# They're filming Beowulf...I have a baaad feeling about this **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2005, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039 "2005-11-28T08:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/1 "2005-11-28T08:32:03Z")
[Here.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0442933/) 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. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/2 "2005-11-28T08:43:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/3 "2005-11-28T08:48:55Z")
I didn’t see it, but [this](http://www.beowulfandgrendel.com/) premiered in Toronto this summer (and here’s the [IMDB entry](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402057/)). 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. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/4 "2005-11-28T08:59:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/5 "2005-11-28T09:16:05Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > Okay, for starters, Ray Winstone (going by his picture, as I’ve never heard of him) is too old to play Beowulf. 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](http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2005_08_21_archive.asp). (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. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/6 "2005-11-28T09:28:17Z")
Well, slap Robert Zemeckis’s name on a movie if you want me to stay away in a drove. But Crispin Glover piques my interest. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/7 "2005-11-28T09:29:12Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/8 "2005-11-28T09:37:57Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > 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](http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2005_08_21_archive.asp). (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. 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? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/9 "2005-11-28T09:45:13Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/10 "2005-11-28T10:00:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/11 "2005-11-28T10:28:17Z")
What, [13th Warrior](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120657/) wasn’t good enough, the first time? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/12 "2005-11-28T10:39:23Z")
I have a lot of faith in Neil Gaiman, is all I wanted to say. Well, that and that \*\*[The 13th Warrior](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120657/) \*\* was a really nice beowulf revisioning. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/13 "2005-11-28T10:41:40Z")
…now excuse me while I hack off **Ranchoth’s** arm and track it back to its lair… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/14 "2005-11-28T11:04:20Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2005, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-filming-beowulf-i-have-a-baaad-feeling-about-this/333039/15 "2005-11-28T11:06:18Z")
> [@Marlitharn](#): > > Where did you see that it was animated? I’ve been subscribed to Gaiman’s blog for a long time, so I’ve read quite a bit on the project. From the blog entry I linked: > [@](#): > > It’s also probably worth reminding people that the point of using the performance capture technology is that the characters don’t have to look like the actors playing them. So Grendel will not actually look like Crispin Glover, nor Unferth like John Malkovitch, and so forth… In other words, it’s animated. > [@](#): > > 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? I’d guess because you’re entirely unfamiliar with the people involved, or else your bias is showing.