Sand Van-Roy: Last News

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe rape claim against French director Luc Besson has been dismissed by a Paris judge following a lengthy judicial investigation.A source close to the public prosecutor’s office in Paris confirmed to Variety that the case, which stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Belgian-Dutch actress Sand Van Roy accusing Besson of rape in 2019, has been dismissed. The judicial investigation included hearings and expert opinions of the civil party as well as interrogation of Luc Besson.

Luc Besson, the award-winning writer, director and producer who founded Paris-based studio EuropaCorp in 1999, is returning as interim CEO after the company’s chief executive Axel Duroux resigned.

Luc Besson’s latest film, “Dogman,” made its world premiere at Venice Film Festival, where it earned an enthusiastic 6-minute standing ovation. That tied the 6-minute ovation Venice audiences gave Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” earlier in the evening on the second night of the prestigious festival.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Luc Besson, the formerly A-list director who rose to the top of the box office with his kinetic action films, had his career derailed by rape accusations leveled against him in 2018 by Sand Van Roy, an actress on his film “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.” The ensuing legal battle consumed five years of Besson’s life, but after being cleared last June of all charges by the Cour de Cassation, the French equivalent to the Supreme Court, he’s re-emerging at this year’s Venice Film Festival with the indie drama “Dogman.” But will the industry work with Besson? That’s one of the questions that we discuss during a lengthy interview at the Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris on the eve of his big premiere. Besson is evasive about the matter, preferring to talk up his latest effort, the story of a bruised man who faces rejection and finds solace in dogs, as well as dissatisfaction with a movie business that’s become more obsessed with superheroes than style.

France’s highest appeals court dismissed accusations of rape by Belgian-Dutch actress Sand Van Roy against French director and producer Luc Besson on Wednesday.

Johnny Depp’s new film.A social media campaign was launched earlier this week which accused the festival of “supporting predators” – it comes under the hashtag #CannesYouNot. The online opposition arose after the prestigious film festival was confirmed to be opening with Johnny Depp’s new film, Jeanne du Barry, this year.The 2023 instalment — the 76th edition of the festival — kicked off yesterday (May 16), although was on the receiving end of backlash due to its inclusion of the Pirates Of The Caribbean actor.

Natalie Portman has reflected on her debut role in Léon: The Professional, referring to the film as “cringey”.In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress spoke about the 1994 Luc Bensson-directed film where she starred as Mathilda Lando, a lonely 12-year-old who befriends Léon, her neighbour and Italian hitman.“It’s a movie that’s still beloved, and people come up to me about it more than almost anything I’ve ever made,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “It gave me my career, but it is definitely when you watch it now, it definitely has some cringey, to say the least, aspects to it. So, yes, it’s complicated for me.”The film was Portman’s acting debut, and she was cast when she was 11 years old.

Maïwenn, the director of Johnny Depp’s latest film, “Jeanne du Barry”, is being sued by Edwy Plenel, the editor-in-chief of Mediapart magazine, for allegedly assaulting him at a restaurant.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French actor-director Maiwenn, whose latest film “Jeanne du Barry” starring Johnny Depp is set to open the Cannes Film Festival, is being sued by Edwy Plenel, the editor-in-chief of Mediapart magazine for allegedly attacking him at a restaurant. A police complaint was filed on March 7 by Plenel, accusing Maiween of aggression. Variety confirmed the filing with the Paris prosecutor’s office following local news reports. In the complaint, Plenel alleges that he was assaulted by Maiwenn in late February while eating at a restaurant in the posh seventh arrondissement of Paris. Maiwenn, who was sitting by herself at a nearby table, allegedly came to his table and grabbed him by the hair before spitting in his face without saying a word, then stormed out of the venue, leaving Plenel “traumatized by the incident,” according to the news outlet AFP, which quoted the police complaint.

The judge responsible for overseeing a rape complaint brought against filmmaker Luc Besson today dismissed the case following a lengthy investigation. This follows a request made by the Paris public prosecutor’s office in October that the case brought by actress Sand Van Roy be tossed out.

UPDATE, 11:28 AM: Luc Besson looks to be one step closer to seeing the rape claims against him dismissed.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentLuc Besson, the French filmmaker behind “Lucy” and “Valerian,” who is accused of rape by Dutch-Belgian actor Sand Van Roy, was made an assisted witness by a French judge on Monday.The judge assigned the new status following a private, five-hour hearing with Besson as part of an ongoing judicial review into the French filmmaker stemming from a civil complaint for rape filed in Paris by Van Roy in March 2019.The assisted witness status doesn’t mean Besson has been cleared of charges and that the case has been dismissed by the judge.

A French judge on Monday ruled to dismiss further charges against Luc Besson in connection to the ongoing rape case brought against the director by actress Sand Van Roy. Examining magistrate Marie-Claire Noiriel spent close to five hours in a closed hearing questioning Besson before deciding not to allow further charges in the case.