The "Divine Language" spoken by Leeloo was invented by co-writer and director Luc Besson and further developed by Milla Jovovich, who had little difficulty learning and refining it since she was already fluent in four languages. The language had only 400 words. The two of them held practice conversations in it and wrote letters to each other. By the end of shooting, they could hold a full conversation in the language.
The explosion in Fhloston's main hall was the largest interior explosion ever filmed up to that point. The resulting fire nearly got out of control. It took 25 minutes to extinguish.
Luc Besson reportedly demanded that most of the film's action sequences be shot in broad daylight, as he was tired of the dark spaceship corridors and dimly lit planets common in science fiction films and wanted a brighter, "cheerfully crazy" look instead of a gloomy, realistic one.
When composer Éric Serra showed soprano Inva Mula (who provided the voice of the Diva) the notes for the Diva Dance, she reportedly smiled and told him that some of the written notes were impossible to reach with the human voice, because the human voice cannot change notes that quickly. So, instead of singing them all in succession, she performed the notes one by one and they were digitized to fit the music. There are several moments where you can hear the differences in the Diva's vocal tones.
Luc Besson wrote the first script during his high school years in 1975. He had been devising the story of this film and inventing its entire universe since childhood, so incorporating his imagination into the depiction may have been an escape from his lonely childhood. He began writing the original script when he was only 16, but it did not reach theaters until he was 38.
The hero Korben Dallas and the villain Jean Baptiste Emanuel Zorg never meet and never communicate with each other in any way. They are aware of each other (Korben used to work for Zorg's company, and Zorg knows Korben won the contest), but they are unaware that the other is involved in the main plot (obtaining the stones). The only time they appear in the same scene together is when Korben is fleeing toward the hangar of the Fhloston hotel just as Zorg has returned there. They pass each other but miss one another in the same shot for only a few frames.
At the time, it was the most expensive film made outside Hollywood, the most expensive production in Gaumont's history, and its visual effects budget of 80 million US dollars was the highest of its era.
Luc Besson wrote this story in high school and made his hero a taxi driver because his own father worked a second job as a taxi driver. He did this to support Luc's attending art school. In nearly all of Luc's films there is a taxi driver to honor his father.
When Korben first meets Leeloo and begins speaking to her in her own language, Luc Besson did not tell Bruce Willis what Milla Jovovich would say to him, so Bruce's reactions are genuine.
The flying traffic created by the visual effects team at Digital Domain allowed the artists to create personalized license plates. Although they are never visible in the film, all the plates bear the state slogan "New York, The F***-You State."
Bruce Willis improvised and delivered the line "Look, lady, I only speak two languages, English and bad English."
When shooting began, the production team decided to dye Milla Jovovich's hair from its natural brown to the orange that became her character's signature. However, because it had to be re-dyed regularly to maintain its bright color, Milla's hair was damaged and broke off too quickly to withstand the dye. Eventually a wig matching the color and style of Leeloo's hair was created and used for the rest of the production.
Diva Plavalaguna sings "Il dolce suono," an aria from the opera Lucia de Lammermoor. Because of its length, its rising arpeggios and its high F above high C, it is one of the most difficult arias.
When the President tells Father Vito Cornelius that he has "20 seconds" to state his idea, Vito speaks for exactly 20 seconds.
The astonishment on Bruce Willis's face when the Diva sings was genuine. He was hearing it for the first time and was seeing the performer in full makeup.
In most of Gary Oldman's shots there is a circle around his head. In fact, the circle at the center of the frame is an almost constant motif in this film. Bruce Willis, by contrast, is more often framed with a rectangle or a doorway behind him.
This film was meant to be a trilogy much like the first three Star Wars films. Luc Besson had three scripts that he combined into a single screenplay. Stanley Kubrick had once done the same thing for A Clockwork Orange (1971); the story adapted from the film had been turned from three books into a single novel.
At the end of the film, when Korben's mother calls and the President hangs up the phone, you can hear her complaint: "I might as well throw myself into traffic, Saran Wrap myself to the bed and pretend my child is suffocating me." She is listing earlier scenes from the film.
Diva Plavalaguna is played by Maïwenn, who was Luc Besson's wife at the time. She took on the role after the original actress failed to show up.
Luc Besson said choosing Bruce Willis was the easiest part of the film. "I came to New York City. He read the script. Two hours later, he said he'd do it." Because it was a French film, Willis's salary was lower than his usual Hollywood fee, but he made a deal with Besson that he would receive a percentage of the profits if the film was successful at the box office, which was also the case internationally. In a 2017 interview, Besson revealed that Mel Gibson had actually been his first choice for Korben Dallas. "We became friends, and everyday for three months he said he was thinking about it. But eventually he passed," he said.
According to the Ultimate Edition DVD, Prince and Michael Jackson were the inspirations for the role of Ruby Rhod, and both were even considered for the part; Prince was the first choice. It was reported that he turned it down because he found the costumes "outlandish," and Chris Tucker took the role instead. Tucker claimed that the secrecy around the script was so high that even he did not know how the character should be played, but the strange costumes helped him get into character. As a result, most of the other actors' reactions to his performance were quite genuine.
Gary Oldman is such a good friend of Luc Besson that, to repay Besson, who partly financed his directing project Nil by Mouth (1997), he took on the role of Zorg without even bothering to read the script. He did the role while taking an eight-week break from that film. After it was released in 1997, Oldman attended the Cannes Film Festival and did all the press screenings to help promote the film out of his loyalty to Besson. When Oldman was asked in a 2014 interview whether he actually liked the film, he had already explained in 2011, "Oh no. I can't bear it.": "It was me singing for my supper, because Luc had come in and partly financed my film". About the film's cult success, he laughed and commented, "That's the wacky world we live in."
The animatronic mechanisms used for the Mangalore masks were later recycled for the Neimoidians in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
Most of the Mangalores at Fhloston Paradise can be seen wearing "combat goggles." This was a practical solution to hide the actors' eyes (which were visible through the masks) and to save on makeup (contact lenses, adhesives and coloring around the eyes).
In the wide shot of the spacecraft leaving New York City for Fhloston Paradise, the Statue of Liberty can be seen on the left, on a platform raised above the water level. Moreover, on closer inspection, New York is surrounded by mountains and its famous bridges hang over deep canyons. Writer/director Luc Besson explained the reason for this in the universe as follows: In The Fifth Element, Earth's ocean levels dropped significantly because large amounts of water were sent off-world to make other planets habitable.
In the future New York City, Central Park will be the same size and in the same place as the real park, but at a height of 30 meters.
Gary Oldman played Zorg as a mixture of then-presidential candidate Ross Perot and Bugs Bunny.
In a 1999 interview, Bruce Willis spoke positively about this film and concluded: "it was a real fun movie to make." Chris Tucker and Milla Jovovich also spoke positively about both their experience of making this film and their experience of working with Luc Besson. In interviews for the Ultimate Edition DVD, Jovovich described Besson as "the first really amazing director I had worked with."
Zorg's monologue about destruction creating productivity is actually a classic economic fallacy set out in "The Parable of the Broken Window," written by French economist Frederic Bastiat in 1850. The full essay is titled "Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas" ("That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen").
Building the models used in this film took a team of 80 people five months.
The people filling the roofs, terraces and windows during the visual effects scenes in New York City are the artists and employees at Digital Domain who worked on this film.
When the Mondoshawan aliens appear in 1914 Egypt, the professor panics, stammers, "A… A… Are you German?" In the German version, he asks "Sind Sie… hier von der Erde?," which roughly translates as "Are you from here… Earth?"
If you look closely while Ruby Rhod sings "All Night Long," you can see Bruce Willis trying not to laugh.
Luc Besson wanted to show that the future is not dark and dangerous. "This future is very funny."
The Fhloston Paradise model weighed over 500 pounds.
Jean-Paul Gaultier personally checked the costumes of the 500 extras used in one scene.
In the film, Maïwenn is actually lip-syncing to soprano Inva Mula. To be able to sing the song correctly, she practiced 30 times a day for three months.
Luc Besson cast Milla Jovovich as Leeloo because "Milla has a physical side; she could be from the past or the future. She could be Egyptian or Roman. She could be Nefertiti and she could come from space. That was one of the things I liked about her physically."
The alien that detonates the final bomb in the hotel is actually using a device that is a MasterLock with a timing lamp attached.
The parasites being disinfected by a team in sealed suits on the landing gear of the spaceship bound for Fhloston Paradise are actually Boglins, the puppet toys of the 1980s. Beside them is the Bumble Ball, a battery-powered ball covered in rubber knobs that shakes and vibrates.
It was chosen as the opening film of the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
As Korben and Leeloo approach an intersection in their taxi, the camera rushes forward to reveal to the audience that six police cars are waiting for them. In the far background, behind the police cars, there is a chase between a police car and a long black car, complete with muzzle flashes representing gunfire between the two vehicles. Luc Besson, ever attentive to detail, noticed the decoration when the visual effects shot was first reviewed, thought it was funny, and it remained in the final film.
Nick Dudman's creature team created a group of scrawny, long-nosed alien garbage collectors that did not make it into the final film. In the scenes at the spaceport, there is a large pile of garbage that has not been collected because the garbage collectors are on strike (as explained in some of the dialogue). Had these creatures made it to the final cut, they would have been seen among the garbage holding sandwich-board signs reading "On strike."
Milla Jovovich beat out more than 3,000 women who auditioned for the role of Leeloo.
Bruce Willis was initially reluctant to make this film, as he was considered a risk after the poor reception of his previous films Hudson Hawk (1991) and Billy Bathgate (1991). Later, while Luc Besson was in Barry Josephson's office, Willis called regarding a different film. Besson wanted to speak with Willis "just to say hello" and told him that the project was finally moving forward, explaining the decision to proceed with a cheaper actor. After a brief silence, Willis stated that after reading the script, he agreed to take on the role: "If I like the film, we can maybe come to an arrangement."
Luc Besson has expressed interest in making a sequel.
The windows of the buildings were cited by the visual effects team as one of the most time-consuming tasks; there were also details behind the windows such as furniture, blinds, light boxes and small flat artworks.
The stars in the background were created by punching holes in a layer of black fabric.
Diva's name, Plavalaguna, is actually made up of two words: Plava and Laguna. "Plava" means blue in Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Bosnian (feminine; the masculine form is "plav"). "Laguna" means lagoon in the same languages. So her name is Blue Lagoon. (Milla Jovovich also played Lilli in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991).) Diva's name was inspired by the Plava Laguna resort in Porec, Croatia, where Luc Besson vacationed several times.
The only phrases in Leeloo's alien language that appear in the subtitles are: "mlarta," "big ba-dah big boom," "akta," "seno akta gamat," "san agamat chay bet. Envolet," "danko," "domo danko," and "apipoulai." Everything else appears as Unknown Language or, once specified, as the Divine Language.
The actors in the Mondoshawan suits used mini television monitors to see where they were going. Suiting up one Mondoshawan took three people 20 minutes.
Cartoonist Jean-Claude Mézières also says, from "My Fifth Element," that Luc Besson approached him for ideas and told him: "I want to make a movie based on your visuals. But I am ready to pay you for the work." The subtlety here is that many elements in the Star Wars saga (several aliens, Darth Vader's costume, Leia's gold bikini, Han Solo in carbonite) are known to have been seen in several original editions of Valerian (particularly 'L'Empire des Mille Planètes', especially the 1971 edition), as seen in interviews in George Lucas's work. Besson not only drew inspiration from Valerian with Mézières's permission, he later directed the film adaptation Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017).
Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean 'Moebius' Giraud sued Luc Besson after this film was released, claiming it was stolen from their comic book The Incal. Giraud sued for 13.1 million euros for unfair competition, nine million euros in damages and interest, and two to five percent of the film's net operating income. Jodorowsky sued for 700,000 euros. The case was dismissed in 2004 on the grounds that only "tiny fragments" of the comic book were used and that Giraud had been hired by Besson to work on the film before the claims were made.
As Zorg leaves the Mangalores behind with a crate full of weapons, preparing them to kill themselves with self-destruct buttons he did not tell them about, his Right Arm explains how much he dislikes warriors like the Mangalores for fighting for hopeless causes. The Right Arm says they fight for "Honor." Zorg's response is "Honor's killed millions of people, hasn't saved a single one." Later, at Fhloston Paradise, the Mangalores detonate the bomb that kills Zorg after saying, "For the honor."
The buildings in the New York City miniature were 20 feet tall, the street was 80 feet long, and its construction took nine months.
One of the Mondoshawan suits can be found at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida.
The visual effects team said that figuring out how "evil" should look was the hardest part of their job.
The boys seen outside the Egyptian temple are different from those seen inside. The exterior scene was shot in Mauritania, while the interior scenes were shot in the United Kingdom. Local children appeared in each location.
Milla Jovovich was covered in bruises throughout the shoot. According to Luc Besson, even Bruce Willis told her: "C'mon, it's fake… don't break your head over it."
Although Luc Besson went far over budget, he did not have to let the financiers onto the set or show them any footage.
When the ship leaves Earth for Fhloston Paradise, in the lower left, just above the edge of the Earth, there is a "constellation" cat walking with its tail pointing up.
The original story was set in the year 2300 and was about a "nobody" named Zaltman Bleros (later renamed Korben Dallas) who wins a trip to a Club Med resort on the planet Fhloston Paradise. There he meets Leeloo, a "sand-girl" who, despite being over 2,000 years old, possesses the "beauty of youth."
The scrolling text along the frame of the Times Square theater as Korben dives into traffic is actually a quote from an email argument between several artists at Digital Domain. Other signs on the digital and practical miniature buildings contain similar jokes and references, and the large cylindrical tanker truck that Korben's cab nearly hits at the end of the landing is decorated with the logo of a pizza parlor in Venice, California, a favorite of the Digital Domain artists.
In the original draft of the script, Zorg was to confront Korben during the hotel evacuation, where Korben had beaten him for firing him and for attacking Leeloo before stealing his ship (the ZF-1 had run out of ammunition, which caused Zorg to collapse). Zorg then survives the destruction of the hotel with the ZF-1's personal shield, but lands inside a massive glacier. He later calls his secretary to send another ship, but the battery of his ZF-1 phone fails.
The scale models used for filming include the buildings seen in New York. Dozens of apartment blocks and 25 skyscrapers about 6.1 meters tall were built at 1/24 scale.
Ruby Rhod was not the original name of Chris Tucker's character; it was Loc Rhod. The original name appears in the script and in the film's novelization.
Luc Besson described Zorg as a "dandy," "nouveau riche," and "Hitler."
Jean Reno was the original choice for the role of Korben Dallas.
The fast-paced song the crowd plays on Fhloston is the music of the traditional Tahitian tamure (TAH-moo-ray) dance.
Mrs. Dallas's (Korben's mother) voice was not credited. It was performed by Jill Mullan in a single acting credit. Her name appears in the thanks list.
Luc Besson, who is acknowledged to be a comic book fan, had two famous French comic book artists in mind for the film's visual style when he began writing it in high school: Jean 'Moebius' Giraud (Moebius) and Jean-Claude Mézières. Both artists have long-running comic book series in France. Moebius is best known for "Blueberry" and (French) Magazine and the (US) film Heavy Metal (1981). Mézières is best known for the "Valerian" series. Both series are still in production today. Moebius and Mezieres, who went to art school together but had never collaborated on any project until this film, began the visualizations for this film in the early 1990s and are responsible for a large part of the film's overall look, including vehicles, spacecraft, buildings, human characters and aliens. However, only Giraud is credited, and even then, he was not even given a bonus when the film was shot.
Part of the song Diva sings is from the opera "Lucia Di Lammermoor," and is often called "The Mad Song," as it is sung immediately after Lucia kills Arturo (whom she was forced to marry) on their wedding day. Lucia is hallucinating that she is married to the man she truly loves, Edgardo, her brother's enemy.
All but two of the Mondoshawan suits were destroyed after production. At least one of the surviving suits now belongs to Nick Dudman.
Leeloo's full name is "Leeloominaï Lekatariba Lamina-Tchaï Ekbat De Sebat," taken from various media sources including Luc Besson's film diary (The Adventure and Discovery of a Film: The Story of The Fifth Element), a French promotional poster used to advertise the film in subways, and the video game guide. "Lekarariba" is a script-based typo and was therefore also carried over into the video subtitles. Leeloo pronounces the "second" name with a hard "T" sound.
In the taxi scene, after Leeloo hits the roof, the police appear to bring the taxi closer to the police car. Before and after attaching the taxi's winch cable, the police officer speaking through the megaphone can be seen saying "thank you for your help." It was re-dubbed in post-production as "thank you for your cooperation."
Elizabeth Berkley auditioned for the role of Leeloo, but after the failure of Showgirls (1995), the studios were reluctant to hire her.
When Leeloo is first introduced, it is only her right hand that holds one arm. Later, the bag taken from the Mangalores is missing its right arm.
This film takes place in the years 1914 and 2263.
All the social elites Ruby points out at the opera actually had more to do during the hotel shoot.
Although Luke Perry is billed sixth, he says fewer than 100 words.
Luc Besson continued to work on and change the story for more than 20 years. By the time Atlantis (1991) was released, he had a 400-page script in hand.
On the shelf in Korben Dallas's apartment, among various other trophies, a framed Medal of Honor certificate is also visible.
Korben's termination notice reads in part: "Notice of termination of your contract is effective as of today. Due to violation of codes HFGY56, 74HVB, 00JGHY, MNH356585, MCNH485757, 0478N - your relationship with this company is immediately terminated. On behalf of ZORG and on behalf of ZORG." So it turns out Korben Dallas worked for Zorg while driving his taxi, though this would already have been implied, since in the previous scene Zorg had ordered the firing of a million of his workers.
It is one of the few films released in the short-lived Superbit format.
The number "5" appears several times in the film: there are five elements; Korben Dallas's license had five points left; Zorg stops his bomb with five seconds left on the timer, and the Mangalore's bomb starts with the same five-second timer. Near the end of the film, after the alien planet is stopped, Ruby Rhod says, "There's a bomb going off every five minutes!," and at the end of the film the doctor says Leeloo and Korben need five more minutes. Ruby Rhod's show is at 5 o'clock.
Immediately after Zorg says he admires a cold, clean, methodical killer, an explosion occurs, just as in the opening of Léon: The Professional (1994), which Luc Besson co-wrote with Sir Gary Oldman and which centers on such a killer.
All the Mondoshawan suits were to be destroyed after production. The surviving Mondoshawan suit found refuge at Prop Store in London. Other individual pieces, such as the arm and head sections of the other suits, were also salvaged and sold to private collectors. Nick Dudman recalled: "The Mondoshawans were gonna be destroyed," he said, "and in fact, more than that, the destruction process was going to be videotaped - so there would be video evidence that these things had been destroyed. That understandably upset me quite a bit, so I went to the executive producers Patrice Ledoux and Iain Smith and said 'look, please, you know, can't we keep these?' And he said 'No!'; 'Can we keep one? You know, it's your property, you can sell it, but can one stay with me?' And Patrice said yes -- so I have a Mondo. It was lovely because when they were finished they became beautiful objects, and it seemed a shame. Because we had such a good time on the film that we really grew fond of these things. But I'm glad we were able to save one."
The buildings in New York City were derived both from the modular apartment stacks of the 1960s metabolists and from architect Antonio Sant'Elia's futuristic designs of the 1910s.
Luc Besson has stated in various sources (including his own production diary) that The Fifth Element is "a representation of life, love, and art," and "The Fifth Element is a symbol of life." (Tele Rapide, February 28 - March 6, 1998).
Despite the film's success and the positive reviews from critics, Luc Besson decided not to make a sequel or otherwise expand the Fifth Element universe, and pursued other interests.
Ruby Rhod's name is an inside joke. One of the original lasers used a ruby rod as its core element.
WILHELM SCREAM: It can be heard when Zorg blows up the Right Arm at the airport and when Leeloo throws two Mangalores out of Diva's room.
Terry Pratchett parodied the title in the Discworld novel "The Fifth Elephant."
In every New York City visual effects scene with flying traffic, there is a flying bus with the internal reference of Digital Domain (the facility responsible for most of the visual effects) or the name of the shot written on its roof. The visual effects team's instruction was to include a bus bearing the name of the shot, but personal references such as birthdays, initials, etc. could be found on all the other buses and in the traffic. The front frame of a bus's destination sign and its side billboards were customized by artists at Digital Domain to refer to some personal stamp or message, invisibly or subliminally.
Mac McDonald, who plays a New York police officer in the film, is known for his role as Captain Frank Hollister in the long-running BBC science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf (1988). He reprised the role in 1999 and again in 2017. He also played the mining station manager on the planet LV-426 in Aliens (1986).
Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Luke Perry, Chris Tucker and Tom Lister Jr. are all left-handed.
Both Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman turned down Con Air (1997) to make this film.
The grappa bottle in the opening scene bears a vintage 1929 label designed by the artist Sante Cancian. The Marcati brand was cut from the top of the label to be used on the propeller bottle.
The safe in which the stones were placed in 1914 is the same safe Zorg later takes, but it is missing one of its handles. The missing handle is inside the glove used to revive Leeloo.
Because of the shape of the Mangalore masks, the actors needed sloping foreheads in order to be able to play them.
Volumes of two manga series; "Sanctuary," written by Ryoichi Ikegami and Sho Fumimura (Buronson); and "Adolf," by Osamu Tezuka, can briefly be seen in Korben Dallas's apartment.
On the set at Pinewood Studios, the actual filming of the Mondoshawans was no less demanding than what had come before. Each Mondoshawan was puppeteered by 4 crew members. Because of the serious heat inside the costumes, only short sequences could be shot single-handedly. The most complex scene to be filmed was the Mondoshawan's arrival at the ancient temple. Dudman recalled: "When we shot the scene, they were all walking down the corridor - there were 6 people, all with walkie-talkies, saying 'left, left, slow down, slow down.'" As seen in the final film, finally achieving the coordination of all the performers was extremely complex.
The makeup device David gives Leeloo is black and bears the iconic Chanel CC logo. Milla Jovovich appeared in Chanel advertisements.
The film begins in Egypt in 1914. When the Mondoshawans arrive at the temple, one of them tells the priest that they will return when evil returns 300 years later. The next scene shows the future, and "300 Years Later" appears on screen. However, when Korben suddenly wakes up after destroying the Dark Planet military spaceship, there is a pale yellow ticket on his bed showing the date and time of March 18, 2263, 2:00 in the morning. This corresponds to 349 years after 1914 and does not match the "300 Years Later" displayed on screen for the current future year.
Although cartoonist Jean-Claude Mézières is not directly named in the film, he is the confirmed author of most of the sets; because his album "The Extras of Mezieres v.2: My Fifth Element Sets for the Film by Luc Besson" (Les Extras De Mezieres n.2: Mon cinquième élément decours pour le film du Luc Besson) was published in France around the film's release, reusing the film's logo on its cover. Similarly, while the film was being shot, Christin and Mézières published "Les cercles du pouvoir," which included a flying vehicle taxi (this led Luc Besson to rewrite the film's opening scenes) and a cartoon by Besson.
