While 1999’s The Blair Witch Project was a phenomenon upon release, who knew we would still be talking about it 25 years later? More directly, who knew we would be focusing so much on all of the “disrespect” that the studio has for the original cast? At least, that’s the claim that star Joshua Leonard makes, launching a campaign to bring attention to Lionsgate, who acquired Artisan two decades ago and he believes is unfairly profiting from the screams, sweat and tears of the original cast. Now, he is being joined by The Blair Witch Project co-stars Heather Donahue and Michael Williams in their efforts to receive residuals and to be consulted on any future endeavors.
In a joint statement (via Deadline), Leonard, Donahue and Williams are asking that Lionsgate fork over past and future The Blair Witch Project residuals “for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.”
Another request from The Blair Witch Project trio is that they be consulted on any endeavors related to the movie, which could include everything from another reboot to escape rooms; really, this is anything “in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”
And there’s one final request, this one less to do with themselves and more about supporting upcoming filmmakers. This grant, to be named after The Blair Witch Project is designed to be given to “to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making their first feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence @lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.” The cast also has active support from landmark horror movie’s directors Dan Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, in addition to producers Robin Cowie, Gregg Hole and Michael Monello.
We anticipate seeing just how Lionsgate reacts to these words and will update our readers accordingly. In the meantime, production on the reimagining of The Blair Witch Project – coming from Lionsgate and Blumhouse – is evidently pressing on.
What do you make of the requests from The Blair Witch Project stars? Are they reasonable? Do you think Lionsgate will give in? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
While 1999’s The Blair Witch Project was a phenomenon upon release, who knew we would still be talking about it 25 years later? More directly, who knew we would be focusing so much on all of the “disrespect” that the studio has for the original cast? At least, that’s the claim that star Joshua Leonard makes, launching a campaign to bring attention to Lionsgate, who acquired Artisan two decades ago and he believes is unfairly profiting from the screams, sweat and tears of the original cast. Now, he is being joined by The Blair Witch Project co-stars Heather Donahue and Michael Williams in their efforts to receive residuals and to be consulted on any future endeavors.
In a joint statement (via Deadline), Leonard, Donahue and Williams are asking that Lionsgate fork over past and future The Blair Witch Project residuals “for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.”
Another request from The Blair Witch Project trio is that they be consulted on any endeavors related to the movie, which could include everything from another reboot to escape rooms; really, this is anything “in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”
And there’s one final request, this one less to do with themselves and more about supporting upcoming filmmakers. This grant, to be named after The Blair Witch Project is designed to be given to “to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making their first feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence @lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.” The cast also has active support from landmark horror movie’s directors Dan Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, in addition to producers Robin Cowie, Gregg Hole and Michael Monello.
We anticipate seeing just how Lionsgate reacts to these words and will update our readers accordingly. In the meantime, production on the reimagining of The Blair Witch Project – coming from Lionsgate and Blumhouse – is evidently pressing on.
What do you make of the requests from The Blair Witch Project stars? Are they reasonable? Do you think Lionsgate will give in? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
The battle of the box office has been won by A24 and Alex Garland’s Civil War, which defied expectations (ours included) to take first place at the box office. Comscore is estimating an $11.1 million weekend for the controversial film, which posted a modest 56% decline at the box office, which is way better than anyone was expecting. Indeed, the film has a $44 million running total at the North American box office, which is great for a movie like this, especially considering how divisive it’s been.
However, Civil War’s good fortune means this week’s big new horror release, Abigail, seriously underperformed. Radio Silence’s well-reviewed vampire flick made a disappointing $10.2 million, which is a shame as it’s a nifty little movie. Potentially, word-of-mouth could give it a boost, but let’s face it – that doesn’t happen with horror movies. They’re always front-loaded, so the chances of Abigail really doing well next weekend are limited. Just look at what happened to The First Omen. It opened soft (despite good reviews), and this weekend, it sunk like a stone to 10th place, ending any chance of a franchise.
Meanwhile, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire continued to do well, making just under $10 million this weekend for a $171 million total, well on its way to a strong finish north of $200 million. But, the news wasn’t as rosy for Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which opened to a low $9 million. The movie would have no doubt opened better were it not designated as a Prime Video Original in every other territory, including Canada.
CrunchyRoll’s anime release Spy x Family Code: White made $4.87, which is pretty great considering how niche of a title it is. Kung Fu Panda 4 continued to pull in family audiences (despite already being available digitally) with a $4.6 million weekend. While it will no doubt finish south of $200 million, it’ll still be the second highest-grossing film in the franchise, which is great for a fourth entry.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire made $4.4 million with $102 million total. That’s an OK number but it remains to be seen whether or not that’s enough to sustain a franchise. Dune Part Two hit digital last week, but still managed to make $2.9 million, for a $276 million total. That’s great, but I question the wisdom of such an early digital release, as the movie could have probably made its way to $300 million had it not been released at home so early. Finally, Dev Patel’s Monkey Man made $2.2 million for a total north of $21 million, while The First Omen is cratering at 10th place with an underwhelming $17 million total.
Next weekend sees the release of Challengers, which stars Zendaya and is getting incredible buzz. Will it topple Civil War? We’ll have to wait and see.
