[HN Gopher] Creating the Futurescape for the Fifth Element (2019)
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Creating the Futurescape for the Fifth Element (2019)
Author : nixass
Score : 112 points
Date : 2026-04-09 09:11 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (theasc.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (theasc.com)
| WalterGR wrote:
| (2019)
| myself248 wrote:
| (1997)
| cubefox wrote:
| Creating the Futurescape for the Fifth Element (1997) (2019)
| sschueller wrote:
| Off topic but Milla Jovovich just released an AI memory called
| mempalace:
|
| https://github.com/milla-jovovich/mempalace
| dmos62 wrote:
| Interesting to see programming and acting worlds cross-
| pollinate.
| electroglyph wrote:
| nah, a crypto grifter released one with cooked benchmarks
| notachatbot123 wrote:
| There is zero history of her programming. This is a scam, using
| her name.
| QuantumNomad_ wrote:
| The Wikipedia article about her
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milla_Jovovich links to
| https://www.millaj.com/ which links to her Instagram
| http://instagram.com/millajovovich/ where the bio reads:
|
| > Mother/Actress/Architect of MemPalace free and open source
| on GitHub
|
| And the linktree from the Instagram profile links to
| https://github.com/milla-jovovich/mempalace
| Cpoll wrote:
| The parent post didn't say "unauthorized." Plenty of scams
| use celebrities' names/reputations and compensate then for
| it. See: just about every pump-and-dump cryptocoin.
| NoSalt wrote:
| WHAT?!?!? Surely you aren't telling me that the Hawk Tuah
| girl didn't create her own coin from scratch.
| diimdeep wrote:
| This is what you get combining shameless bunch of famous
| B-rated movie star, crypto dudes and Automatic programming
| hype (Claude in contibs)
|
| https://github.com/milla-
| jovovich/mempalace/graphs/contribut...
|
| But it is so dumb that it doesn't even add to the drift
| towards greater Idiocracy clock values.
| nixass wrote:
| her partner "engineered" it while she "architected", whatever
| that means in this particular case
| IOT_Apprentice wrote:
| It means she came up with the idea and partnered with
| someone to build the code. Pretty simple to understand.
| throwa356262 wrote:
| That is a very valid concern, but in this case she is
| actually "involved":
|
| https://xcancel.com/BrianRoemmele/status/2041397710113435659.
| ..
| ceejayoz wrote:
| I remember when Paris Hilton was shilling NFTs.
| notachatbot123 wrote:
| And her last posts before these were shilling NFTs in 2022.
| IOT_Apprentice wrote:
| I've watched Milla on social media discussing this project,
| she is working with a developer who is a friend of hers to
| have it go forward.
| grenoire wrote:
| I love this movie so much it's _unreal_. What an experience,
| every single time.
|
| And each time I see an article like this, I simply marvel at the
| immense love for art and life it has. What an incredibly talented
| crew, what product of mastery and care.
| sixtyj wrote:
| He continued with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
|
| The Fifth Element has similar cinematic feeling as the first
| Blade Runner.
|
| And now it is clear. There is the same person behind it :)
| metalman wrote:
| waterworld
| simonh wrote:
| Valerian was fun, but I really don't think it held together.
| Great set piece scenes though.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| Valerian missed the mark; I'm sure it's got great designs
| (although I also believe it's mostly CGI), but the story of
| the movie is disjointed (which is a risk when trying to merge
| multiple storylines into one) and the actors are lifeless.
| throwa356262 wrote:
| I really liked Valerian. The story was fine and I expected
| Cara to be crap but she was actually fine.
|
| I did however very much hated Dane DeHaan's annoying voice.
| vidarh wrote:
| I've grown to like Valerian over rewatches, but
| unfortunately it suffers from Besson being a massive
| Valerian fanboy and trying to stuff everything he possibly
| could into it... I think he'd have done far better if he'd
| gotten a more limited budget, or had to produce three of
| them for the cost of the one he did...
