The Fifth Element

Trivia: When composer Éric Serra showed Inva Mula, the Albanian soprano who was going to sing the Diva Dance, the sheet music for that part, apparently she laughed and said that it was impossible for the human voice to switch from high to low notes that quickly. She got her way: The part that ended up in the film is not a single piece of audio, rather it's several pieces stitched meticulously together.

Friso94

Trivia: When the priest states that he has a theory on the advancing planet near the beginning of the film, the president tells him that he has '20 seconds.' Cornelius gives his theory - which takes exactly 20 seconds.

Trivia: So much material was reportedly cut from the original script (which was hundreds of pages), that director Luc Besson and co-writer Robert Mark Kamen wanted to use the cut content as the basis for a sequel. However, according to Kamen, despite the film being profitable thanks to the international box office, the American box office was somewhat lower than expected, so the sequel was never made.

TedStixon

Trivia: The film was one of the first movies Sony released on the high-definition Blu-ray format in 2006. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray was considered a disaster due to a poor remaster that looked essentially indecipherable from the standard-def DVD. It was so widely hated that a year later, Sony released a replacement Blu-ray with a new HD remaster, and offered free copies to anyone who bought the original release. Thankfully this second Blu-ray was widely praised for its (much) better picture quality.

TedStixon

Trivia: The Diva Plavalaguna's name was used as an inside joke referencing Milla Jovovich's second film, "Return to Blue Lagoon" (plava laguna means "blue lagoon" in Serbo-Croatian).

Jazetopher

Trivia: The giant indoors explosion at Fhloston Paradise was actually the largest indoor explosion ever filmed. It was so huge, the fire actually almost burned down the soundstage, and it took nearly a half-hour to get it under control.

TedStixon

Trivia: In the movie, the bizarre Divine Language that Leeloo speaks was invented by Milla Jovovich and director Luc Besson. Milla Jovovich is multi-lingual, and by the end of filming the movie, the two of them had learned to speak it fluently, even engaging in full conversations in the language.

Jazetopher

Trivia: Interesting and fun to watch for: As a visual representation of their exact opposites, Zorg usually has a large circle behind him, whereas Korben usually has a large rectangle behind him during important scenes involving major decisions by their characters.

Jazetopher

Trivia: The real name of one of the policeman that is waiting in front of the McDonalds is Mac Macdonald.

Dr Wilson

Trivia: At first, the film was supposed to be filmed in France but there were no studios big enough so they had to transfer the production to London.

Dr Wilson

Trivia: When the shuttle leaves Earth to go to Fhloston Paradise, the flashes behind the shuttle have the same shape as Gaumont's logo. Gaumont is the company that produced this film.

Dr Wilson

Trivia: Writer Robert Mark Kamen was brought in by the studio to help director Luc Besson with the script, which was hundreds of pages and contained numerous characters and subplots. Kamen took a meeting with Besson where he basically told him over and over that the script was unintelligible, angering Besson. Kamen thought he had burned the bridge, but to his surprise, Besson called him later and asked him to help rewrite the script. Kamen helped him condense it into a more acceptable length.

TedStixon

Trivia: During the opening credits, when the Earth rotates from the bottom of the screen to the left, listen carefully to the music. It is the same music played just after the Klingon ship goes back in time to 1986 in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (right after the heads of the Enterprise crew morph on screen).

jbrbbt

Trivia: Director Luc Besson originally wanted musician Prince to play the part of Ruby Rhod. However, Prince turned down the part only because (despite his own peculiar fashion sense) he felt the costumes designed for the character were a little too strange and effeminate for his tastes.

TedStixon

Trivia: Gary Oldman did the movie as a favor to Luc Besson, who helped him raise money for another film he was trying to make. Oldman reportedly wasn't too keen on the film... in fact, he hated it and didn't understand why so many people found it appealing. When asked what he thought about it being a major cult-classic in an interview once, he simply laughed and said, "I know, I know... that's just the wacky world we live in!"

TedStixon

Trivia: Model and actress Maïwenn wasn't originally supposed to play the diva. However, for whatever reason, the original actress cast just... never showed up for filming. Since Maïwenn was married to director Luc Besson at the time and was around set, she was recruited to fill in for the part at the last minute.

TedStixon

Continuity mistake: When Zorg is first seen walking, and the screen only shows his legs, there is an audible clank as he steps with his RIGHT leg. After that, the clank is heard from his left foot. (00:47:10)

More mistakes in The Fifth Element

Leeloo: Leeloo Dallas mul-ti-pass.
Korben Dallas: Yeah.
Leeloo: Mul-ti-pass.
Korben Dallas: Yeah, multipass, she knows it's a multipass. Leeloo Dallas. This is my wife.
Leeloo: Mul-ti-pass.
Korben Dallas: We're newlyweds. Just met. You know how it is. We bumped into each other, sparks happen...
Leeloo: Mul-ti-pass.
Korben Dallas: Yes, she knows it's a multipass. Anyway, we're in love.

More quotes from The Fifth Element

Question: The Diva gets to perform only one song of her concert before she is mortally gunshot in the abdomen. Almost simultaneously, Zorg sets a time-bomb to detonate in 20 minutes. Korben removes the stones from the Diva's dead body and barely escapes from the Fhloston cruise liner before it explodes 20 minutes later. Korben and his party immediately fly at hyperspeed straight to Earth and set the stones in place with only 5 minutes to spare. If they had followed the original plan without interruption and the Diva hadn't been unexpectedly murdered, she would have proceeded with the remainder of her concert, lasting an indeterminate amount of time; thereafter, presumably, she would have to undergo surgery to remove the stones from her body and deliver them to Korben, all of which would have taken far too long for him to save the Earth, correct?

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: Not necessarily. Remember that the evil sped up once he knew Zorg was dead and the team had the stones. And we don't know how the Diva was going to get the stones out.

Greg Dwyer

Answer: At the end of the Diva's big number she bows, and they close the big curtains behind her displaying the amazing view. Maybe that was it, one big epic song. Plus, she asked Leeloo to wait in the hallway for her which seems kind of rude if it's the longer concerts we think of, so I don't think she planned on being that long. The Diva definitely gave off the mystic physic vibe so maybe she knew her fate. However, that would mean that she told Leeloo to wait in the hallway knowing she wasn't coming back, and maybe even knew the big beasties would show up. Either way you are correct about the dramatic timing issues all around in this movie, not that I mind.

Nikita Moon

Answer: The Diva already knew her fate... she knew it was her last song and fate would unfold the way it did.

More questions & answers from The Fifth Element

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