The battle of the box office has been won by A24 and Alex Garland’s Civil War, which defied expectations (ours included) to take first place at the box office. Comscore is estimating an $11.1 million weekend for the controversial film, which posted a modest 56% decline at the box office, which is way better than anyone was expecting. Indeed, the film has a $44 million running total at the North American box office, which is great for a movie like this, especially considering how divisive it’s been.
However, Civil War’s good fortune means this week’s big new horror release, Abigail, seriously underperformed. Radio Silence’s well-reviewed vampire flick made a disappointing $10.2 million, which is a shame as it’s a nifty little movie. Potentially, word-of-mouth could give it a boost, but let’s face it – that doesn’t happen with horror movies. They’re always front-loaded, so the chances of Abigail really doing well next weekend are limited. Just look at what happened to The First Omen. It opened soft (despite good reviews), and this weekend, it sunk like a stone to 10th place, ending any chance of a franchise.
Meanwhile, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire continued to do well, making just under $10 million this weekend for a $171 million total, well on its way to a strong finish north of $200 million. But, the news wasn’t as rosy for Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which opened to a low $9 million. The movie would have no doubt opened better were it not designated as a Prime Video Original in every other territory, including Canada.
CrunchyRoll’s anime release Spy x Family Code: White made $4.87, which is pretty great considering how niche of a title it is. Kung Fu Panda 4 continued to pull in family audiences (despite already being available digitally) with a $4.6 million weekend. While it will no doubt finish south of $200 million, it’ll still be the second highest-grossing film in the franchise, which is great for a fourth entry. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire made $4.4 million with $102 million total. That’s an OK number but it remains to be seen whether or not that’s enough to sustain a franchise. Dune Part Two hit digital last week, but still managed to make $2.9 million, for a $276 million total. That’s great, but I question the wisdom of such an early digital release, as the movie could have probably made its way to $300 million had it not been released at home so early. Finally, Dev Patel’s Monkey Man made $2.2 million for a total north of $21 million, while The First Omen is cratering at 10th place with an underwhelming $17 million total.
Next weekend sees the release of Challengers, which stars Zendaya and is getting incredible buzz. Will it topple Civil War? We’ll have to wait and see.
As Johnny Depp awaits his return to cinema on home turf, many of us are wondering just what his Hollywood career will look like. After all, Jeanne du Barry — a period piece in which he plays Louis XV — isn’t exactly going to be a mainstream hit in North America. Will he work for Disney again in another Pirates of the Caribbean movie or has that opportunity walked the plank? Judging by recent comments, he may be after more original material in this new phase of his career, which may also allow him to avoid the studio system.
In a new interview with Metro, Johnny Depp noted that, no matter how much money franchise films may make, he suspects moviegoers still ultimately crave something original. “By and large, for the majority of the years I’ve been wandering around aimlessly talking to people, they really want the same thing…They don’t want to be fed dreck. They’re happy when they experience something new or different. So that’s why I’ve always felt, as an actor, it’s your responsibility. When you come out of the gate each time… you’re putting as much at stake as anybody.”
Considering Johnny Depp has been on a hiatus — having not appeared in a film since 2020 and having been wrapped up in a 2022 trial with ex Amber Heard — he has a lot at stake himself. That will be seen first with Jeanne du Barry, which hits domestic theaters next month.
Through this, the star can also show what he has outside of mainstream cinema, perhaps also pointing at his days as a blockbuster star being over. On studio heads and the industry as a whole, he said, “They’re disposable and they realise it. Glorified accountants who have the ability to press the green light and make studio films… but they press the green light, they spent s***loads of money. Budgets are ridiculous on these films… some romantic comedy with two very popular people. People – the real people – they’re sick of it.” Of note, the average budget for a Pirates of the Caribbean movie was $255 million, with On Stranger Tides hitting a once-record-breaking $379 million!
Whether or not we see Johnny Depp lead another blockbuster remains to be seen, but if he sticks by his word, it looks like he may be putting most of his effort into participating in original stories with sensible budgets, something we haven’t really seen him dive into since the 1990s…And we are here for it!
What do you want to see Johnny Depp do next? Do you want blockbusters, more original works or a combination? Let us know below!
As Johnny Depp awaits his return to cinema on home turf, many of us are wondering just what his Hollywood career will look like. After all, Jeanne du Barry — a period piece in which he plays Louis XV — isn’t exactly going to be a mainstream hit in North America. Will he work for Disney again in another Pirates of the Caribbean movie or has that opportunity walked the plank? Judging by recent comments, he may be after more original material in this new phase of his career, which may also allow him to avoid the studio system.
In a new interview with Metro, Johnny Depp noted that, no matter how much money franchise films may make, he suspects moviegoers still ultimately crave something original. “By and large, for the majority of the years I’ve been wandering around aimlessly talking to people, they really want the same thing…They don’t want to be fed dreck. They’re happy when they experience something new or different. So that’s why I’ve always felt, as an actor, it’s your responsibility. When you come out of the gate each time… you’re putting as much at stake as anybody.”