The Zorg Industries ZF-1 Pod Weapon System was actually based on the AKSU-74 compact assault rifle.
The last film pairing of Bruce Willis and Brion James after The Player (1992) and Striking Distance (1993). Brion died of a heart attack on August 7, 1999.
The special effects team spent considerable time on actual planning to create the proper infrastructure for the Mondoshawan costumes. First, a foam test suit containing the basic design shape was produced. The final material of the costumes was actually replaced with an outer shell made of fiberglass. Large areas of the costumes were molded in a mesh shape to help with internal ventilation. Since the Mondoshawans ranged from 7'8" to exactly 8 feet tall, a minimum height was required for the actual performers. Seven actors, 1.99 meters tall, including Justin Lee Burrows and Richard Ashton, were cast for the Mondoshawan role.
According to Gary Oldman, who disliked his own hair and wardrobe, Bruce Willis hated his iconic orange shirt/vest. Oldman was less enthusiastic about The Fifth Element than fans and mostly remembers it as "Jean Paul Gaultier and rubber."
Triangles appear frequently in this film. They are seen in the Egyptian ruins, in the planetary alignment indicators, and in the missile formation launched from the cruiser. The stones are also prisms.
It was stated that Kevin Costner was considered for the role of General Munro.
The Mondoshawans were built as creature costumes; however, their production process was unlike anything Nick Dudman and his team had done before. The Mondoshawans were designed by illustrator Jacques Rey. According to animatronic designer Monique Brown, much of the complexity stemmed from the elliptical shape of the design. The full-scale sculpture of the Mondoshawan was undertaken by a team of sculptors including Mark Godderidge and Mark Coulier, who designed and produced the arms and articulated hand mechanisms for the creatures.
Jamie Foxx was considered for the role of Ruby Rhod.
In the final scene, a scientist says that "one minute" refers to the time before the Great Evil enters Earth's atmosphere. In fact, from that moment it takes one minute and 49 seconds for the Fifth Element to intervene and stop it.
In her death scene, Diva Plavalaguna tells Korben that Leeloo needs his help and love, or she will die. This foreshadows the ending in which Korben tells the gravely wounded Leeloo that he loves her and kisses her; this combines the stones' powers with his own and radiates divine light onto the Great Evil, destroying it.
This is one of two science fiction films featuring a character named Dallas and starring Ian Holm. The other is Alien (1979), in which Tom Skerritt played Captain Dallas.
Sonny Caldinez's (Emperor Kodar Japhet) last film.
In 2006, the rock band Ever We Fall released a song whose name was taken from a line of dialogue in this film: "Welcome to Fhloston Paradise."
According to an article published in The New York Times in October 1996, while working on The Fifth Element, Luc Besson was also working with screenwriter John Pogue on a script for a remake of Walter Hill's cult car chase film The Driver (1978), about a notorious and unstoppable getaway driver who is always evading the police and the tough detective obsessed with catching him. At that time, 20th Century Fox was developing this remake, but the production never happened.
During the fight aboard the Fhloston Paradise cruise liner, a synthesized chime can occasionally be heard amid the music. This chime resembles (though is not identical to) the synthesized chime heard throughout Goldeneye two years earlier. Eric Serra worked on the music department of both films, which explains why the film is included here.
Korben Dallas is a taxi driver who was formerly a space commando. Frank Martin, the protagonist of Luc Besson's The Transporter (2002), is a man who moved from being an ex-soldier to a hired driver.
Tom Lister Jr. (President Lindberg) and Chris Tucker (Ruby Rhod) appeared in Friday (1995).
After working on this film, Lenny McLean (Police Chief) took a role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), his final acting role. He died on 28 July 1998 at the age of 49. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was the first acting experience of Jason Statham, who starred in The Transporter (2002), written by Luc Besson.
Among the cast are one Oscar winner, Gary Oldman, and one Oscar nominee, Ian Holm.
