Pierre Morel

A journeyman cinematographer with more than two decades’ experience behind the camera, Morel learned his way around a film set as a Steadicam operator for many of France’s highest-profile TV shows and movies. In 1999, French movie mogul Luc Bes- son hired him onto his historical epic “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc” and has kept Morel in work ever since; he has shot four other Besson-produced films, including the international hits “The Transporter” and “Unleashed.”

In 2004, however, Besson presented Morel with a game-changer: the chance to direct an urban espionage thriller he had written, “District B13.” “If you work for him for a long time, you get his trust,” Morel said from Paris, where he is directing another movie Bes- son co-wrote and is producing, “From Paris With Love,” starring John Travolta.

“District B13” went on to rank among Time magazine’s “10 Best Movies” in 2006. But moreover, it established Morel’s feature-directing bona fides. Besson offered him two other movies before Morel took on “Taken.” And despite its lack of marquee star power and decidedly non-Hollywood pedigree -- Liam Neeson plays an ex-CIA operative hell-bent on rescuing his daughter from Albanian slave traders in Paris -- the modestly budgeted kidnap caper struck a nerve with audiences around the globe. “‘You [mess] with my kid, I’m going to [mess] with you’ -- that’s universal,” Morel surmised of the movie’s appeal. “It’s a worldwide visceral feeling.”

Later this month, Morel will be honored as Cinema Expo’s international director of the year in Amsterdam. “It feels weird,” the director admitted. “I’m flattered to be honored. But I’m a shy guy. I chose a long time ago to hide behind the camera. Being in the spotlight feels funny.”

-- Chris Lee