Considering Johnny Depp has been on a hiatus — having not appeared in a film since 2020 and having been wrapped up in a 2022 trial with ex Amber Heard — he has a lot at stake himself. That will be seen first with Jeanne du Barry, which hits domestic theaters next month.
Through this, the star can also show what he has outside of mainstream cinema, perhaps also pointing at his days as a blockbuster star being over. On studio heads and the industry as a whole, he said, “They’re disposable and they realise it. Glorified accountants who have the ability to press the green light and make studio films… but they press the green light, they spent s***loads of money. Budgets are ridiculous on these films… some romantic comedy with two very popular people. People – the real people – they’re sick of it.” Of note, the average budget for a Pirates of the Caribbean movie was $255 million, with On Stranger Tides hitting a once-record-breaking $379 million!
Whether or not we see Johnny Depp lead another blockbuster remains to be seen, but if he sticks by his word, it looks like he may be putting most of his effort into participating in original stories with sensible budgets, something we haven’t really seen him dive into since the 1990s…And we are here for it!
What do you want to see Johnny Depp do next? Do you want blockbusters, more original works or a combination? Let us know below!
INTRO: Director Matthew Vaughn is known for making gangster movies and comic book adaptations. Producing Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and making his directorial debut with Layer Cake paved the way for bigger projects: Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, the Kingsman franchise, Argylle. But in between the gangsters and the over-the-top heroics, he decided to make a fairy tale. Based on the writing of popular author Neil Gaiman, the film tells of witches, unicorns, flying ships, lightning catchers, and a falling star… that’s actually a person. Released in 2007, the movie we’re talking about is called Stardust. And it’s time for it to be Revisited.
SET-UP: The story of Stardust goes back to the early 1990s. While out driving one day, Neil Gaiman saw a wall running along one side of the road and was struck by the idea that a magical land called Faerie might exist on the other side of that wall. So he started plotting a book that he intended to call Wall. Which would have been about a writer from America moving to England. Where he discovers this wall that separates the world we see around us from the land of Faerie. This idea was set aside when Gaiman saw a shooting star cross the sky one night. In that moment, he was inspired to write a whole different story about Faerie and the wall.
With illustrator Charles Vess, Gaiman crafted a text-heavy four-issue comic book mini-series called Stardust. The story begins in 1839, in the English town of Wall. Every nine years, on May Day, the magical beings that inhabit Faerie hold a market event in the meadow outside the town. The rest of the time, the gap in the wall between the two lands is under twenty-four hour guard. When a Wall resident named Dunstan Thorn crosses over into Faerie, he ends up being enchanted by a young woman named Una. She is kept as a slave by a witch-woman called Ditchwater Sal, who makes Una spend most of her time as a bird. But she’s in her proper form when she meets Dunstan. They have sex and Dunstan returns to Wall… where, nine months later, a baby is delivered to his door. Turns out he and Una have had a son. Dunstan raises this son, named Tristran. Eighteen years later, Tristran has become infatuated with fellow Wall resident Victoria Forester. He gets her to go out with him one night, but she won’t give him a kiss. When they see a falling star, Victoria tells Tristran she’ll give him anything he desires if he retrieves the fallen star for her. So Tristran sets out to find the star, crossing over into the land of Faerie. And going on a much bigger adventure than he anticipated.
Turns out, the star that has fallen to the ground is a person. Or at least she has a humanoid appearance. Her name is Yvaine, and she was knocked out of the sky when she was hit by a topaz pendant. Which was tossed into the sky by the dying Lord of a land called Stormhold. The Lord once had seven sons, but they’ve been killing each other off to get closer to the throne. The dead ones are still hanging around as ghosts. A few sons are left alive, and whoever finds the topaz pendant – now in the possession of Yvaine – will replace their father on the throne. Meanwhile, a trio of decrepit witches have also seen the star fall from the sky. One of them goes to find where it has landed… because if they cut out Yvaine’s heart and consume it, their youth and beauty will be restored. The witch uses magic to cover up her true appearance, but every time she uses other spells on her journey, her real looks start to come through.
Tristran is the first to reach Yvaine. Even though he’s surprised to see that the star is a woman rather than a rock, he still goes through with taking her back to Wall. And thus has to deal with witches and the sons of Stormhold coming after her. Along the way, there are encounters with a unicorn. Goats that have been transformed into people. And the crew of a ship that flies above the clouds, on a lightning-hunting expedition.
A couple years after the Stardust comic book was published, Gaiman also released the story as a novel without Vess’s illustrations. But even before that, Miramax had picked up the film rights to Stardust. They had Gaiman write a treatment for the adaptation. But they didn’t like what he wrote. So they had Ehren Kruger write another treatment. Which they didn’t like, either. So they lost interest and Gaiman got the rights back. Disappointed with the Miramax experience, he spent the next few years rejecting people and companies that wanted to make a Stardust movie. Then, in 2003, he made a short film called A Short Film About John Bolton. Which was produced by Matthew Vaughn. They had a good time working together – and around this time, Vaughn’s wife Claudia Schiffer read and fell in love with Stardust. So Gaiman felt comfortable moving forward with a Stardust adaptation that would have Vaughn involved. At first, Vaughn was going to produce the film. Terry Gilliam was going to direct it. But then Gilliam made the 2005 fantasy film The Brothers Grimm. Which centers on the legendary fairy tale tellers and sends them on their own fairy tale adventure. After making that movie, Gilliam said there was no way he could go right back into the world of fairy tales. So he dropped out of Stardust. In the meantime, Vaughn had gotten into directing when Guy Ritchie decided not to make Layer Cake. On the strength of that film, 20th Century Fox hired him to direct X-Men: The Last Stand. Two weeks before that movie was going to start filming, he stepped away due to creative disagreements with the studio. That’s when Vaughn decided he was going to direct Stardust himself.
At Gaiman’s suggestion, Vaughn brought Jane Goldman in to write the screenplay with him. Establishing a partnership that would continue through several more of Vaughn’s films. Whittling Gaiman’s story down into a two hour film presented multiple challenges. They had to simplify portions of the story. Which included having to remove a really fun character known as “the little hairy man” so they could get Tristran to Yvaine quicker. They also changed Tristran’s name to Tristan and called the magical land Stormhold instead of Faerie. They expanded some elements of the story. For example, Gaiman didn’t write much about Tristan and Yvaine’s time on the flying ship. Vaughn and Goldman put a lot more focus on that, turning Captain Alberic into Captain Shakespeare. A gay man who puts on drag shows in private. Then puts on a macho act in front of his crew. The screenwriters also had to figure out how rough-edged the film should be. Gaiman’s story has been described as a fairy tale for grown-ups. Most of the text is quite family friendly. But then there’s the sex scene between Dunstan and Una in the first chapter. Another sex scene involving a prostitute later. An F-bomb. A throat slitting. A unicorn’s head being hacked off with a meat cleaver. Vaughn and Goldman chose to soften the edges. Keeping things family-friendly throughout. And while Gaiman’s story has a rather low-key resolution, for a movie they had to keep things action-packed.
Seeking an unknown to play Tristan, Vaughn chose Charlie Cox. Who, these days, is best known for being Marvel’s Daredevil. Bigger names were cast around Cox. Claire Danes plays Yvaine (although Bryce Dallas Howard was Vaughn’s original choice). Michelle Pfeiffer is the witch Lamia. Some of the sons of Stormhold are played by Mark Strong, Jason Flemyng, and Rupert Everett. Their father is played by the great Peter O’Toole. Robert De Niro took on the role of Captain Shakespeare. Ricky Gervais plays Ferdy the Fence, a character who was created for the film. Sienna Miller is Tristan’s crush Victoria, while Henry Cavill has a small role as a rival for her affections. Ian McKellen provides the narration. Tristan’s parents Dunstan and Una are played by Ben Barnes and Kate Magowan, with Nathaniel Parker as the older Dunstan.
REVIEW: Vaughn and Goldman changed a lot about Stardust on the way from the page to the screen. Reading the book and watching the movie are very different experiences. This could cause some disappointment for those who decide to check out both. If you watch the movie first, you may be let down when you find that Captain Shakespeare is nowhere to be found. Or that the climactic action isn’t there. If you read the book first, the way things are presented in the movie may not live up to the magical world you imagined. Where’s the little hairy man? The vampire trees? The talking badger in a dressing gown? The fight between the lion and the unicorn? Some of the changes were budgetary. It was going to be way too expensive for Vaughn to put a lion and unicorn battle on screen. Some were creative. He wanted to spend more time on the flying ship. Build in a lesson that you shouldn’t pretend to be something you’re not just to impress others. Work in some entertaining action. And present this fairy tale in a more down-to-earth way. Even with the witch’s magic, he didn’t want it to be too outlandish. His approach was to make something that would feel like a blend of The Princess Bride and Midnight Run.
Gaiman acknowledges that the movie is different from what he wrote. And he wasn’t sure about some of the changes that were being made. But in the end, he seemed pleased with and accepting of the film. As he told USA Today, it’s better that Vaughn didn’t try to exactly replicate what was on the page, because, “I would hate for people to go and see a version of Stardust that is Stardust the book, only not as good.” He went on to tell Empire, “I sort of feel like my grounding in comics was actually very useful because in my head, that’s just the Earth-Two version of Stardust. It’s a parallel Earth version of Stardust, which has Robert De Niro and stuff.”
So taking Stardust the movie on its own terms, it’s an entertaining fantasy film. Vaughn was admittedly better at shooting action and keeping things moving along quickly than he was with the human relationship stuff. Stardust may still be over two hours long, but it moves through those two hours at a fast pace. Some of this is due to the way the script condensed the original story. But it’s also due to the fact that Vaughn is always bouncing back and forth between the various characters. Never giving any of them scenes that are too drawn out. There’s so much bouncing around, the witch Lamia and Septimus of Stormhold almost start to overshadow Tristan and Yvaine in a story that’s meant to revolve around them. But that’s where Goldman steps in. Gaiman suggested having her co-write the script with Vaughn because she could help him with the relationship side of things. And there are some sweet moments with Tristan and Yvaine as we watch them gradually fall in love.
Sure, the livelier and occasionally over-the-top performances from the supporting cast do steal the show. But Charlie Cox and Claire Danes are able to keep their section of the story grounded.
