Well Gaming Geeks the old Dungeon Master has filed this story with FATHER GEEK here at AICN Headquarters that should be of interest to you. I read an early version of this script about a year ago and it showed me some fun possibilities, but you know how badly scripts can be twisted during the development process out there in Hollywoodland, so I just filed it away in my head as something to keep my eye on during the process of reaching the screen. This report sounds promising, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see...The test screenings will be the real eye-openers...
I attended the History of Roleplaying Games seminar at Gencon this past weekend. It provided alot of new information about the movie.
Grant Boucher, who was with Station X studios, and worked on Titanic as well as many other special effects movies gave the information about the movie. He also is an avid gamer and has written some of the supplements for the Star Wars Role Playing game. He is not officially part of the production of the movie but has been helping out, because he believes in the project and hopes it will help to bring about more fantasy movie projects. His free help is saving them a ton of money.
Dave Arneson, the Co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons game gave the lecture on the history of role playing. He also just recently visited the set of the movie. His impression was that the movie was going to be great.
The movie is hoped to be released next August, to go along with the release of the 3rd edition of the Dungeons and Dragons Game. The movie may end up not coming out until halloween, however, depending on post production time. They are due to finish shooting sometime this week and A trailer will be available for the SHOWEST convention early next year.
They confirmed that Tom Baker does have a cameo role in the film. As does Dave Arneson, the co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons game. The actor who played the butler from the Rocky Horror Picture show has a small part. They also mentioned that there would be other cameos that they couldn't mention yet.
A movie website is supposed to be online sometime in september. They hope to update it with character bios, trailers, and other goodies throughout the next year.
The budget is said to be between 30-35 million dollars, the exact figure is not known at the moment, pending post production costs.
Bruce Payne plays Damodar, the bald headed fighting bad guy who works with Profion. Justin Whalen plays Ridley, the thief hero of the story. Marlon Wayans plays Snails, another thief and Ridley's pal. He is the comic relief in the movie. They said that Whalen and Wayans have tremedous on screen chemistry. It was compared to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. Zoe McClellon plays the mage of the group and is the love interest of Ridley. Jeremy Irons plays Profion, the bad guy wizard in the film. Lee Arenberg plays Elwood, a tough dwarf fighter. Thora Birch plays the 17 year old Empress. They said that she had some great scenes with Jeremy Irons. Kristen Wilson plays Norda, a half-elf ranger, who was described as the best tracker/ranger in the land.
There will be between 12-20 spells in the movie, and they will be based on spells from the game.
There will be 20 different types of monsters, all from the role playing game. Some will be costumed actors, while others will be digitally created.
An effort has been made to remain true to the source material. The characters are of classes that fans of the game will recognize. Minor changes will be noted by gaming experts, such as in this world, Red dragons are more powerful than Gold dragons.
The film is being made with the hopes of sequels to come. There will be small clues and info given in this movie that might become more important should sequels occur.
The movie will be PG-13. Different camera angles are being shot in the battle scenes to enable the director (who is an avid D&D player), to use the most violent combat possible for a PG-13 rating. The tone of the movie was described as serious, but with touches of humor in appropriate places. The tone of the original star wars was used for comparison.
They are already in the process of planning for role playing supplements based on the movie, as well as other things such as computer games, etc. They said that the film will look as good as a film with twice the budget. This is because they hired the best people in the industry for just a few of the key positions. That way the quality would remain high, while the budget wouldn't.
They said that the scenery in the film is very beautiful. Some of the Castles, Monasteries, Churches, and other locations in the film have never been seen on film before.
They also talked about how the director, Corey Solomon, has been trying to make this movie for 9 years. He has built his career around it, and is working very hard on it. He has had the chance to sell off the rights to low budget film studios who put out cheap films, but he has refused the money, wanting to make sure it gets done right.
The presentation left me feeling very positive about the movie. There seems to be an absolute dedication to make sure that the movie is done correctly.
The Dungeon Master
