'It was utter chaos': Director Luc Besson aims to impress with 'Dogman'

Renowned director Luc Besson is excited for his latest film 'Dogman' to open for Korean audiences, aiming to impress cinephiles in a country known for high quality films. The movie portrays a gripping narrative and was inspired by real-life events.

French director Luc Besson on the set of ″Dogman″ [ATNINE FILM]

Renowned French director Luc Besson knows that Koreans are particular when it comes to high quality films, and he couldn’t be happier that his latest film “Dogman” is opening for Korean audiences. With such high standards in Korea, foreign directors are increasingly excited to show their films in the country and see the response from cinephiles, Besson said.

“I regard Korean films highly because, in terms of storytelling and almost every other aspect of the filmmaking process, people take risks and try new things,” Besson said during an online interview held with Korean reporters ahead of the release of “Dogman” on Tuesday. “Naturally, to wait for how an audience used to such high quality films will react to my next work is very exciting and at the same time still makes me nervous.”

Besson is behind some of cinema’s most well-known classics, such as “La Femme Nikita” (1990), “Leon: The Professional” and “The Fifth Element” (1997). He has previously worked with Korean actor Choi Min-sik on the sci-fi action film “Lucy” (2014).

Besson’s latest “Dogman” is about a man who was abused by his father as a child and relies on his dogs instead of other humans for emotional support, eventually descending into madness. The film was shown at last year’s Busan International Film Festival where it garnered positive reviews. Filming “Dogman” was not an easy feat, however, as the director and his team had to work with over 120 dogs on set.

A scene from ″Dogman″ [ATNINE FILM]

“At one point, we had exactly 124 dogs in the same location and it was utter chaos,” Besson said. “Only five of the 124 were trained, and all the others were not trained at all. I learned to just accept the fact that it was chaotic and a total mess on set and get on with filming.”

As disturbing as it may sound, “Dogman” was inspired by a real case in which a father locked his young son in a cage with dogs for four years. Besson had read about this case in a news article, and though he couldn’t meet with the people from the real-life story because the case was from 15 years ago, other similar cases had also occurred in France and Romania.

“The key of the story is not in the boy-trapped-with-dogs aspect but in how society cannot accept those who are different,” Besson said. “A difference could be a disability, an art, or a person’s sexual orientation — and people get shunned because of any of these things. I wanted to show through ‘Dogman’ how society seems like it encompasses all these things but really outcasts anything different.”

“Dogman” could also be Besson’s love letter to animals, which the director has a keen fondness for because of his own childhood, according to the director.

“I think that humans and animals all need to be dealt with love and care,” Besson said. “I grew up on the seaside with a lot of animals, so my thoughts on how they should be handled are that they need to be treated just as humans. Dogs especially even save human lives in a lot of instances. Respecting animals’ dignity is the least that humans can do to repay that.”

French director Luc Besson on the set of ″Dogman″ [ATNINE FILM]

“Dogman” is carried by a strong performance from American actor Caleb Landry Jones, who plays Douglas, the central character. Although Besson initially thought that the role of Douglas would be too hard for anyone to play, the director found exactly what he wanted in Jones.

“Jones is a special actor in the sense that he shows a differently colored performance in each of his films,” Besson said. “We worked very closely during filming, meeting each other almost daily for four months.”

Besson picked Gary Oldman’s performance from his own “Leon: The Professional,” Jones’s acting in “Dogman” and Choi’s performance in “Lucy” as the three most shocking displays of acting talent that he has ever seen.

“Oldman, Jones and Choi are on a different level, and their acting is world-class,” Besson said. “When I was working with Choi, I couldn’t communicate through words because of the language barrier and had to direct his scenes through gestures, which he understood so perfectly that I was surprised.”

With such fond memories of working with Choi, Besson hinted that he is open to working again with Korean talent.

“I am always welcoming the opportunity to collaborate with Korean filmmakers,” Besson said. “I think that the arts is one of the few fields where people can work together without the hindrance of language. I hope, first, that a lot of Korean audiences will enjoy watching ‘Dogman,’ and I plan on visiting the country again very soon.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]