$195m sci-fi Valerian faces tax issues in France

Valerian, an upcoming big-budget French sci-fi movie, may have to be filmed outside of France because it will star American and British actors, its director, Luc Besson, said earlier this week.

The filmmaker, perhaps best known globally for his high-octane - and English-language - Transporter and Taken movie franchises and The Fifth Element, explained to French radio that Valerian would likely not qualify for French tax credits because it would be filmed in English, not French.

Those credits are vital for the film, which will star Clive Owen, Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan and whose budget of around $195 million - unprecedented for France - rivals those of big Hollywood productions.