The Poster Memorabilia blog

In My Element with The Biggest Celebrities

A decade-long chase across LA premieres and New York galas for the most stacked cult cast of the 90s.

By an anonymous Hollywood insider

Do people realize how jam-packed the cast of The Fifth Element is? The leads alone include Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, and Chris Tucker. These are undeniable icons, famous for many more movies than just this one, and it is already a cult classic. It's one of the best movies from the late 1990s.

I have to admit, even I didn't realize it before I started autograph-hounding. I've always loved The Fifth Element, and I figured that I could easily get the cast to sign my movie poster. Especially since I live in LA and I usually go to New York at least twice a year.

Since most celebrities make public appearances in these two big cities, I figured this movie would be easy. I couldn't have been more wrong!

It actually took me almost a decade to get the main cast's autographs, and mind you, they were still active when I did it. I can't even imagine how autograph hounds do it now, when most of these stars are either retired or making fewer public appearances nowadays.

“But the chase is half the fun, right?”

But the chase is half the fun, right? I really got into my element (get it?) when I started getting their autographs. Surprisingly, I got to director Luc Besson first. I bumped into him one day in Beverly Hills sometime in 2012, where I believe he lives in the US, and asked him to sign my poster. He was pretty nice about it, considering I disturbed his day.

I then met Bruce Willis, the first of the big stars. It was at the Red 2 premiere in Los Angeles in 2013, and he looked big and bright in his white suit. I'm feeling kinda sad writing this because I remember how full of energy he was back then. Not to mention how nice he was when he signed my poster. I really do wish him and his family all the best now that he's stepped away from acting.

A year later, I met Gary Oldman at the RoboCop premiere, also in Los Angeles. He was already very big by then, what with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy just ending in 2012. There he was, looking better than ever in his navy suit. Though that movie flopped, he was still all smiles that night. I even got to shake his hand after he signed my poster.

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It took a while before I met Chris Tucker next. I eventually got to see him in person at the Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets premiere, also in LA, in 2017. This was the guy who proved to me that black really didn't crack.

When I say that he still looked the same from The Fifth Element and the Rush Hour movies, I'm not kidding. He was a bit bulkier, but he still looked like the same Chris Tucker I watched on the big screen in the late 90s and early 2000s. It was crazy!

Finally, I saw and got an autograph from the very beautiful Milla Jovovich at the amfAR New York Gala in February 2019. This was another cast member who still looked the same decades later. I always thought she was one of the prettiest actresses from that time, but seeing her in person literally stunned me. I couldn't speak for about a minute as I watched her pose for the cameras on the red carpet.

Did you notice how I met the main cast at either big red carpet premieres or a high-profile gala? It all goes to show that they're bona fide movie stars, even more than a decade after The Fifth Element was released. Now, do you believe me when I say that this movie had a stellar cast?

Some things you watch. This one you keep.

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