Luc Besson returned to the public spotlight in Venice today at a press conference for Dogman, his first film since 2019 action thriller Anna and first public appearance since he was cleared of a rape accusation in June by a French court.
The director and the film team were greeted by loud applause from journalists on arrival in the press conference room at Venice.
Besson himself became emotional when thanking his actors and his producer and wife Virginie Besson-Silla, and appeared to be holding back tears.
A journalist asking a question to Besson also became tearful when she said how much Dogman had moved her.
A character-driven drama, Dogman stars US actor Caleb Landry Jones as a man bruised by life who finds salvation through his love of dogs. Besson also wrote and produced Dogman.
Landry Jones, meanwhile, addressed the press conference in a broad Scottish accent with Besson explaining that the actor was remaining in character for an upcoming film.
Dogman is the first film that Besson, the French writer/director/producer of The Big Blue, The Fifth Element and La Femme Nikita fame, has premiered in Venice where it plays in competition.
Besson talked about his filmmaking process, in particular the changes and tweaks during production and post of Dogman. “There’s no genius [to it], there is work. You just have to work and work and keep what’s good and work on what’s not good and work on it again.”
Besson revealed that he had changed the ending, adding a new scene which he now thought was “the best scene in the movie.” He said actor Jojo T. Gibbs had flown back over the weekend from another film she was working on to shoot the new scene.
Besson added: “When I started [making films] I was 17. This man said to me, ’It takes two years to make a good film. It takes two minutes to fuck it up.’ And it’s true. All the movies I’ve done - three months before the end, they were bad. Honestly, it comes good sometimes but just at the end because you work and work.”
Besson paid tribute to Besson-Silla, describing her as “a tough cookie. She helped me a lot on the editing, she’s always very cold about it. She doesn’t want to see all the dailies, she wants to stay out to be able at the end to give comments.”
Besson told the press conference that the one thing he is most proud of is his freedom. “If I wake up at 5am in the morning, I can start writing and no one can stop me.”
Reflecting on the themes of the film, Besson said that: “The only two things that can save you are love and art – definitely not money. If you have both you are lucky.”
In June, France’s appeals court officially dismissed rape accusations bought against Besson by Belgian-Dutch actress Sand Van Roy.
It marked the end of a long legal battle that began when French publication Mediapart published reports from a total of nine women accusing the director of sexual harassment and assault in 2018, including Van Roy, who claimed the Fifth Element and Leon director raped her over a two-year period. The case became emblematic of the #MeToo movement in the world of French cinema.
The rape charges were officially dropped by the Paris public prosecutor’s office in 2021 following a lengthy legal investigation and no other women pressed charges against Besson. The director continued to deny the allegations.
The verdict from the court of cassation following Van Roy’s appeal cleared Besson of all charges and prevents her from suing him again in France and in Europe. Van Roy has said she will take her case to the European Court of Human Rights.
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