The idea for "Leon" came to Besson after finishing work on the film "Nikita". The director felt that one of the film's characters, Victor, was clearly "worthy" of a full meter. In one of the interviews, Besson even hinted at a family connection between Leon and Victor. He said, "Perhaps Jean played Victor's American cousin. But Leon is still more human.”

The film has a small role in Sami Naseri. Besson liked the actor so much in 10 days of filming that the director wrote the script for the film Taxi, no less famous than Leon, especially for him. Naceri played the taxi driver Daniel in it.

During filming, a funny incident happened. The real criminal robbed a store just next to the house, which, according to the plot, was about to be stormed by the police. Seeing the number of law enforcement officers, he decided not to tempt fate and surrendered. But I did not know that these police officers were disguised extras in the film.

In an interview, Portman said that she did not want to show this film to her children or see its remake, because the script raises topics that are absolutely unacceptable for our time.

The scenario for the continuation of "Leon" has long existed. The film was supposed to tell about the matured Matilda, but for a number of reasons it was never put into production, and its script was partially used for an independent picture called "Colombiana" with Zoe Saldana.

The script for Leon was written during a forced break from work on The Fifth Element. Filming began more so that the team would not lose their creative fervor, and the film was considered a passing one. But now there is almost no list of "Best Films" in which this picture would not be mentioned.

What is your favorite moment in Leon?

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Actors from León (The Professional) then and now.

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