Luc Besson Shares First Looks at Cara Delevingne, Dane DeHaan in ‘Valerian’

Luc Besson has made a career out of delivering inventive, high-octane genre films, both as a director (The Professional, Lucy) and as a producer (The Transporter, Taken). For his next behind-the-camera outing, he will operate in the larger-than-life sci-fi vein of his 1997 hit The Fifth Element, courtesy of July 2017’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Yesterday, Besson gave us our first look at stars Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne via an Instagram post, and today five more exclusive looks at the film have been posted at EW.com.

Based on the Valérian and Laureline French comic series that began in 1967 (which Besson grew up adoring), the film will focus on a pair of intergalactic heroes who travel the galaxy solving crimes. Awash in time travel, romance, action, and all manner of far-out worlds, the series served as a precursor to everything from Star Wars to Avatar, and the forthcoming adaptation is one of next summer’s most eagerly anticipated sci-fi tentpoles.

Related: Know Your Co-Star: Cara Delevingne and Nat Wolff (Video)

Besson told EW he’s happy with his lead actors as well as the pace of production (which is at its mid-point). Three of the new photos seem more like staged stills than on-set snapshots, and unfortunately, there’s no sight (yet) of DeHaan and Delevingne’s illustrious co-stars John Goodman, Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke, and Rihanna – at least one of whom will play the movie’s villain (Besson isn’t spilling any secrets just yet).

Nonetheless, the French filmmaker’s big, bold, colorful sci-fi style is on full display in these sneak peeks, which suggest he’ll be back on comfortable badass-feminist action terrain with his forthcoming would-be opus.

Luc Besson flashback: Watch a featurette about his ‘Lucy’: