re: Worst Casting In A Movie All Time?

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Yeah that casting was distractingly bad. The actor had no physicality, he was a noodle armed twerp who was supposed to be a womanizing badass.

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To this day, I have no idea how Luc Besson messed that up so badly.

Valerian and Laureline had the necessary storylines, including 2 distinct characters that were laid out very clearly. Besson had already done The Fifth Element, which had the exact right tone (it was basically a straight copy). In that, he cast Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich... who were perfect as Valerian and Laureline.
And to clarify, Leeloo was a straight copy of Laureline; Laureline was supposed to be a sexy redhead who was a fish out of water.
So, he KNEW what was 'supposed' to be the case.

If they had cast Valerian right, that would have been an enormous hit. You could argue that Willis and Jovovich were too old for that film, but Besson could have found suitable replacements.