The title is misleading here because it really isn't a reunion, just a series of interviews with people in different places, all of them involved in the film "Leon: The Professional." Apparently, the interviews were done 10-12 years after the film was released as Natalie Portman mentions she's in her mid 20s. The content is still interesting if you are a big fan of this film.
Rather than listing all the people interviewed here in this 25-minute feature, I'll just discuss some of the comments that I remembered most.
Todd Thaler, the casting directors, recalls how a bunch of 15 and 16-year-old girls in the New York City area were interviewed for the role of "Mathida" but director Luc Besson was furious when he heard about it over in Paris. He wanted a young girl who was sexy but knew nothing of sex.......and the result was 11-year-old Portman Since Jean Reno and Gary Oldman were already "set," the hardest part was finding someone to play the little girl.
They filmed this in both Paris and New York City. In New York, filming was done at the Chelsea Hotel. For Reno, coming to New York for the first time, was a huge thrill. For Portman, the thrill was shooting and living in Paris with her mom. "It's a fun, magical city," she says now. Portman, by the way, is a very composed and well-spoken middle-20s woman.
Ellen Greene, who played Mathilda's mother, has an interesting story about her scene in which she is literally naked in the tub and Oldman bursts in and kills her with a shotgun blast. Along those lines, Michael Badalucco, who played Mathilda's father, has a really bizarre and funny story about the scene in which Oldman fires supposed-blanks into him after he had already killed him in the movie.
Many of the actors, along with costume designer, producer, the director's girlfriend Maiwen, editors and others are given short interviews in this "documentary." I was sorry to hear from Oldman and Besson.