| nntwozz wrote:
| The Fifth Element and Valerian and the City of a Thousand
| Planets are widely considered to share a thematic and
| stylistic universe, with similar aesthetic influences. There
| are shared elements (ha!) and aesthetics, with Valerian even
| featuring a shop called "Korbens" as an easter egg to The
| Fifth Element.
|
| Unfortunately the movie doesn't do it for me, the 90s were a
| better time.
|
| Once CGI became good storytelling and creativity took a
| backseat in Hollywood.
| sixtyj wrote:
| Perfect CGI and no-grain 4K (?) flattened the feeling.
| Joel_Mckay wrote:
| Adam Savage covered the Mondoshawan props on his channel last
| year:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf5dPrmBvwE
|
| It was a fun film, but Chris Tucker broke the pacing too many
| times for a general audience. Even now on rottentomatoes his
| role still distracts focus from the character arcs.
|
| https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fifth_element
|
| Was a cult classic for sure, but nowhere near Blade Runner as a
| film. =3
| cubefox wrote:
| I think the film would have been better (though perhaps less
| successful) if Besson had toned down the occasionally
| exaggerated tomfoolery, like Chris Tucker's character, or the
| spaceship Evil (the orb described in the article) which felt
| almost like a SciFi parody taken out of the movie
| _Spaceballs._
|
| The pacing, the great costumes and set design by Moebius, the
| actors Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, and the unusual ideas
| (like the alien opera singer) were all more than enough to
| carry the movie.
| NoSalt wrote:
| I cannot disagree enough. Chris Tucker's Ruby is just what
| this film needs. With everybody else wearing their "this is
| serious" face, Ruby being Ruby is a great bit of levity that
| really adds to this film.
| tomaytotomato wrote:
| I have fond memories of the Fifth Element, as one of my first
| PG-13 movies at the cinema that I was allowed to see as a 9-10
| year old.
|
| Looking back, the whole story gives a different futuristic feel
| to the usual gloomy polluted dystopian earths, and feels a bit,
| "near-future".
|
| Seeing hover cars getting drive through McDonalds will forever be
| a future hope for me (my inner 10 year old self)
| Sam6late wrote:
| I was in Paris years ago and took these photos of the actual cab
| models that were on display. Enjoy https://imgur.com/a/txIHpJT
| jr3592 wrote:
| Where did you see these? I'd love to go next time I am in
| Paris.
| ModernMech wrote:
| The article is missing one of the best futurescape shots in the
| whole movie!
|
| http://i.imgur.com/6W5InkH.jpg
|
| That image is only on screen for like 2 seconds, but it tells a
| whole story and really pulled me into the film. The first half
| you're deep in the city, and then finally when you get to see it
| from afar, it seems like a whole real city instead of the few
| locales they shot. Also makes it feel like a continuity of our
| future instead of some random alien drama.
| rainingmonkey wrote:
| Imgur is blocked in the UK, and last I checked blocked
| connections from VPNs too.
|
| Which scene are you referring to?
| ModernMech wrote:
| Try this one?
|
| http://www.vfxhq.com/1997/stills/fifth/welcome.jpg
|
| It's the wide shot of NYC after they leave the spaceport.
| msephton wrote:
| Works in Opera with its built-in VPN.
| nntwozz wrote:
| That's amazing, you always see flooded cities in the future
| this is out of the box thinking.
| Jordan-117 wrote:
| My post! :)
|
| Imgur might be vastly underselling the richness of the image,
| depending on your browser/device. Definitely check out the full
| 4K version if you're only seeing a thumbnail on that page:
|
| http://web.archive.org/web/20161007133354if_/http://digitald...
| gwern wrote:
| But is the _cinematography_ there of any interest? Why would OP
| include it? They 're talking about the hard shots, like the
| exploding spaceship where they need to find a spot in the
| desert to shoot dozens of mortars at it, or the crazy blue
| paint needing special UV light exposures to render just right.
| That looks like... a matte painting? A nice matte painting,
| sure, important for worldbuilding. But just that.
