Written and produced by Nikita and The Fifth Element director Luc Besson, the French action film District 13 (Banlieue 13) premiered in 2004 and became an instant global success, primarily due to the spring-loaded parkour stunt work of the film’s two leads, Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle. Now the fleet-footed heroes are back in the adrenalin-packed, heart-stopping sequel, District 13: Ultimatum.

The film picks up where the first installment left off. But not much in the Parisian slum District 13 has changed. It is still a crime-infested enclave of the French capital, pockmarked with bullet holes and adorned with anti-government graffiti. It is a place for cage fighting, gun trade and open air iron pumping. From here contraband and cocaine (packed in watermelons) are trafficked.

When planted drugs are found in his apartment, undercover police captain Damien Tomaso (Raffaelli), who was in line to receive the prestigious Order of Merit for his service to the police force, escapes custody and joins forces with Leïto (Belle) from D-13. Together they work to expose a complex plot led by the French secret service to destroy the banlieu and all of its inhabitants in order to free up the prime real estate for new development. Time is against them as they race to derail the plan before simmering tensions in the Soweto-like District 13 threaten to erupt into all-out civil violence.

Despite his lack of acting experience, David Belle was picked by Besson to star in District 13 (2004). At the time Belle had appeared in a few feature films in which he had applied his unique skills in parkour or l'art du déplacement, the art of negotiating physical objects by adapting one’s movement to any given environment. The term parkour had been coined by Belle and his friend Hubert Koundé, and has since been showcased in films such as Casino Royale and Live Free or Die Hard.

In a recent interview conducted over the phone from Paris, David Belle talked exclusively with CinemaSpy about his role in the District 13 films, the injury he incurred on the set of the latest movie, and working with Jake Gyllenhaal on the hotly anticipated Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

CinemaSpy: You were contacted by Luc Besson about co-starring as the lead in District 13 in 2003. Did Luc Besson write the character of Leïto specifically with you in mind?

David Belle: To be quite honest with you I did spend quite a lot of time with him afterwards and he did have the opportunity to get to know me personally. I think he did it by imagining how I was without really knowing me, and I did find aspects of the character that bore a striking resemblance to me, in spite of that.

CinemaSpy: So then what are the aspects of Leïto’s character that appeal to you and which of his personality traits do you recognize in yourself? How close to him are you?

David Belle: I think we have a similar attitude. In life in general I am a little crazy sometimes. I like to have a good time. But, generally, I would say that I am serious, attentive. I have my antennae out. I am more like that than someone who is all over the map. And I think those are the points that I have in common with the character of Leïto, who is someone who is determined, who is concentrating on what he is going to do. In the back of his head he always has an alarm that is about to go off. I cannot say that Luc Besson knew me well enough to see all of that but I have to say that I am very happy to see that in that regard the character was not too distant from my own personality.

CinemaSpy: Before you begin work on a film like District 13: Ultimatum, do you put yourself through a different physical training regimen than ordinarily? Is each scene very carefully choreographed or is there a lot of room for physical improvisation on set?

David Belle: Well, we do have space on the set to warm up, to prepare. We throw out some ideas but we do most of that when we are looking for locations. Once we find what we want, we have time to mess around then. But when we actually do the shoot we don’t have much room for improvisation. We don’t have a lot of time to try out a lot of things. We can rehearse it but we do the minimum rehearsals before we shoot it and I should say that when we do the final take, then we pay closer attention. But, for guys like me and Cyril, we don’t have to do a lot of advance preparation. That may not be the case a few years from now! But now we can say we are in form. We work out at the hotel and we do watch what we eat of course: less pizza, less hamburgers. For one month, we just have sushi and that helps us to make sure that we stay in shape.

CinemaSpy: Nowadays, some of your stunt sequences could be achieved through CGI effects. What are the keys to filming your sequences to allow audiences to know that they are watching a real action event?