French director Luc Besson held a press conference in Taipei on Tuesday to promote his film Lucy which premieres in Taipei on Wednesday. He was accompanied by his wife Virginie Silla who produced the film.
Lucy has been a US box office hit and has already made over US$160 million in the US alone. It cost US$40 million to make the science fiction action film. In the film, Scarlett Johansson plays a woman who gains the full potential of her brain when drugs are planted in her body. Besson said he wanted to make a thriller that looked at the philosophical question of what people do when they have power. Over half of the film was shot in Taiwan.
Besson said that Taipei is a great city for filming. He said it was extremely efficient to film here. What usually takes 8 weeks in other cities only took 2 weeks in Taipei.
He also said he was very thankful for the Taipei 101. It is a great landmark which enables you to know where you are, similar to the Eiffel Tower. He said Taipei and Paris were both great cities to film in whereas New York was more difficult. That’s because there are so many tall buildings and people there so it’s hard to film scenes with a sense of wide and open spaces to it. The film was shot in Taipei, Paris and New York.
Besson also praised the Taiwanese people. He said the people here are very warm and friendly and everyone has a smile on their face. He also said Taiwan has the world’s best soup dumplings – or xiaolungbao.
The French director and his wife are flying next to Seoul to promote Lucy. But Besson said he loves Taipei and will certainly come back again.