News Analysis India

Tag: Luc Besson

  • Top French court drops rape case against Filmmaker Luc Besson

    By AFP

    PARIS: France’s top appeals court on Wednesday rejected a request to reopen a rape claim against film director Luc Besson, ending one of the most high-profile cases to emerge in the country’s MeToo movement against sexual assault.

    Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy accused Besson, director of “The Fifth Element” and “Leon” — of raping her during a two-year on-off relationship, and filed a complaint against him in May 2018.

    Prosecutors dropped the case in February 2019 citing a lack of evidence, and after new charges were filed by Van Roy, an appeals court also closed that case in May last year.

    In a ruling seen by AFP, the Cour de Cassation, the court of last resort for criminal cases, said there was “no reason to justify pursuing an appeal” of the previous rulings.

    “The Cour de Cassation has decided not to hear my appeal, which means once again the French judiciary refuses to examine the evidence in this case,” Van Roy said on Twitter.

    “I will pursue these cases and will file a request with the European Court of Human Rights,” she said.

    A lawyer for Besson, who has denied the claims, said the decision “ends all the procedures of the past five years, which have found him not guilty”.

    Besson has admitted having a relationship with Van Roy, who had minor roles in his films “Taxi 5” and “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”.

    She filed the initial complaint for rape in May 2018 hours after meeting Besson, before filing another complaint two months later for other alleged rapes and sexual assaults.

    At least three other women have made allegations of sexual harassment against Besson, which he has also denied.

    PARIS: France’s top appeals court on Wednesday rejected a request to reopen a rape claim against film director Luc Besson, ending one of the most high-profile cases to emerge in the country’s MeToo movement against sexual assault.

    Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy accused Besson, director of “The Fifth Element” and “Leon” — of raping her during a two-year on-off relationship, and filed a complaint against him in May 2018.

    Prosecutors dropped the case in February 2019 citing a lack of evidence, and after new charges were filed by Van Roy, an appeals court also closed that case in May last year.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    In a ruling seen by AFP, the Cour de Cassation, the court of last resort for criminal cases, said there was “no reason to justify pursuing an appeal” of the previous rulings.

    “The Cour de Cassation has decided not to hear my appeal, which means once again the French judiciary refuses to examine the evidence in this case,” Van Roy said on Twitter.

    “I will pursue these cases and will file a request with the European Court of Human Rights,” she said.

    A lawyer for Besson, who has denied the claims, said the decision “ends all the procedures of the past five years, which have found him not guilty”.

    Besson has admitted having a relationship with Van Roy, who had minor roles in his films “Taxi 5” and “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”.

    She filed the initial complaint for rape in May 2018 hours after meeting Besson, before filing another complaint two months later for other alleged rapes and sexual assaults.

    At least three other women have made allegations of sexual harassment against Besson, which he has also denied.

  • ‘Lucy’ spin-off series in works with Morgan Freeman in talks

    By Express News Service

    Morgan Freeman is in the final stages of negotiations to join the cast of the television series spinoff of Luc Besson’s 2014 science fiction film, Lucy. Details of the plot are being kept tight-lipped at the moment, but it is expected to follow on from the story that ended at the conclusion of the original. EuropaCorp and Village Roadshow are reportedly partnering to develop and produce the series.

    The film saw Johansson play a woman who gained psychokinetic powers and skills after a drug got absorbed into her bloodstream. It’s expected that Freeman will reprise his role from the film, playing the character Professor Norman, a mentor of Lucy.

    EuropaCorp has recently begun to pursue films and series that can be developed from its well-known intellectual properties and franchises, like The Transporter and Lucy. The company and Village Roadshow are both owned by the New York hedge fund Vine Alternative Investments. Lucy is the second series to be approved and greenlit by Vine for EuropaCorp after DogMan which stars Caleb Landry Jones, and was produced and written by Besson. DogMan is the story of a child who, after life hasn’t given him a fair shake, finds hope through his love of dogs.

    Besson is a talented French film director, writer and producer whose best-known for Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita and Valerian, and the City of a Thousand Planets. He was nominated for a César Award for Léon. There is no further information on the Lucy spinoff yet.

    Morgan Freeman is in the final stages of negotiations to join the cast of the television series spinoff of Luc Besson’s 2014 science fiction film, Lucy. Details of the plot are being kept tight-lipped at the moment, but it is expected to follow on from the story that ended at the conclusion of the original. EuropaCorp and Village Roadshow are reportedly partnering to develop and produce the series.

    The film saw Johansson play a woman who gained psychokinetic powers and skills after a drug got absorbed into her bloodstream. It’s expected that Freeman will reprise his role from the film, playing the character Professor Norman, a mentor of Lucy.

    EuropaCorp has recently begun to pursue films and series that can be developed from its well-known intellectual properties and franchises, like The Transporter and Lucy. The company and Village Roadshow are both owned by the New York hedge fund Vine Alternative Investments. Lucy is the second series to be approved and greenlit by Vine for EuropaCorp after DogMan which stars Caleb Landry Jones, and was produced and written by Besson. DogMan is the story of a child who, after life hasn’t given him a fair shake, finds hope through his love of dogs.

    Besson is a talented French film director, writer and producer whose best-known for Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita and Valerian, and the City of a Thousand Planets. He was nominated for a César Award for Léon. There is no further information on the Lucy spinoff yet.