Gary Oldman and Tom Lister Jr. appeared in The Dark Knight (2008).
The undersuit of the final dress included a harness holding a cage-like steel structure; its purpose was to support the upper half of the Mondoshawan. This method transferred the weight of the upper structure to the performer's hips, making movement easier for the performers. Monique Brown said: "When the artists agreed to do it, they had no idea what they were getting into. Some artists were great about it, others were saying 'I can't do this.' And in fact, we had to replace some artists because they couldn't do it." The dresses had a separate section for the head, including the head itself, the neck and the base. In addition to a fully mechanized hero head, several 'standard' heads with basic movements were built. Thanks to a simple sliding plate, the heads could be changed easily. The hero head was first made by John Coppinger and later developed by Steve Wright. The animatronic mechanisms were created by Chris Barton; they included full neck movement and 'lit' eyes. Ventilation holes or vent-like structures on the nose could move to simulate speech and breathing. The performer's view inside was completely blacked out; to solve this problem, small monitors were placed just behind the head and neck mechanisms. The performer could see what was happening on set thanks to an external camera placed in the middle of the costume. The camera transmitted the image to the monitor inside, allowing for more precise coordination. Getting the performers ready on the shooting day was an impressive process. Nick Dudman said, "It took a C-shaped platform, like a docking bay, to get the man inside, into the dress. There were about three steps for my crew to stand on." The performers first had to put on the leg sections of the costume; a safety bar prevented the legs from spreading too far apart or moving too quickly. The performer then had to enter the 'docking bay'; this is where the crew would place the undersuit and other parts of the dress on them. Three crew members were needed to prepare each artist, and the process would take as long as 20 minutes per unit.
The film appears to have been inspired by a segment story from the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal. The segment is about a futuristic New York taxi driver named Harry Cannon who accepts a beautiful woman as payment; the demonic Loc-Nar sphere is the link between all the animated segments in the film.
Mel Gibson was considered for the role of Korben Dallas.
Charlie Creed-Miles (David) also appeared in Nil by Mouth (1997), directed by Gary Oldman and produced by Luc Besson.
Julia Roberts was considered for the role of Leeloo.
Before having sex with the flight attendant (before the spaceship takes off), Ruby tells her, "I never felt this way before with a human," indicating that he is either an alien humanoid not from Earth or that he has had sex with an alien before.
Early in the film, Zorg (Gary Oldman) quotes Friedrich Nietzsche: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Oldman's co-star Bruce Willis released an album with that title on Motown Records in the 1980s. Heath Ledger spoke a variation of the famous line in The Dark Knight (2008) (which also starred Gary Oldman).
The film features many actors who had appeared in the Alien series up to that point: Ian Holm from Alien (1979); Al Matthews and Mac McDonald from Aliens (1986); and Christopher Fairbank from Alien³ (1992). Diva Plavalaguna, with her elongated head, may be a visual reference to the titular creature of that series.
Zorg is also the name of another character in a famous French film; it is the protagonist of Betty Blue (1986).
This is the second time actor Mac McDonald has had a supporting role in a world full of aliens. The first was in Aliens (1986), as a Weyland-Yutani terraforming employee, in a scene that appears only in the special edition.
Brion James and Tom Lister Jr. appeared in Armed and Dangerous (1986).
Singer Prince was offered the role of Ruby Rhod but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts with his tour.
The original Multipass that Milla Jovovich carries with her surfaced years later at a movie prop auction. The Multipass was recorded as containing a very critical error. It identified Leeloo (Jovovich) as a Male and listed her vital information as follows: Sex: M Hr: BWN/F Eyes: Bl/S Ht:5'10", WT:152, DOB: 05-24-2311 Blood Type: AB+ Viral Status: LOW This would be quite a red flag for a security screen.
Corben Dallas (Bruce Willis) and Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) wear orange, with Bruce Willis's character in a tank top and Leeloo's character sporting the iconic hairstyle.