Luc Besson’s production company has denied reports that the filmmaker and star Scarlett Johansson are to end a film shoot in Taiwan early after becoming the target of aggressive local paparazzi, according to Variety.
Besson and Johansson have been filming the drug-mule action thriller Lucy in the country’s capital, Taipei. It’s the biggest movie production to hit Taiwan since Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning fantasy blockbuster Life of Pi in 2011, and local reports suggest the pair have had enough of photographers swarming around cast and crew.
However, Besson’s EuropaCorp production company said the shoot would be completed. “The filming of Lucy in Taipei is going forward as planned and will wrap next Monday,” the company’s Christophe Lambert told Variety.
There is no dispute over the serious nature of paparazzi activity during Besson’s shoot. Crew members were almost involved in a car crash with a vehicle driven by a member of the local press, according to Focus Taiwan News Channel, while photographers at one point pounded on a car in which Johansson was resting in between scenes.
The American actor is said to have been “spooked” by actions of aggressive paparazzi. Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin has issued a statement berating the “dangerous action” of local photographers and calling for restraint.
The Taipei Film Commission also denied reports that Lucy was to quit Taiwan, but admitted Besson had been upset by paparazzi activities. “The shoot is going very well. Every set-up is on schedule,” a source at the commission told Variety. “It will complete its full 11 days here.”
Lucy is the sci-fi-tinged tale of a drug mule, played by Johansson, who develops superpowers after the drug she is carrying enters her body. Besson is expected to complete scenes at the Taipei 101 tower, the Longshan Temple and a local hospital.
