The Fifth Element

Milla Jovovich explain the origins of her iconicThe Fifth Elementbandage costume . Visionary director Luc Besson left his fingerprint on sci - fi forever with his 1997 classic set in a risky dystopian time to come . The Fifth Elementwent on to be a big box seat office hit at the time , gross $ 263 million worldwide .

But remove the influence ofThe Fifth Elementgoes far beyond the wallop it made at the loge function when it was released in 1997 . And a swelled   reason for the movie ’s enduring pop culture   footprint is of course of instruction its heroine Leeloo , take on by Jovovich , and her highly distinctive punk - sci - fi look . A bio - engineered superintendent - being who holds the fate of humanity in her hands , Leeloo sports wild red hair and spends much of the movie running around in a costume that amounts to a few strategically - place patch . Indeed that patch costume has become iconic itself , inspiring cosplayers to this very day .

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The Fifth Elementwas of course reverberate to have a distinctive tone given the portentous creative power involve in its fashioning . One of the most of import of these creative forces in fact was way interior designer Jean Paul Gaultier , who was lease by Besson to plow costumes for his windy sci - fi epic . When it came to design Leeloo ’s smell however , Jovovich herself declare oneself a bit of input that function on to guide Gaultier ’s work . Speaking recently toVogue , the actress revealed the origins of Leeloo ’s bandage costume and how her suggestion sparkle Gaultier ’s creation :

Something Luc and I had actually talked about before receive with Jean Paul was like , " How do we shoot the giving birth shot of Leeloo ? ” She gets put together through this DNA splicing machine , and she ’s naked , but she ca n’t be naked throughout the movie , so what do we do ? And something that hit me was like being in a hospital for instance , they put like a robe on you that ’s open in the back so that they can reach in , and give you injections , and put tubes in you and thing . So , you have to almost have as footling as potential , but for the rice beer of reserve you have to cross up too . So how do we do that ? And that ’s where the bandage idea came from . I said , " heed , what about patch ? " Like you know , when people get bruise , they just put bandages to cover the necessary bits . Luc and Jean Paul verbalize about this bandage idea , and Jean Paul was just like , " Oh genius , I love it ! "

understandably Jovovich’sFifth Elementbandage costume idea was a great one as the design remains one of the most - remembered aspects ofBesson ’s very busy and imaginative movie . And Jovovich indeed prize the impingement Leeloo ’s look carry on to have on people about 30 years after the moving-picture show ’s release . “ It ’s been amazing to see how much Leeloo has impact style , and how much playfulness people have with her grapheme and embodying her feeling , ” Jovovich say toVogue .

Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in The Fifth Element

Of naturally lover ofThe Fifth Elementto this Clarence Day still long for a sequel to the sci - fi classic . And indeed a sequel was reportedly contrive at one time using a argufy storyline from the original flick , but unfortunately the project never came to fruition . Now in a earth positively bursting with cyclosis services and other outlet , it seems there should be a station for aFifth Elementrevisit of some form .   And if   there is any real market for aFifth Elementsequel or reboot out there , much of the credit must go to Jovovich ’s portrayal of Leeloo and the enduring appeal of that character both in spirit and attitude . Surely without Jovovich ’s functioning , and Leeloo ’s awesome character design , The Fifth Elementwould not be intimately as memorable as it is .

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Source : Vogue / YouTube

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The Fifth Element