The climactic action sequence Vaughn and Goldman came up with feels absolutely right for their telling of the story. It wraps things up in a fun way. And even if you’re hung up on the fact that it’s so different from the book… how could you ever complain about a sequence that lets you watch a swordfight where one of the participants is a corpse that a witch is using like a puppet?
LEGACY/NOW: Test audiences were so pleased with Stardust, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was even surprised at how highly they scored it. He told Rotten Tomatoes, “It’s a weird thing to say. I don’t think everybody’s going to love the movie because it’s not a movie that’s designed to be that. And yet, when we went and tested it, they really flipped for it. It just caught me off guard. It was a movie where I expected to have a larger portion of the audience sort of go, ‘Well, that’s sort of out there. Not sure it’s for us.’ And what happened was that we delivered a romance so spectacularly well, Matthew Vaughn did such a good job with it, that it caught a segment of the audience that I wasn’t expecting.” The test audiences did bring up an issue on how the movie should be marketed, because they strongly disagreed that it should be described as a fairy tale. So di Bonaventura wasn’t sure what they should call it. As he said, “It is an adventure movie, it is a romance, it is fantasy, it is Neil Gaiman’s bizarre world view.”
Whatever it is, it had a budget somewhere in the range of seventy to ninety million dollars. So it needed to do well. Paramount Pictures gave it a wide release in the United States in the summer of 2007… and it opened at number four. Its opening weekend was described as a crash-landing and Stardust was compared to the fantasy films that flopped in the 1980s. Still, the U.S. ended up being the film’s largest market, as it made a total of thirty-eight million there. The U.K. release followed a few months later and added thirty-one million to Stardust’s haul. It ended up with a total of one hundred and thirty-seven million at the global box office. Not a big success, but not a bomb, either. The film was well-received by critics and the audiences that did show up to see it. It gathered a cult following… and that following grew when it reached home video, where it was more successful than it was in theatres.
That wasn’t enough to get a sequel greenlit, though. Seven years after the movie was released, Vaughn revealed to Den of Geek that he had really been hoping to get the chance to make a follow-up. He said, “I had a really crazy fun idea for a Stardust 2. The opening scene was Charlie Cox’s character, being the King and throwing out the necklace. This time the necklace goes over the wall and bounces off Big Ben, and you’re suddenly in London in the early 1960s, with these mad kings and princes and princesses running around London. All on the quest for the stone. That was my idea for the sequel, but sadly the film didn’t make enough money for anyone to want to make it.”
It’s a shame that Vaughn didn’t get to make his return to the world of Stardust. But at least he got to make one trip to that world. And delivered a film that has been loved by many of its viewers. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth checking out, as it still holds up all these years later. And where else are you going to see a swordfighting corpse being puppeteered by a witch?
INTRO: Director Matthew Vaughn is known for making gangster movies and comic book adaptations. Producing Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and making his directorial debut with Layer Cake paved the way for bigger projects: Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class, the Kingsman franchise, Argylle. But in between the gangsters and the over-the-top heroics, he decided to make a fairy tale. Based on the writing of popular author Neil Gaiman, the film tells of witches, unicorns, flying ships, lightning catchers, and a falling star… that’s actually a person. Released in 2007, the movie we’re talking about is called Stardust. And it’s time for it to be Revisited.
SET-UP: The story of Stardust goes back to the early 1990s. While out driving one day, Neil Gaiman saw a wall running along one side of the road and was struck by the idea that a magical land called Faerie might exist on the other side of that wall. So he started plotting a book that he intended to call Wall. Which would have been about a writer from America moving to England. Where he discovers this wall that separates the world we see around us from the land of Faerie. This idea was set aside when Gaiman saw a shooting star cross the sky one night. In that moment, he was inspired to write a whole different story about Faerie and the wall.
With illustrator Charles Vess, Gaiman crafted a text-heavy four-issue comic book mini-series called Stardust. The story begins in 1839, in the English town of Wall. Every nine years, on May Day, the magical beings that inhabit Faerie hold a market event in the meadow outside the town. The rest of the time, the gap in the wall between the two lands is under twenty-four hour guard. When a Wall resident named Dunstan Thorn crosses over into Faerie, he ends up being enchanted by a young woman named Una. She is kept as a slave by a witch-woman called Ditchwater Sal, who makes Una spend most of her time as a bird. But she’s in her proper form when she meets Dunstan. They have sex and Dunstan returns to Wall… where, nine months later, a baby is delivered to his door. Turns out he and Una have had a son. Dunstan raises this son, named Tristran. Eighteen years later, Tristran has become infatuated with fellow Wall resident Victoria Forester. He gets her to go out with him one night, but she won’t give him a kiss. When they see a falling star, Victoria tells Tristran she’ll give him anything he desires if he retrieves the fallen star for her. So Tristran sets out to find the star, crossing over into the land of Faerie. And going on a much bigger adventure than he anticipated.
