30 years on from its release, Hasitha Fernando looks at the story behind Luc Besson’s cult classic Léon: The Professional…
Léon: The Professional is important for a number of reasons. The controversial hitman film introduced audiences to a young Natalie Portman, gave Jean Reno wider recognition and reminded how much Hollywood needs Gary Oldman. But I digress, here’s the story of what went on behind-the-scenes during the making of Léon: The Professional thirty years ago…
The movie was an expansion of Luc Besson’s concept for one of his early efforts
Frequently associated with the Cinéma du look film movement, French filmmaker and producer Luc Besson helmed efforts like suspense thriller Subway and docudrama Big Blue before making his big break with La Femme Nikita in 1990. The hard-edged, psycho-romance thriller headlined by Anne Parillaud received rave reviews at the time of its release and spawned multiple remakes in different countries and two English-language television series based on the concept. During an interview Besson revealed that Léon: The Professional was to some extent an expansion of the concept he explored in La Femme Nikita where Jean Reno played a similar character named Victor. Besson described Léon as “the American cousin of Victor”.
A strange love affair may have influenced the story’s development
Luc Besson has had a string of relationships with actresses in the past marrying a total of four times. After his divorce from Le Femme Nikita’s lead actress Anne Parillaud, the filmmaker got involved in a romantic relationship with Maïwenn Le Besco, who played the bumbling drug dealer’s “Blonde Babe” in the opening sequence of Léon: The Professional. According to Le Besco, Besson based part of the movie’s story on their real-life love affair which had taken place few years prior.
Jean Reno’s creative choice was a stroke of genius
During the 90’s Jean Reno was one of the most sought-after talents in the industry playing pivotal roles in efforts such as Mission: Impossible, Godzilla, French Kiss and Ronin. Reno even turned down the offer to play the role of Agent Smith in The Matrix. In Léon: The Professional, Reno consciously decided to play the titular character as an emotionally restrained and mentally challenged individual as it would make audiences realize that Léon would not be the type of person to take the mean advantage of a vulnerable young girl. Reno even went to the extent of allowing Natalie Portman to be emotionally in charge of the scenes they both shared in. Although Luc Besson had written Léon’s part with Jean Reno in mind, several Hollywood heavyweights such as Mel Gibson and Keanu Reeves had showed a keen interest in the role at the time.
The flick was Natalie Portman’s acting debut
Natalie Portman is an actress who has received high praise for her various performances over the years. After gaining a wider recognition with the Star Wars prequel films Portman’s involvement in such efforts as Closer, V for Vendetta and The Other Boleyn Girl made her one of the most sought after talents in the early to mid-2000s. Her status as a serious dramatic actor was cemented, however, with her brilliantly visceral take on a tortured ballerina in 2010’s Black Swan. But many forget that Portman’s acting career was kickstarted in none other than Léon: The Professional where she embodied the role of the precocious yet charming Mathilda. Portman beat out over two thousand actresses to nab the role which was eyed by the likes of Liv Tyler and Christina Ricci.
About that unforgettable turn by Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman is the actor’s actor. The Übermensch of method acting. There’s nary two performances of his that are alike in his vast and vibrant body of work. Although the chap’s played good guys in movies it is with more villainous roles that Oldman delivered some truly iconic and unforgettable performances. In Léon: The Professional, Oldman plays the corrupt, pill-popping DEA agent Norman Stansfield who guns down Mathilda’s entire family during a drug deal gone wrong. Stansfield is the epitome of amorality, deriving pleasure from his unhinged killing sprees whilst listening to Beethoven and engaging in illicit activities despite being a narcotics officer. Many film critics relished Oldman’s deliciously OTT approach with Time magazine’s Richard Schickel describing the performance as “delightfully psychotic”. Interestingly, the same year this movie came out, the actor portrayed Ludwig van Beethoven in the biographical drama Immortal Beloved.
The sequel film that never happened and most likely never will
Over the years numerous rumors swirled that in the industry that Luc Besson had in fact written a script for a Léon: The Professional sequel film. The movie would have seen Natalie Portman reprising the Mathilda role with Transporter 3 director Olivier Megaton in talks to helm the effort. However, none of this came to pass because Besson departed from the Gaumont Film Company – which bankrolled Léon and The Fifth Element – to form his own movie studio, EuropaCorp and Gaumont was dissatisfied with the filmmaker’s decision. To express their disappointment the production company didn’t part with the IP prompting Besson to recycle the ideas he had for the sequel to make the Zoe Saldana headlined Columbiana in 2011.
Certain scenes didn’t sit well with test audiences
Léon: The Professional was first test screened in Los Angeles, California prior to its release. And the version that was screened included a short scene where Mathilda asked Léon to be her lover. The test audience were unsure how to react to that scene and began to laugh nervously which completely destroyed the overall experience of the movie leading to terrible test screen scores. This prompted writer/director Luc Besson and producer Patrice Ledoux to remove that particular scene for the theatrical release. However, that scene and several others which amounted to 25 minutes of additional footage were included in the extended version of the film.
The end title song was repurposed for a James Bond film
Film Composer Éric Serra had collaborated with director Luc Besson on multiple instances so it came as no surprise that the musician also got invited to compose music for Léon: The Professional. Serra crafted the song “The Experience of Love” as the end title song for the movie, however, the producers decided to use Sting’s “Shape of My Heart” instead. As a result Serra ended up reusing the song for the end credits of his next effort which was none other than Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as super-agent James Bond in 1995’s GoldenEye. The basic melody of the song can still be heard in the film and on the soundtrack, via the cue “The Game is Over”.
Natalie Portman has complicated feelings about the movie
Since its release Léon: The Professional has been re-examined critically in the wake of the #MeToo movement following allegations that were leveled against Luc Besson in 2018. His ex-wife Maïwenn’s comments regarding the story of the film being based on their love affair has also sparked controversy from time to time. After all, the actress was sixteen years old when she was romantically linked with Besson who was aged 33 at the time of production. Even actress Natalie Portman has chimed in about her “complicated feelings” about the effort and the Lolita-esque sexualization her character had in the movie.
Commercial success, critical acclaim & legacy
Made on a production budget of $16 million Léon: The Professional went on to make a respectable $45.3 million and remained the number one movie of France for three straight weeks. On the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes the flick holds an approval rating of 74% based on 66 reviews and the sites critic consensus reads as follows, “Pivoting on the unusual relationship between seasoned hitman and his 12-year-old apprentice—a breakout turn by young Natalie Portman—Luc Besson’s Léon is a stylish and oddly affecting thriller”.
Léon: The Professional proved to be a hit with most film critics as well with Mark Salisbury of Empire magazine awarding the film a full five stars writing, “Oozing style, wit and confidence from every sprocket, and offering a dizzyingly, fresh perspective on the Big Apple that only Besson could bring, this is, in a word, wonderful”. Mark Deming at AllMovie awarded the film four stars out of five, describing it as “As visually stylish as it is graphically violent”, and featuring “a strong performance from Jean Reno, a striking debut by Natalie Portman, and a love-it-or-hate-it, over-the-top turn by Gary Oldman”.
Since its debut the movie has influenced a plethora of actioners that followed in its wake such as Kiss of the Dragon, The Transporter, Unleashed, Taken and the Equalizer series. In a poll conducted by Time Out in 2014, which saw critics, filmmakers, actors and stuntmen list their top action flicks, saw Léon: The Professional nab the 42nd spot in the list. Gary Oldman’s Norman Stansfield has also been named one of cinema’s greatest villains on multiple occasions.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
