Married his first wife when he was 33 and she was 16.
And first met her when she was 12.
shareUgh.....that makes 'Leon' (1994) seem so much worse than it already did.
Jean Reno had to tell him to tone down the sexuality between him and Natalie Portman or else he would walk off set. I just wonder how much worse Besson was intending. It's a shame because it's such a great movie but would have been better without all that nonsense.
shareJesus H. Christ....Did Reno say that in an interview?
Wtf. Has Portman ever said Besson was inappropriate with her?
Natalie Portman finds it weird now but she never commented on Besson doing anything to her.
https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/natalie-portman-leon-the-professional-cringey-1234861987/
I don't remember when Reno said it, but there is a Reddit thread where someone says that Reno purposely acted as if Leon was slow to make it look like he was oblivious to Natalie Portman's advances.
https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/13a05ay/l%C3%A9on_the_professional_is_giving_me_conflicted/
I found this on Wikipedia and it's all bad:
Besson's second wife was actress and director Maïwenn Le Besco, whom he started dating when he was 32 and she was 15.[25] They married in late 1992 when Le Besco, 16, was pregnant with their daughter Shanna, who was born on 3 January 1993.[26] Le Besco later claimed that their relationship inspired Besson's film Léon (1994), where the plot involved the emotional relationship between an adult man and a 12-year-old girl.[25] Their marriage ended in 1997, when Besson became involved with actress Milla Jovovich during the filming of The Fifth Element (1997).</>share
How is this man not in prison? It's not like there isn't evidence.
shareYep.
As much as I love the uncut version of Leon and wouldn’t change a frame… a 12 year old kid begging to be fucked by a much older guy whose reason for saying ‘no’ isn’t ’because you’re a kid?’ but some sob story ending with ‘so I wouldn’t be a good lover’… is icky.
Knowing that Besson likes ‘em young IRL makes it all the ickier.