Turns out, the star that has fallen to the ground is a person. Or at least she has a humanoid appearance. Her name is Yvaine, and she was knocked out of the sky when she was hit by a topaz pendant. Which was tossed into the sky by the dying Lord of a land called Stormhold. The Lord once had seven sons, but they’ve been killing each other off to get closer to the throne. The dead ones are still hanging around as ghosts. A few sons are left alive, and whoever finds the topaz pendant – now in the possession of Yvaine – will replace their father on the throne. Meanwhile, a trio of decrepit witches have also seen the star fall from the sky. One of them goes to find where it has landed… because if they cut out Yvaine’s heart and consume it, their youth and beauty will be restored. The witch uses magic to cover up her true appearance, but every time she uses other spells on her journey, her real looks start to come through.
Tristran is the first to reach Yvaine. Even though he’s surprised to see that the star is a woman rather than a rock, he still goes through with taking her back to Wall. And thus has to deal with witches and the sons of Stormhold coming after her. Along the way, there are encounters with a unicorn. Goats that have been transformed into people. And the crew of a ship that flies above the clouds, on a lightning-hunting expedition.
A couple years after the Stardust comic book was published, Gaiman also released the story as a novel without Vess’s illustrations. But even before that, Miramax had picked up the film rights to Stardust. They had Gaiman write a treatment for the adaptation. But they didn’t like what he wrote. So they had Ehren Kruger write another treatment. Which they didn’t like, either. So they lost interest and Gaiman got the rights back. Disappointed with the Miramax experience, he spent the next few years rejecting people and companies that wanted to make a Stardust movie. Then, in 2003, he made a short film called A Short Film About John Bolton. Which was produced by Matthew Vaughn. They had a good time working together – and around this time, Vaughn’s wife Claudia Schiffer read and fell in love with Stardust. So Gaiman felt comfortable moving forward with a Stardust adaptation that would have Vaughn involved. At first, Vaughn was going to produce the film. Terry Gilliam was going to direct it. But then Gilliam made the 2005 fantasy film The Brothers Grimm. Which centers on the legendary fairy tale tellers and sends them on their own fairy tale adventure. After making that movie, Gilliam said there was no way he could go right back into the world of fairy tales. So he dropped out of Stardust. In the meantime, Vaughn had gotten into directing when Guy Ritchie decided not to make Layer Cake. On the strength of that film, 20th Century Fox hired him to direct X-Men: The Last Stand. Two weeks before that movie was going to start filming, he stepped away due to creative disagreements with the studio. That’s when Vaughn decided he was going to direct Stardust himself.
At Gaiman’s suggestion, Vaughn brought Jane Goldman in to write the screenplay with him. Establishing a partnership that would continue through several more of Vaughn’s films. Whittling Gaiman’s story down into a two hour film presented multiple challenges. They had to simplify portions of the story. Which included having to remove a really fun character known as “the little hairy man” so they could get Tristran to Yvaine quicker. They also changed Tristran’s name to Tristan and called the magical land Stormhold instead of Faerie. They expanded some elements of the story. For example, Gaiman didn’t write much about Tristan and Yvaine’s time on the flying ship. Vaughn and Goldman put a lot more focus on that, turning Captain Alberic into Captain Shakespeare. A gay man who puts on drag shows in private. Then puts on a macho act in front of his crew. The screenwriters also had to figure out how rough-edged the film should be. Gaiman’s story has been described as a fairy tale for grown-ups. Most of the text is quite family friendly. But then there’s the sex scene between Dunstan and Una in the first chapter. Another sex scene involving a prostitute later. An F-bomb. A throat slitting. A unicorn’s head being hacked off with a meat cleaver. Vaughn and Goldman chose to soften the edges. Keeping things family-friendly throughout. And while Gaiman’s story has a rather low-key resolution, for a movie they had to keep things action-packed.
Seeking an unknown to play Tristan, Vaughn chose Charlie Cox. Who, these days, is best known for being Marvel’s Daredevil. Bigger names were cast around Cox. Claire Danes plays Yvaine (although Bryce Dallas Howard was Vaughn’s original choice). Michelle Pfeiffer is the witch Lamia. Some of the sons of Stormhold are played by Mark Strong, Jason Flemyng, and Rupert Everett. Their father is played by the great Peter O’Toole. Robert De Niro took on the role of Captain Shakespeare. Ricky Gervais plays Ferdy the Fence, a character who was created for the film. Sienna Miller is Tristan’s crush Victoria, while Henry Cavill has a small role as a rival for her affections. Ian McKellen provides the narration. Tristan’s parents Dunstan and Una are played by Ben Barnes and Kate Magowan, with Nathaniel Parker as the older Dunstan.
REVIEW: Vaughn and Goldman changed a lot about Stardust on the way from the page to the screen. Reading the book and watching the movie are very different experiences. This could cause some disappointment for those who decide to check out both. If you watch the movie first, you may be let down when you find that Captain Shakespeare is nowhere to be found. Or that the climactic action isn’t there. If you read the book first, the way things are presented in the movie may not live up to the magical world you imagined. Where’s the little hairy man? The vampire trees? The talking badger in a dressing gown? The fight between the lion and the unicorn? Some of the changes were budgetary. It was going to be way too expensive for Vaughn to put a lion and unicorn battle on screen. Some were creative. He wanted to spend more time on the flying ship. Build in a lesson that you shouldn’t pretend to be something you’re not just to impress others. Work in some entertaining action. And present this fairy tale in a more down-to-earth way. Even with the witch’s magic, he didn’t want it to be too outlandish. His approach was to make something that would feel like a blend of The Princess Bride and Midnight Run.
