Dungeons & Dragons

News from August/September 1999:

23 September, 1999
Following the Texas premiere of American Beauty, actress Thora Birch spoke briefly about the D&D movie. She says that the movie will appeal to a wide audience, does not feature a lot of scantily clad women and she rides a dragon in the movie. No scantily clad women? Every women appearing in any artwork for D&D games was always scantily clad. Now we find that it was all a lie. I'm bitterly disillusioned here.

2 September, 1999
The veil of secrecy around the movie has been cracked a bit. What follows is a summary of the movie's script. For the record it is not entirely accurate in portraying the events. A few things may be a bit confused but it gets the basic action correct. There are MAJOR SPOILERS in this summary. Because of that you will need to swipe your cursor over the text to read it. Don't read it if you don't want the plot of the movie spoiled for you. I've read it and found out a little more than I wanted to, so be careful.

Dungeons and Dragons, based on the popular role playing game, is a fantasy film about the forces of good and evil doing battle on an epic level. Our story begins with an introduction to the magician Profion (Jeremy Irons), a evil, maniacal and power-hungry villain, who is determined to conquer Sumdall (capitol city) and the kingdom of Izmer and usurp the throne from the Empress Savina (Thora Birch), who is new to the throne due to the unexpected passing of her father. In order to do so he must incite a civil war and coerce his fellow magus into siding against the Empress. Yet there is one big problem: The empress has in her possession the Monarch's Rod of Dragon Control, a scepter that can summon and control the world's red dragons (they fly and spew fire from their mouths). Only the Golden Rod of Dragon Control, a scepter that can control the world's gold dragons (who also fly and spew fire from their mouths. Not sure what makes them so special other than they fact they are gold. Maybe their fire is hotter?), can defeat the power of the Empress' rod.

The mage Vildan Vildir, teacher at the school of magic and a friend and uncle-figure to the empress, is the one man who possesses a map to the location of the golden rod, so the Empress sends her most trusted scout Norda (Kristen Wilson), an Elven woman of striking beauty, strength and dexterity to the school of magic retrieve it. Profion has the same idea and sends his most trusted aid Damodar (Bruce Payne), an evil and sadistic yet strikingly handsome man who is also commander of the crimson guard (something akin to the Gestapo) to retrieve the map from Vildan. It is during the scene in the school of magic where the interested parties try to obtain the map that we encounter the rest of our heroes.

They form a band of adventurers who quest to find the golden rod of dragon control. Marina (Zoe McLellan) is an apprentice to Vildan (Edward Jewesbury), a novice, attractive magician with just a little too much arrogance and attitude for her own good. She is the love interest for Ridley. Ridley (Justin Whalin) and Snails (Marlon Wayans) are two thieves who happen to have broken into the school of magic at the same time as the story unfolds. Ridley is the handsome, quick-witted, somewhat cocky hero of the story, and the rest of the film focuses on him as the protagonist. Snails is his sidekick, a lanky, funny-looking character who later dies at the hands of Damodar. In addition we meet Elwood (Lee Arenberg), a dwarven warrior whose vanity and self-consciousness about his baldness lead to more than one fight, and Dexter, a young, playful red dragon. This band of heroes is later joined by Norda and her Elven archers and together they embark on their quest.

The heroes' journey takes them out of Izmer and to the kingdom of Antius City to seek out Nilus (Richard O'Brien), the leader of the Guild of Thieves. Nilus has the eye of the dragon, a huge red gem that is needed to unlock the doors to the golden rod. In Antius City Ridley must brave the 'thieves maze' an intricate series of boobytraps and deadly obstacles to eventually obtain the eye of the dragon. Unfortunately Damodar steals the map in an encounter in Antius City so our heroes must then travel to an abandoned castle where they encounter his henchmen and a battle ensues, with the heroes emerging victorious but at the cost of Snails' life.

Eventually they make it to a giant Sequoia (Editors note: This sequence is probably a bit innacurate, so don't treat it as gospel.), which is the location of the golden rod. Again braving a series of obstacles and traps, Ridley obtains the golden rod, but Damodar lies in waiting, ambushes our heroes and steals the rod, leaping into a magical portal that whisks him back to Sumdall. Our heroes follow him.

Meanwhile, back in Sumdall a civil war has erupted between the empress and her loyal subjects and Profion and his opportunistic forces of darkness. The empress summons her army of red dragons and lays siege to Profion's stronghold at the school of magic. It looks as if Profion's forces will be defeated until Damodar shows up with the golden rod. Profion then summons an army of gold dragons and an epic aerial battle between dragons erupts in the skies above Sumdall. Eventually Ridley defeats Profion and the forces of good emerge victorious.

24 August, 1999
A handful of items about the movie today. I ran a report a couple weeks ago concerning comments made by Dave Arneson, co-creator of D&D, and Grant Boucher of Station X Studios. There are a few minor inaccuracies in the report that need to be addressed. Part of the report said: "A trailer will be available for the SHOWEST convention early next year. " That was only a logical guess. There is no commitment or intention to have a trailer ready for Showest. It will be out when it's ready whether it's in time for Showest or not. Another part of the report said: "There will be 20 different types of monsters, all from the role playing game." This figure is innaccurately high. There will only be a handful of creatures in the movie for budget reasons. The director Corey Solomon would much rather have a small number of flawless creatures than a lot of badly done monsters. However the earlier report of a scene involving a huge number of dragons in aerial battle is true. Other than those two items the report was accurate. It has also been pointed out that Arneson no longer owns any rights or holds any financial interest in D&D. He is also a well known critic of gaming when he doesn't like what's going on so he can be considered objective in his comments.

In related news, Station X has entered into an agreement to co-produce the movie. The studio will receive "double-digit equity" in return for "millions dollars worth of effects as an investment in the picture." They will also receive sequel rights along with the other production partners. Boucher has said that "this film is going to surprise a lot of people. I am already proud I had a small part in making it happen. I hope the Movie Gods continue to bless it."

10 August, 1999
Two reports about the movie from the recent Gencon. First up is 'Tanis.'

The recent GenCon had a lecture by Dave Arneson (co-creator of D&D). The lecture was on the history of role playing games, but some details from the movie emerged. The hope is for it to be released in August 2000 but could be moved back to October if post-production doesn't go smoothly. Shooting in the Czech Republic has just wrapped. We can now attach some character names to the actors. Justin Whalen plays a thief named Ridley. He is the main character in the movie. Marlan Waylans also plays a thief, named Snails. The two characters are friends and the actors apparently worked very well together. Lee Arenberg plays the dwarf fighter Elwood. Zoe McLellan plays a magic-user and is the love interest for Ridley. Krista Wilson plays a half-elf ranger by the name of Norda.

The movie will stay fairly close to the game in terms of how things work. It will have 1 to 2 dozen spells all based on spells in the game and around 20 monsters based on the game. There will be some minor differences but nothing major. It's going to be serious in tone with just a touch of humor. The rating will be PG-13. Numerous camera angles were used for battles to allow the director to cut it to suit the rating. Finally if successful, there are details that will allow for sequels.

Next up is the 'Dungeon Master' with a more detailed report. This report also appeared at AICN and Coming Attractions.

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.

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