If you’ve already checked out our discussion of the first trailer from Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, then we’ve got something that might top that: an exclusive first look at one of the nastier aliens from the movie. This is Igon Sirrus, seen briefly in said trailer, and described as “a mercilessly violent space pirate at the seat of a criminal empire and a public enemy of the galaxy, [whose] bloodthirsty reputation greatly contributes to striking terror in the hearts of innocent travelers who have the misfortune to sight his ship, the Fark’ar.” We’ll give you a moment to chuckle at the spaceship name. Done? Right then, let’s talk a little bit more about Igon, whom you can click on below to enlarge…
We at Nerdist HQ were initially 99% sure this tattooed villain was a beefed-up version of a Bagoulin, part of the hedonistic mercenary race that Laureline (Cara Delevingne) infiltrates by shape-shifting in Ambassador of the Shadows, the graphic novel on which Valerian is primarily based. But no: “He’s something I invent[ed],” director Luc Besson told us. “The thing is, the comic book, you read it in 20 minutes, and the film is two hours, so you have to expand.” Besson also confirmed to us that this is not the movie’s primary big bad.
“I’m a little fed up with films where, after 20 minutes, you know who is the villain, what’s the plot, and you basically know the entire film,” he said. Â “The villain is not the villain we think, and the evil is not the evil we think. It takes a lot of time, you follow the film because you want to know exactly what happens.”
And while he said that revealing the true face of evil in the movie would ruin it for everyone, he did offer a hint from real-life recent history, noting that “lots of people are lying in the film, and they have to figure out [the truth].” He added, “It reminds me of a story where someone says, ‘Oh, they have weapons of mass destruction,’ and then we arrive there and there [are] none.”
Are you ready for some Sirrus action? Do you like the idea of Besson creating some new characters in this world? Fly down to the comments and give us both barrels!
Image: STX Entertainment
