Okay, for starters, Ray Winstone (going by his picture, as I’ve never heard of him) is too old to play Beowulf. Beowulf was 20 when he fought Grendel. And why is there a credit for Young Cain? Cain didn’t appear in Beowulf, he was just mentioned as being Grendel’s ancestor. And who is this Queen of Darkness that Angelina Jolie is providing the voice for?
Perhaps I’m overreacting. But I love the story of Beowulf, and I’m so used to Hollywood covering everything it touches with a thick festering layer of suck, that I’m not hopeful.
Oddly enough, I was thinking about starting a thread asking for opinions on how they might handle a Beowulf movie (and make it not suck), since the story is basically in two distinct parts; Beowulf vs. Grendel and Mom, and Beowulf vs. the Dragon, with an interval of several years. If they focus on the characters, and the theme of what makes a hero and a leader, and don’t turn it into a CGI crapfest with a couple of gratuitous sex scenes thrown in, it could have potential, I think.
First of all, lets not disparage the gratuitous sex scenes.
Secondly, Crispin fucking Glover as Grendel…dear god.
I too loved Beowulf when I first read it in school. At this point I remember surprisingly little of the actual story though. Still, I can’t wrap my brain around the casting descisions and the aparently added roles. I’m with you in being very concerned.
I didn’t see it, but this premiered in Toronto this summer (and here’s the IMDB entry). I have no idea how it went, but I am much more fascinated by that than by a film with Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie.
One more thing that worries me. Being that the story is a peom in olde English, it’s not the most accessible piece of literature and as a result isn’t all that widely known. It could give the screenwriters the impression that they can take liberties with the story. I fear that’s what will happen. Ideally I’d love to see them be faithful to it so that people are able to learn the story without fighting through reading it outside of a class.
It’s an animated movie, so the actor’s ages doesn’t matter.
Gaiman’s talked a lot about it in his blog.
A relevant entry is here. (You have to scroll down a bit.)
That was semi-randomly chosen (Gaiman’s archives aren’t easy to search, that was the first Beowulf-related entry I found), so it’s appropriateness to this thread was a coincidence.
Interesting. Based on the comments at IMDb it look to be a motion capture film similar to Polar Express. Though the technology is much improved. Could be interesting so long as they don’t butcher the story.
Where did you see that it was animated? My link has it listed as “Adventure/Drama/Fantasy” genre; usually IMDB puts “Animation” first if it’s a cartoon. Gaiman’s blog mentions the use of performance capture technology, so apparently there’s some CGI characters involved (The Hulk, anyone? Bleh.), but surely they wouldn’t be so depraved as to do the entire thing in CGI?
Thats the implication from the IMDb message boards. Totally motion capture using some ground breaking new technology. The goobers there are saying it’s rumored to be unlike anything you’ve seen before. Of course, it’s IMDb bulletin boards, so take it with a grain of salt.
Ah, I see. Why am I sensing this is going to be a CGI crapfest that’s so in love with its special effects that story, acting, and characterization will fall by the wayside?
sigh It’s such a great story. Maybe they’ll surprise me. I am curious to see how they resolve what are, essentially, two different stories within the epic.
Ray Winstone played Will Scarlet in the Robin of Sherwood TV series. He was cool, because he was basically an East End yobbo in Doc Martens, but transferred to Sherwood Forest.
