The Fifth Element drew its inspiration from other media.
Jean-Claude Mézières . Returning to France , Mézières teamed up with his childhood friend , Pierre Christin , to create Valérian and Laureline , the popular , long-running science fiction comics series for which he is best known and which has proved to be influential to many science fiction and fantasy films , including Star Wars . Mézières has also worked as a conceptual designer on several motion picture projects -- most notably the 1997 Luc Besson film , The Fifth Element -- as well as continuing to work as an illustrator for newspapers , magazines and in advertising . The Fifth Element . Comics writers Jean `` Moebius '' Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières , whose comics provided inspiration for parts of the film , were hired for production design .