Luc Besson forced producers to get Rihanna in 'Valerian'

London: Filmmaker Luc Besson said he had to persuade his producers to get Rihanna in his latest film "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets".

The director knew from the start that he wanted to cast the "Unfaithful" hitmaker in the pivotal role as Bubble in his new sci-fi film, reported NME magazine. "Bubble is the ultimate artists - that's the part.

And for me, Rihanna is the ultimate - she's the queen. I thought about her from the beginning. And when we started the cast, I said, 'For Bubble, I'd love to contact Rihanna.' But the producers on the new movie were unsure if Rihanna would even be interested.

"The first question we asked to the manager is if she's interested in shooting in the film. If she's not interested, then don't even give her the script. But the guy came back and said, 'Definitely, yes.'"