| ModernMech wrote:
| You're probably right that the shot isn't of interest to
| American Cinematographer magazine, which is why it's not
| included. I still think it's the best futurescape shot in the
| movie, serving to tie the rest of the first half together
| nicely.
| tvshtr wrote:
| I have very vivid memories of watching it for the first time in
| the cinema (original run). I'm pretty sure I still have the
| ticket. I was spending winter break in the mountains, with some
| friends, completely snowed in. I bought the soundtrack too (on a
| cassette tape). Possibly the last decent movie of his.
| prhn wrote:
| I'm just here to share my love for this film. I'm a big movie
| fan. I've been watching the Fifth Element since high school, and
| I've only grown to appreciate it more and more as a film as I get
| older.
|
| It's so full of life, creativity, color, humor, and themes we can
| all relate to (purpose, love, loss, etc).
|
| This is peek Bruce Willis, and the movie is filled with other
| exceptional actors including Gary Oldman and Ian Holm. Milla
| Jovovich is extremely entertaining to watch as a sort fish-out-
| of-water, and I know Chris Tucker's character here isn't for
| everyone but in my opinion it's right on-brand for the film.
| Cracks me up every time for decades.
|
| Mostly the effects have aged really well. That's generally thanks
| to heavy use of practical effects, as this article highlights.
|
| I often get sad that this is becoming a lost art. Great
| filmmakers with big budgets are still doing this type of
| practical effects work (Nolan [Interstellar], Villeneuve [Dune]),
| but I think eventually it will be lost in time.
| stiiv wrote:
| Agreed -- it's a wonderful film, and deserves a special place
| right up there with Star Wars and Harryhausen for its practical
| effects.
|
| While the article mentions Moebius, I think this level of
| praise still merits an extra Incal callout, even if it just
| serves as a recommendation to those who want more of this
| stuff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incal
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| > but I think eventually it will be lost in time.
|
| I don't believe it to be honest; model making and painting
| remains a popular hobby for millions of people, the only
| question is whether filmmakers will want to use it.
|
| And recently, especially in e.g. Star Wars franchise entries,
| they have gone towards using models / sets again instead of
| just using CGI for everything.
| detourdog wrote:
| I was flipping channels in a hotel and I assume the Peter
| Jackson hobbit/Lord of the Rings were on. The scene I watched
| was some sort of interior castle scene and it looked really
| bad. I felt like it was very flat and cardboardy and filmed on
| VHS.
| 0x3f wrote:
| But I wonder at what point digital effects become 'good enough'
| in some sense that they never look aged beyond the containing
| film. At some point surely there's no more perceptible
| 'resolution' to be had.
| peacebeard wrote:
| In practice digital effects haven't approached being
| convincing the way practical effects do. In many cases,
| especially when used liberally, digital effects still clock
| as amazing digital effects rather than reality. It can be
| enjoyable but I don't see what would move forward other than
| recognizing cgi isnt the best solution for everything.
| steve1977 wrote:
| The cast is just perfect IMHO. Super green! ;
|
| Also one of my all time favorites.
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| I thought slightly less of the casting for Fifth Element
| after I learned about the "Born Sexy Yesterday" thing in
| conjunction with Luc Besson's personal life. Same with Leon.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Sexy_Yesterday
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0thpEyEwi80
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Besson#Personal_life
|
| While I enjoyed watching the movies, I feel like I would have
| to point out this dynamic if I were to show the movie to my
| kids.
| ryandrake wrote:
| That's a pretty wild take, but ok. I think you really have
| to be digging deep and "looking for trouble" to take issue
| with a fun and relatively wholesome movie like Fifth
| Element.
| ChoGGi wrote:
| Not to mention them getting together for the Fifth
| Element led to the Joan of Arc movie they did together
| afterwards (or at least contributed).
| joquarky wrote:
| Let's just cancel everything.
| steve1977 wrote:
| Hmm, I mean that "thing" appears to be the opinion of one
| guy on YouTube. Which he is entitled to of course, but I
| don't necessarily agree.
