A recent post from director Luc Besson on Instagram has revealed that Ethan Hawke will be joining Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne in the upcoming space epic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Besson accompanied the following picture with a caption that read, “Ethan Hawke will play in #Valerian! I want to work with for years! We gonna have fun!!!”…
The upcoming film is an adaptation of 1967’s Valérian and Laureline, a long-running French comic book series created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières.
In May, Besson revealed that DeHaan and Delevingne would star in the film as Valerian and Laureline, respectively; in the months that followed, Clive Owen (The Knick) and Rihanna (Battleship) also came on board.
Some of Hawke’s most recent credits include 10,000 Saints, Good Kill and Predestination. Additionally, this year he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Boyhood.
Rooted in the classic graphic novel series, Valerian and Laureline- visionary writer/director Luc Besson advances this iconic source material into a contemporary, unique and epic science fiction saga. Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are special operatives for the government of the human territories charged with maintaining order throughout the universe. Valerian has more in mind than a professional relationship with his partner- blatantly chasing after her with propositions of romance. But his extensive history with women, and her traditional values, drive Laureline to continuously rebuff him. Under directive from their Commander (Clive Owen), Valerian and Laureline embark on a mission to the breathtaking intergalactic city of Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis comprised of thousands of different species from all four corners of the universe. Alpha’s seventeen million inhabitants have converged over time- uniting their talents, technology and resources for the betterment of all. Unfortunately, not everyone on Alpha shares in these same objectives; in fact, unseen forces are at work, placing our race in great danger.
Besson is set to write and direct the project for his production company EuropaCorp. As of now, it is scheduled for a July 21, 2017 release.
Originally published December 6, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
