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.