Have Those Sacrebleu Paparazzi Sent Luc Besson Running From Taipei? Pas Possible!

The pack mentality of web journalists rushing to pick up every report in every publication around the world legitimizes exaggerated stories and all you can do is try to put proper perspective on them later. Seems that was the case with today’s early reports that director Luc Besson was cutting short his Taipei shoot of the science fiction film Lucy because paparazzi were being over aggressive trying to get snaps of Scarlett Johansson in costume. My former colleague Patrick Frater got to EuropaCorp CEO Christophe Lambert, who told our sister publication Variety that Besson isn’t going anywhere until he finishes his stint there as planned. I interviewed Besson at Deadline Hollywood’s Contenders Event two years ago when he released The Lady, and he talked about sneaking into Burma when it was controlled by a strict military regime to shoot scenes for his film about the outrageous injustices perpetrated against Aung San Suu Kyi. Not only did Besson covertly get his shots, he filmed a crowd scene and asked everyone there to not put any information or photographs online because it would imperil him and his crew and possibly get the film’s subject (who was under house arrest) in more trouble. Not a single shot appeared anywhere, he said. Would a guy with stones like that run scared because of some pesky shutterbugs? C’mon.

Related: Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp And Millennium Heading To Altar?