Where to watch Léon: The Professional (1994)

Trivia & production notes

• Interior scenes were shot in France while exterior filming took place in New York City, with the climactic school sequence filmed at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
• The film's soundtrack was commercially successful in Japan and achieved gold certification in December 1999 after shipping 100,000 copies.
• Natalie Portman was discovered by Luc Besson during a casting call when he was originally seeking an older actress, but her talent impressed him enough to cast her in the role.
• The character Norman Stansfield, played by Gary Oldman, has been recognized as one of cinema's greatest villains.
• Léon draws inspiration from Luc Besson's earlier film La Femme Nikita, in which Jean Reno played a similar character named Victor, with Besson describing Léon as playing the more human American cousin.
• The film was inspired by the real-life relationship between director Luc Besson and actress Maïwenn, who was his 16-year-old wife during filming after they met when she was 15.
• The film spawned multiple international remakes, including Tamil-language Suriya Paarvai in 1999 and Hindi-language Bichhoo in 2000, with the 2026 action film King also reported to be inspired by it.
• Robert Mark Kamen received an uncredited screenplay rewrite on the film.
• The film grossed 26.8 million French francs in its opening week in France and held the number one position for three weeks.
• Alt-J's song "Matilda" references the film, with its opening line referring to Léon's final words before his grenades detonate.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Léon: The Professional, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.