her Laureline character has anything in common with her DC Comics role of Enchantress, Delevigne says she “can’t think of a similarity” between the two.
One of the more intriguing and mysterious draws of Valerian is musician Rihanna’s return to the big screen. Having appeared in Battleship, we know she has the chops, but we don’t know much about what to expect from her in the new comic book movie. While DeHaan couldn’t fill in those blanks for us, he is quite excited about the work he has already done with her. “I worked with Rihanna the first two weeks and when I told people what I was going to be doing their jaws were on the floor and they just couldn’t believe it,” DeHaan teases.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets hits theaters July 21, 2017.
