At the same screening [in Arizona] I was sitting next to this red neck. When the part comes on when they announce the President of the Federation and it’s a black man (Tiny Lister, Friday), the guy next to me goes, “What the f**k is this film?” I was like whoa.
BSO: You were doing some pioneering work by doing that…
LB: Yeah but for me [a French person] coming from Greece and Yugoslavia who was in my bathing suit all the time and didn’t speak the languages since we moved a lot there were people who were nice and people who were weird and not good and that’s it.
The only difference were the people who were good and the people who weren’t. Not the color of their skin. I never paid attention to that. So when I chose the guy to play the president, I didn’t’ care that he was black. I just took him because he was a good actor, he was nice and he was interesting.
But 20 years ago it was shocking for me to see how these people reacted.
BSO: As a black woman I appreciated seeing Tiny go from Deebo to the President. That was pretty epic.
LB: He was so funny.
BSO: Turning back to the effects of Valerian, once you saw the film in it’s entirety, was there one part in particular where you went wow, we really did that.
LB: Honestly, almost all of them. Because I had the design and I knew what it was supposed to look like but the first time I saw the pearls, I was really impressed. The pearls are insane, Igon Syruss was amazing, the shots going into the canyon when we see the shops everywhere, amazing. Running in the big market wow. There’s just so many.
To be honest it was the first time in history ILM (Design group for Star Wars) and Weta (Design group for Avatar) agreed to work on the same film. You usually have one or the other but the film was too big so one couldn’t handle it. They both wanted to be so good they would one up each other. Nothing mean but just to be the best for the film. It was almost like watching people play tennis. They were being the best one after the other. I’m so proud of them. They really are the summit of the earth.
BSO: You know I have to ask you about Rihanna
LB: Who? [laughs]
BSO: That little known singer you cast. What was your favorite part of working with her.
LB: My fear at first was she is so busy. She could go around the world three times per day. I remember having a meeting with her at 11pm until 1am and then everybody went to bed but after me she was going to the studio to record. Before me she had a meeting and before that she was in New York. Her life is insane and that was my fear.
I was concerned she may be too tired when she came to set or she may had too many people around but what amazed me was when she came to film she left the entourage out offset and she was as fresh as if she never did anything before plus. she let me model her which I didn’t expect.
It’s a dream for a director when an actor says, “model me the way you want” but she was very clear on that. She said, “I’m yours, how do you want to do it?” She was really at the service of the part of th part and the director and I was amazed by that. No ego, no star thing, just an honest actress that wanted to learn and give her best. I was blown away.
BSO: Lastly, do you feel like Valerian is your Magnus Opus? Is this a dream fulfilled
LB: You know I think over the course of your career you have two different fuels. One is the knowledge and one is the freshness. When you start your knowledge is 0 and your freshness is 100. As you learn more the freshness goes down. Just like life.
I did my first film at 19 years old. I knew nothing about life. So if I talk about love what do I know about that? There’s a moment in your career when it’s the perfect zone. Where you are still fresh and you have the knowledge to make the best out of the two and that’s where I’ve been the last 3 years of my life. I feel that I have enough knowledge and freshness. I feel like I’m in the zone right now for another year or 2 if im lucky and then it will go away again.
Valerian Opens July 21, 2017