|
| Especially considering he's using Leeloo as "the most
| quintessential example" but then also "emphasizes that the
| Born Sexy Yesterday trope intensifies the dynamic by
| positioning women as submissive rather than equal
| partners", which is clearly not really the case here.
|
| Or for example a scene early on where Korben tries to kiss
| her, to which she reacts with a gun to his head and says
| "never without my permission". Doesn't really sound very
| innocent or without agency to me.
|
| I get the point of the analysis and it's certainly not
| completely wrong, but it seems to be a bit far-fetched and
| incoherent to be honest.
| juancn wrote:
| I got the 4K BD disk to watch with my kids a couple months ago
| and it has aged really well, particularly the special effects.
|
| It's a wonderful movie, definitely one of my favorites.
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| I cannot imagine anyone but Chris Tucker playing Ruby Rhod.
| He's one of the best parts of the film.
| NoSalt wrote:
| You green?
| xnx wrote:
| Super green
| chasd00 wrote:
| yes, so many good moments, "btw, i have a recording of her
| talented voice" haha
| dylan604 wrote:
| > I often get sad that this is becoming a lost art. Great
| filmmakers with big budgets are still doing this type of
| practical effects work (Nolan [Interstellar], Villeneuve
| [Dune]), but I think eventually it will be lost in time.
|
| Another one of the things that I appreciated from George Miller
| with Mad Max: Fury Road. There's definitely CG used, but so
| much of the stunts were real and not SpiderMan level nonsense.
| beloch wrote:
| In the recent Mad Max films, Miller used CG for compositing,
| but insisted that all the action be real. There are no CG
| people jumping bikes over 16-wheelers. CG was only used to
| get rid of safety equipment, change the sky, etc.. The
| results feel viscerally real.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Guitar dude's exploding rig was definitely CG. Don't kid
| yourself that it was limited to what you stated. Yes, the
| stunts were real humans, but it also had CG elements
| halestock wrote:
| Do you mean the flamethrower guitar? That was real.
| dylan604 wrote:
| I'm talking about the end of the flamethrower guy when
| the rig wrecks. There's a bunch of debris that flies
| around including the steering wheel that perfectly comes
| at camera spinning exactly times so the center wipes the
| frame. That sequence has lots of CG
| stronglikedan wrote:
| > I'm just here to share my love for this film.
|
| I love it too, and the best part is, I had not heard of it
| until my buddy dragged me to the theater to see it. I was
| completely blown away, and have watched it dozens of times over
| the years. I had the same experience when my mom took me to see
| the Matrix. I didn't watch much TV back then and didn't keep up
| with movie previews.
| bobmarleybiceps wrote:
| literally watched it last night and was struck by how much
| "personality" it has.
| NoSalt wrote:
| What do you mean "Chris Tucker's character here isn't for
| everyone"?!?!? I absolutely LOVE Ruby! You green???
| ChoGGi wrote:
| The one scene I dislike in this movie is Korben lying on the
| bed taking to Spider about his ex.
|
| It always just seemed out of place to me. Exclude that one
| scene and it's perfect as far as I'm concerned.
| chasd00 wrote:
| i don't remember that, was that when he was talking to the
| food truck guy? heh "last time i checked my msgs one was from
| my wife saying she was leaving me, the next msg was from my
| lawyer saying he was leaving.. with my wife." lol so many
| great lines.
| chasd00 wrote:
| hah whenever i see a Stay Clear sign i whisper to myself, "i'm
| trying". Oldman did an amazing job btw, i really enjoyed every
| scene he was in, "you saved my life, so i'll spare yours".
| andruby wrote:
| I must have watched it at least 8 times, and only on the 9th
| time did I pause and realize that in this movie the hero and
| villain never meet. Willis and Oldman almost cross at the
| elevator but never actually meet.
| BadBadJellyBean wrote:
| I really like how well the movie aged. I recently watched it with
| my wife, who had never seen it, and she was hooked. Most of the
| effects hold up very well today and the movie is just fun.
| jacquesm wrote:
| What I like most about the Fifth Element is that they didn't milk
| it through a bunch of sequels.
