Leon is an assassin in a film of the same name. You may not've heard of it, because in a certain country it got renamed The Professional.

Understand, Leon is not a common hitman. He practices his work like a martial art, and leads a humble life. The only posession that he seems to carry with him, beyond the tools of his trade, is a small houseplant.

The film is about his relationship with a girl he looks after, when her family is killed in a Drug Related Incident.

Released in North America as "The Professional", the international version was simply known as "Leon" and was approximately 20 minutes longer. It included footage of a few scenes, including the following:

According to director Luc Besson, he didn't mind at all making the cuts to the film for a North American audience because he understood the environment here probably wouldn't be as open to these themes as people would elsewhere. Plus, he had a great relationship with the producers so he had no arguments with them on this particular case.

Oops...I should also point out that this is Natalie Portman's on-screen debut.

Le"on (?), n.

A lion.

[Obs.]

Chaucer.

 

© Webster 1913.

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