Luc Besson - France's Answer to George Lucas?

Forbes Magazine wrote a profile on French director Luc Besson.

He runs EuropaCorp, which Forbes calls the "most American of all French Movie Studios."

Besson produced 5 of the top 15 French films (as measured by world box office receipts) - including "Transporter", "Transporter 2", "The Professional", and "La Femme Nikita".

His English-language movie "The Fifth Element" (starring Bruce Willis) is the highest-grossing French movie in history.

Instead of trying for high-brow cinema, his goal is to produce blockbuster action movies. His studio is run every bit like a business - focusing on containing costs and pre-selling distribution rights to lock in profits.

His studio's philosophy is to never go over budget. "If you go over budget by $5 million, you've got to find another $70 million in revenue to restore $5 million in profit."