Gaiman acknowledges that the movie is different from what he wrote. And he wasn’t sure about some of the changes that were being made. But in the end, he seemed pleased with and accepting of the film. As he told USA Today, it’s better that Vaughn didn’t try to exactly replicate what was on the page, because, “I would hate for people to go and see a version of Stardust that is Stardust the book, only not as good.” He went on to tell Empire, “I sort of feel like my grounding in comics was actually very useful because in my head, that’s just the Earth-Two version of Stardust. It’s a parallel Earth version of Stardust, which has Robert De Niro and stuff.”
So taking Stardust the movie on its own terms, it’s an entertaining fantasy film. Vaughn was admittedly better at shooting action and keeping things moving along quickly than he was with the human relationship stuff. Stardust may still be over two hours long, but it moves through those two hours at a fast pace. Some of this is due to the way the script condensed the original story. But it’s also due to the fact that Vaughn is always bouncing back and forth between the various characters. Never giving any of them scenes that are too drawn out. There’s so much bouncing around, the witch Lamia and Septimus of Stormhold almost start to overshadow Tristan and Yvaine in a story that’s meant to revolve around them. But that’s where Goldman steps in. Gaiman suggested having her co-write the script with Vaughn because she could help him with the relationship side of things. And there are some sweet moments with Tristan and Yvaine as we watch them gradually fall in love.
Sure, the livelier and occasionally over-the-top performances from the supporting cast do steal the show. But Charlie Cox and Claire Danes are able to keep their section of the story grounded.
The climactic action sequence Vaughn and Goldman came up with feels absolutely right for their telling of the story. It wraps things up in a fun way. And even if you’re hung up on the fact that it’s so different from the book… how could you ever complain about a sequence that lets you watch a swordfight where one of the participants is a corpse that a witch is using like a puppet?
LEGACY/NOW: Test audiences were so pleased with Stardust, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was even surprised at how highly they scored it. He told Rotten Tomatoes, “It’s a weird thing to say. I don’t think everybody’s going to love the movie because it’s not a movie that’s designed to be that. And yet, when we went and tested it, they really flipped for it. It just caught me off guard. It was a movie where I expected to have a larger portion of the audience sort of go, ‘Well, that’s sort of out there. Not sure it’s for us.’ And what happened was that we delivered a romance so spectacularly well, Matthew Vaughn did such a good job with it, that it caught a segment of the audience that I wasn’t expecting.” The test audiences did bring up an issue on how the movie should be marketed, because they strongly disagreed that it should be described as a fairy tale. So di Bonaventura wasn’t sure what they should call it. As he said, “It is an adventure movie, it is a romance, it is fantasy, it is Neil Gaiman’s bizarre world view.”
Whatever it is, it had a budget somewhere in the range of seventy to ninety million dollars. So it needed to do well. Paramount Pictures gave it a wide release in the United States in the summer of 2007… and it opened at number four. Its opening weekend was described as a crash-landing and Stardust was compared to the fantasy films that flopped in the 1980s. Still, the U.S. ended up being the film’s largest market, as it made a total of thirty-eight million there. The U.K. release followed a few months later and added thirty-one million to Stardust’s haul. It ended up with a total of one hundred and thirty-seven million at the global box office. Not a big success, but not a bomb, either. The film was well-received by critics and the audiences that did show up to see it. It gathered a cult following… and that following grew when it reached home video, where it was more successful than it was in theatres.
That wasn’t enough to get a sequel greenlit, though. Seven years after the movie was released, Vaughn revealed to Den of Geek that he had really been hoping to get the chance to make a follow-up. He said, “I had a really crazy fun idea for a Stardust 2. The opening scene was Charlie Cox’s character, being the King and throwing out the necklace. This time the necklace goes over the wall and bounces off Big Ben, and you’re suddenly in London in the early 1960s, with these mad kings and princes and princesses running around London. All on the quest for the stone. That was my idea for the sequel, but sadly the film didn’t make enough money for anyone to want to make it.”
It’s a shame that Vaughn didn’t get to make his return to the world of Stardust. But at least he got to make one trip to that world. And delivered a film that has been loved by many of its viewers. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth checking out, as it still holds up all these years later. And where else are you going to see a swordfighting corpse being puppeteered by a witch?
What Do We Know About the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe series Daredevil: Born Again? More in recent weeks than ever before. The sequel to the Netflix street-level superhero series has been one of the most anticipated MCU projects since it was announced. With Vincent D’Onofrio and Charlie Cox already having appeared in Hawkeye, Echo, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans have a tease of what they can expect from this new dive into Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk. So, let’s dive in and take a look at what we know about Daredevil: Born Again.
This will be a two-season limited series
Development on Daredevil: Born Again began back in March of 2022. At the time, Matt Corman and Chris Ord were hired as head writers with the aim to create a lighter tone and episodic structure compared to the Netflix series. When filming began in March 2023, it was suspended months later because of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Marvel Studios decided in September to release Matt Corman, Chris Ord, and the directors brought aboard and replaced them with new showrunner Dario Scardapane with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead, the helmers behind episodes of Moon Knight and the second season of Loki, aboard as primary directors. Scardapane shifted the series to a more serialized structure with direct connections to the Netflix series. Originally announced as an eighteen-episode series, Daredevil: Born Again is now being structured as two nine-episode runs connected as an overall story.
