Rihanna is keeping it intergalactic for her next major film invasion. Luc Besson just wrapped shooting on his highly anticipated French sci-fi film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, starring the one and only Rihanna as what Cinema Blend has described as an "alien stripper." Besson, know for his previous work on confirmed classics like The Fifth Element and Lucy, brought some footage to San Diego Comic-Con that somehow hasn't found its way online just yet. So this behind-the-scenes clip will have to do for now:
"The club owner, played by Ethan Hawke in a garish and colorful suit, is telling a patron that he has a great show lined up. There's a dancer. She's out of this world. The dancer, facing a light to create only a silhouette, walks across the stage. She's all legs, until she puts down a chair. She straddles the chair, turns to face the camera... and we see that she's played by Rihanna!"
According toCinema Blend, the footage teased at SDCC involved dancing, chairs, and a reliably great Ethan Hawke:
Besson also hit Twitter to take questions from understandably hyped fans, revealing that he picked Rihanna for the role "as an actress, not as a singer" and was totally blown away by her performance:
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is based on the French comic series Valérian and Laureline, which took readers all the way to the 28th century for some instantaneous time-and-space travel. Rihanna and Hawke are joined by Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, John Goodman, Kris Wu, and other presumed The Fifth Element fans. Speaking of The Fifth Element, remember that shit? So good:
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, following Rihanna's intergalactic contributions to Star Trek Beyond and last year's Home, hits theaters July 21, 2017.
