Luc Besson To Direct Massive Sci-Fi Film To Be Released In 2013-14, Described As 'The Fifth Element' To The Power Of 10

Is Luc Besson deigning to come down from conceptualist impresario mountain and get his hands dirty once more?

As a director, Besson helms films fairly infrequently these days, choosing instead to conceive them and hand them off to others; he's created a veritable cottage industry of action films both in France and in the U.S. Between 1999 and 2010, he's made only four pictures and arguably "Arthur and the Invisibles" doesn't count since no adults saw it.

We're being harsh and flip, but as a producer/writer Besson has been incredibly busy. In the same time period, he's had a hand in twenty two screenplays, and as a producer he's been involved in 42 films, many of them born from his original idea -- "The Transporter" series with Jason Statham is his original concept, as is the "District 13" series and the "Taken" revenge film with Liam Neeson that became a huge surprise hit in the winter of 2008. The recently announced sci-fi film, "Lockout" with Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace is another of his creations, as is "Columbiana" with Zoe Saldana which appears to be his workaround for a "The Professional" sequel.

But what Besson generally does is come up with these concepts, co-write them and then hand them off to some talented young director -- he's made people like Pierre Morel, Louis Leterrier, Patrick Alessandrin, and Olivier Megaton into relative house-hold names for the action set or at least those in Hollywood looking for directors for hire.

It's been reported that his next directing gig would be a untitled love story, but according to an interview with Europe 1 (via Coming Soon) he's working on a new sci-fi film that would be " 'The Fifth Element' [to the] Power 10. "

It appears he's been inspired by "Avatar" and James Cameron's 3D work as well. "When I did 'The Fifth Element,' I already had the technological tools that were a little outdated, "he said. "With the advent of digital technology, it is amazing what you can do. The technique has caught the imagination. One can imagine anything, there will always technicians to follow you in your delusion. " Evidently pre-production will begin in 2011 and according to the director production could start in 2012 and 2013, "because it will be very, very big."

Besson's next picture is "The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec" which still hasn't been scheduled for a U.S. release yet.

>>> Luc Besson To Direct Massive Sci-Fi Film To Be Released In 2013-14, Described As 'The Fifth Element' To The Power Of 10 >>>

Natalie Portman Says She Would Do A Sequel To 'The Professional' Only If Luc Besson Directs

Looks like the ball is in your court Luc Besson.

Speaking with MTV during the TIFF press rounds for "Black Swan," Natalie Portman revealed that she would be open to doing a sequel to the director's excellent "The Professional" but only if he directed it himself. In fact, she's never read the script (titled "Mathilda") for this very reason.

"I have never read it because Luc won't direct it himself, and so I'm only interested if he [directs]," Portman said. "I told him if he would do it himself, I would do it in two seconds. But he won't, so…"

The French director has dipped in and out of retirement a number of times (his last directing gig was this year's "The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec") but it's not just his involvement that's holding things up. According to the awesomely named Olivier Megaton, the studio who controls the rights to the film isn't particularly interested. Though, who knows, that could change when the Oscar talk around Portman turns into nominations.

At any rate, the Zoe Saladana starring "Columbiana," written and produced by Besson and directed by Megaton, might be as close as we get for the time being.

>>> Natalie Portman Says She Would Do A Sequel To 'The Professional' Only If Luc Besson Directs >>>