French director Luc Besson is being investigated by police in Paris after having been accused of rape by an actress.

According to Europe 1 radio, which was the first outlet to report the story, 59 year old filmmaker Besson allegedly drugged the unnamed female star before sexually assaulting her. Reports suggest she “drunk a cup of tea, then felt unwell and lost consciousness”, and when she came round she remembered being sexually assaulted.

The incident is reported to have taken place at the Bristol hotel in Paris, and the complainant is said to have been in a relationship with Besson for around two years, and allegedly felt compelled to be intimate with him for professional reasons.

Luc BessonLuc Besson has been accused of rape by an unnamed actress

Besson's lawyer, Thierry Marembert, told the AFP news agency in France that the director categorically denied the claims, describing them as “fantasist accusations” and that the complainant was someone “towards whom he has never behaved inappropriately”.

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He is currently said to be out of the country and has not yet been questioned, although French authorities have opened an investigation.

Besson is most famous for directing the 1988 film Le Grand Bleu, as well as Leon, The Fifth Element and action thriller Nikita. He recently directed the sci-fi epic Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which was released last year and starred Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne.

He has been married four times, including to American actress Milla Jovovich, and is currently wedded to film producer Virginie Silla, with whom he has three children.

The allegations came as the 2018 Cannes Film Festival drew to a close over the weekend, with sexual misconduct within the film industry being one of the dominant topics of discussion.

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