Wednesday, Jul 19, 2017

To her legions of fans, comprised mostly of stuck-out-tongue Instagrammers who often express themselves via emojis, Cara Delevingne is the real deal. She’s beautiful, she’s outspoken and she’s funny. And, aside from owning one of the most famous eye brows in the world, she is one of the highest-paid models in the world.

So it wasn’t surprising that, during a recent interview in Paris for her latest film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, the 24-year-old admitted she feels more Valerian — the male character played by co-star Dane DeHaan — in real life than her Laureline.

“I go into things with blind ambition. I kind of do before I think sometimes,” she laughs. “Dane plans things out a bit more.”

The pair play space agents in Fifth Element director Luc Besson’s ambitious $150 million (Dh550.8 million) epic, part-funded by Dubai’s Novo Pictures. DeHaan’s Valerian is a smooth-talking, reckless but indispensable operative who follows orders while Delevingne’s Laureline, his partner, is more measured. Despite matching steps with him, she often ends up coming to his rescue.

Laureline is the epitome of womanhood, says Delevingne.

“She’s a representation of what I think women are: They are strong, they are multi-faceted and they have a voice. Luc has this amazing way of showing women as they are and Laureline is a woman that I aspire to be.”

Set in the 28th century, the story follows the two who are sent on a mission to investigate a dark force that is threatening the peace at Alpha, a growing city with a thousand planets, where different species have come together to share their knowledge and intelligence to build a metropolis. The film is an adaptation of French comic book Valerian and Laureline, which has inspired many films, including the Star Wars franchise.

Both actors say bagging their roles was their wildest dream come true.

“I got a phone call and the next thing I know I was at a table [sitting across] Luc at breakfast and he said, ‘I’m making a movie I’ve been wanting to make my entire life and I want you to star in it.’ It was so mind-blowing, I couldn’t comprehend what was happening at the time. It was like winning the lottery,” recalls DeHaan.

The 31-year-old is known for his breakout role in the science-fiction thriller Chronicle (2012) as well as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2015) and acclaimed indie films such as Kill Your Darlings (2013) and Life (2015).

Preparing for the role was physically challenging, he says.

“I’ve been in the best shape of my life doing this film. I was training three months before I started filming. Every morning, I would come to the studio early in the morning and go to the gym before heading to the set. We had to be in great shape,” says DeHaan.

He, along with Delevingne spent more than six months filming at Cite du Cinema (City of Cinema), the 62,000 square metre studio complex built by Besson at the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris. Also the location of our interview.

Preparing for a big-budget science fiction film is not much different from a small indie film, says DeHaan.

“A lot of the differences just come from the actual doing of it and being on set. It’s different to be committed to a film for six months as opposed to finishing one in just 19 days,” he explained. “Time and money and the environment are the main differences.”

The film also features a number of A-list special appearances, including Rihanna, Herbie Hancock and John Goodman.

“Rihanna is so prolific and she works so hard,” says DeHaan. “She was finishing her album so she would spend her days filming and her nights in the recording studio. She really works around the clock,” says DeHaan. “It was amazing to see her come to the set and turn it all off and focus on the film and putting her heart here. She travels so much and works around the world but when she’s doing one thing, she focuses on that.”

He and Delevingne hit it off from the start, he adds.

“Cara is just a super fun person to be around. She’s just so easy to be with. So I don’t feel like that’s something we had to put a lot of work in,” says DeHaan.

Delevingne adds: “We both understand this is an amazing opportunity to be working with Luc Besson. And we were just happy to be a part of it.”

Director Besson, who has been obsessed with the comic book since he was eight, told Gulf News tabloid! he had to wait until the technology was ready to turn his vision into reality.

But it was his passion that made it much easier to make the film, says Delevingne.

“The material was so rich in terms of the comic books and Luc has wanted to make this his entire life. So he had everything painted out, every character, every scenario. We had all the pictures pasted up in our dressing rooms. So we could imagine all the situation before going into it,” she says. “The film is like a dip into his imagination.”

___

Don’t miss it!

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets releases in the UAE on July 20.

CARA DELEVINGNE ON...

...quitting modelling

“I don’t think I like the word quit. I don’t think I need to stop anything. Acting is something I’ve wanted to do my entire life. But it’s not something I need to stop anything for.”

...being told models can’t act

“It’s more about proving myself. People always ask me about modelling. It doesn’t stop me. It only fuels me to work harder. I want to continue working and be the best I can be.”

...her other projects besides acting

“Yeah, I play drums a lot. I have a song on this record and I am very excited for people to hear that and hopefully carry on making music. I am also writing a lot. I would love to be behind the camera one day.”

...her dream planet

“It would be really comfortable. The idea of Alpha [the city of a thousand planets in the film] is like the ideal planet. I think aliens are awesome. I hope they exist. I would love to have a planet which is completely different.”

...what she does in her spare time

“I like to go away by myself. I like to walk and hike a lot. Just be in nature and find myself. I like to go to Europe, hike up the Alps.”

By David Tusing, ?tabloid! Editor

Gulf News 2017. All rights reserved.