Luc Besson says Le Pogam’s resignation is 'not a divorce'

After several months of rumours running on the two producers’ relationship, Besson stresses the fact that Le Pogam’s departure “is not a divorce”.

“When I founded EuropaCorp, the contract with Pierre-Ange was that he would follow me in this adventure for minimum five years. He stayed 10. My idea was to produce the movies I wanted to watch on screen, his was to found a new company. And I’m very proud of what we did together”, says The Fifth Element’s director.

The reason of the resignation remains vague, though, and was not really cleared up by Besson in the interview: “for the last 6 months, Pierre-Ange had no operational activities: he was only focussed on the movie he was producing, L’Homme Qui Voulait Vivre Sa Vie (The Big Picture). He clearly wants to assert himself as a producer,” says Besson.

And will Le Pogam create his own company? Besson implies it but Le Pogam did not confirm, choosing to remain totally silent when asked to comment.

Besson, the non executive president of the company, does not say anything about the strategic differences of opinion that might have divided the two of them. The arrival of a new CEO, Christophe Lambert, last September could also have influenced the move.

Meanwhile, Besson says he was inspired by his directing duties on The Lady.

“I was really happy to direct again. I was the first to be surprised about this pleasure. he Lady is certainly the movie I’m the most proud of. And I enjoyed it so much that I’m already preparing my next project, a quite heavy one: it will be a science fiction feature and the first to be shot in our new studio, La Ciné du Cinéma, in May 2012”.