| jeandejean wrote:
| Very true, but I can't help but want a sequel haha. Maybe that
| desire proves your point... Let our imagination do the rest
| LiquidSky wrote:
| Yet!
| throwa356262 wrote:
| I think this one deserved at least one sequel.
|
| Speaking of sequels, who in the star wars universe will get
| their own show next? Based on who is left, i put my money on
| Exogorth.
| vidarh wrote:
| Fifth Element is pretty much Besson doing Valerian before he
| was able to get funding for Valerian, so we kinda did get a
| spiritual sequel of sorts.
|
| Unfortunately, while I've grown to like the Valerian movie,
| when compared to Fifth Element it would seem that Besson
| should have been given a far tighter budget for Valerian
| rather than the apparent near free reign he got.
| mgoetzke wrote:
| For Valerian he should have been better at casting people
| that had chemistry and felt real
| ticulatedspline wrote:
| I desperately wanted to like Valerian since I love Fifth
| Element, while visually striking the story line was
| pretty meh and OMG the casting was horrible. I think I
| could casually enjoy it even with the bad story if they
| had done better job casting.
| nntwozz wrote:
| LEELOO DALLAS MULTIPASS
|
| https://youtu.be/RdqiaNsKR2E
| aresant wrote:
| If you enjoyed the Fifth Element absolutely watch Jodorowsky's
| Dune
|
| https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935156/
|
| On the cover it's a story about the failed production of
| Alejandro Jodorowsky's Dune script but the deeper story was the
| aggregation of an unbelievably talented pool of visual artists
| including Jean "Moebius" Giraud (mentioned as central artist in
| 5th element), H.R. Giger, Chris Foss, Salvador Dali, & Dan
| O'Bannon.
|
| That group would go on to centrally influence the visual style of
| a huge body of science fiction work including Alien, Blade
| Runner, Total Recall, Star Wars, The Matrix, Guardians of the
| Galaxy, etc etc.
|
| The art and creativity on display in the film is absolutely
| sonic.
|
| Kind of like the original PayPal mafia!
| ChoGGi wrote:
| I wouldn't want to watch that again, as I'm just reminded we'll
| never get to see his Dune.
|
| I'm still holding out hope for a cartoon of The Incal.
| Jordan-117 wrote:
| Excellent article. And a great opportunity to share one of my
| favorite scifi worldbuilding artifacts: the 4K matte painting
| used for the brief view of Manhattan during the take-off
| sequence:
|
| http://web.archive.org/web/20161007133354if_/http://digitald...
|
| The overall vision for the city is implicit but wildly creative:
| sea levels have dropped significantly, with the architecture of
| the city spreading across the newly-exposed land and leaving
| original structures like the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan's
| skyscrapers, and the Statue of Liberty towering above the
| landscape. There are also oodles of tiny details scattered
| throughout the image -- you can pore over it for a good 10
| minutes and still find more to appreciate. Very cool of Digital
| Domain to share it originally.
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| Went to add this to my rotation wallpaper collection, only to
| realize it's already there.
| dylan604 wrote:
| One of the photog friends I have works on shooting panos of
| city sky lines that are used for the modern version of the
| matte paintings used to fill the windows in studio shoots. It's
| impressive to see them in person.
|
| I took the extended WB back lot tour years ago, and part of the
| tour was through the matte painting shop. The scale is very
| impressive. To see artists on 12' ladders to work on it was a
| nice "human for scale" during the tour.
|
| The circular/sphere real time screen backgrounds Favro at
| Disney/StarWars is using for The Mandolorian is also neat tech
| as well.
| NoSalt wrote:
| This scene takes place so fast, and my attention is always on
| the departing ship, that I never noticed the fine background
| details. Thanks a bunch for posting this great image!
| RobRivera wrote:
| This is amazing and absolutely brilliantly detailed for what, a
| 2 second shot? Thank you for sharing.
| anigbrowl wrote:
| This is actually a reprint of a 1997 article, rather than being
| from 2019.
| NoSalt wrote:
| And???
| excalibur wrote:
| And it would be cool if it stated as much.
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