What is it about?
The exact plot of the series is unknown, but the numerous returning cast members from the Netflix series will likely mean a direct continuation of that storyline. Based on Matt Murdock’s appearance in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Echo, he is still out fighting crime at a street level. The conclusion of Echo saw Wilson Fisk returning to New York watching a news broadcast about a need for new leadership in the Big Apple. This could potentially mean the series is adapting the comic book arc that found Kingpin running for Mayor of NYC. The title itself, Born Again, could be a reference to the religious faith of Matt Murdock or it could be an homage to the Frank Miller comic of the same name which saw Kingpin manipulating Matt’s feelings for Karen Page to destroy Daredevil. With Karen and Matt not an item on the show, this could be changed.
Netflix characters will make appearances
Fan favorites Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll will be appearing in the series, reprising their roles as Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. Jon Bernthal was spotted in character as Frank Castle, but it remains to be seen how significantly The Punisher will factor into the plot. We also know Ayelet Zurer will be back as Vanessa Fisk and Wilson Bethel returns as Benjamin Poindexter who turns into the MCU version of Bullseye. New additions to the cast include Margarita Levieva as Heather Glenn, Matt’s new love interest, with Michael Gandolfini as Daniel Blade. Lou Taylor Pucci has joined in an undisclosed role with Clark Johnson, Nikki M. James, Zabryna Guevara, Harris Yulin, and Michael Gaston in additional roles.
Wait, is this a sequel series or a reboot?
The original vision for Born Again was to make it stand apart from the Netflix series, but when Marvel Studios scrapped the completed episodes that had been filmed, the new direction follows directly from the original Daredevil. With a new tone and the 18 episode series being split into two sections, this series is being envisioned as a standalone arc for the characters. Once we know more of the plot we will have a more definitive answer about where this show fits into the MCU as a whole and whether this means that Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and The Defenders are officially canon.
Are we sure?
Truthfully, no. Charlie Cox’s comments back in 2022 stated that this series is not the fourth season of Daredevil but rather a whole new thing, a true reboot. But. With casting changes, showrunner updates, and trashed footage, we won’t know for certain until Kevin Feige takes the stage this year to tell us what is going on.
This will likely be another Marvel Spotlight
The opening of Echo showcased Marvel’s new standalone projects in the MCU which are labeled as Spotlights. All signs point to this series being among them rather than an ongoing new series focused on Daredevil. Marvel Studios’ Brad Winderbaum indicated how X-Men 97 honored where it came from while forging a new direction and made that comparison with the upcoming Daredevil Born Again.
When will we see it?
Production recently wrapped on Daredevil: Born Again but that does not mean it will be premiering any time soon. Because of the SAG-AFTRA and Writer’s Guild strikes in 2023, everything got pushed back. Because of the delays on Daredevil, the series will premiere sometime in 2025. I would imagine it would be early in the year, so Disney and Marvel Studios could premiere it early as a late 2024 surprise, but don’t hold your breath.
Stay tuned to JoBlo.com as we learn more about Daredevil: Born Again and all of your other favorite shows. What do you expect to see in the upcoming Daredevil series? Let us know in the comments and click the like and subscribe to follow all of our latest original videos.
There may be seven deadly sins but David Fincher is maxing his Ks at eight — well, four, as there is really no set distributor that can handle 8K. As such, it was a 4K restoration of Seven that was screened at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, although Fincher is still proud of the work presented to viewers.
Appearing at the annual festival, David Fincher pointed out that those who catch this quasi-8K transfer of Seven may be caught off guard by the “imperfections”, which he is well aware of. “It is what it is, warts and all…And some of it is spectacular and some of it is stuff that I would change or fix today, but I didn’t want to mess with that. There’s a lot of imperfections, there’s a lot of things that you just don’t see on film. When people say they love the look of film, what they’re talking about is chaos, entropy, and softness. Now, of course, we live in an HDR world where you get those kinds of very deep, rich, velvety blacks for free.”
As with any high-definition transfer, that of Seven presented the issues of “how much”, something that can easily limit the authenticity and filmic quality — too much and the transfer looks overproduced, ruining the experience and discrediting so much of the filmmakers’ work. For this, Fincher had plenty of meticulous details (no surprise there) on how this was approached for Seven. “And we had to negotiate that fine between what to fix or not…So we attempted to go back in and fix to make it match. And kind of repaint stuff and just take out water spots and little edge flashes. And some of it is impossible to get it to match, certainly by today’s standards. So there was a lot of excavation.”
It took around six months alone for David Fincher and his team just to compile their notes to get moving on the Seven transfer. It will be pretty incredible once distributors can catch up with 8K, which will allow all of Fincher and company’s work to be seen the way they intended three decades later. Even so, a 4K downscale is nothing to lose your head over, so fans should be on the lookout for the Blu-ray release early next month.
Will you be checking out Fincher’s Seven on 4K? Which other film of his would best benefit from an 8K treatment?
