Beowulf (2007 film)

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Beowulf
File:Beowolfposter.jpg
Directed byRobert Zemeckis
Written byNeil Gaiman
Roger Avary
Produced bySteve Bing
Robert Zemeckis
StarringRay Winstone
Anthony Hopkins
Angelina Jolie
Crispin Glover
Robin Wright Penn
John Malkovich
Brendan Gleeson
Alison Lohman
CinematographyRobert Presley
Edited byJeremiah O'Driscoll
Music byAlan Silvestri
Distributed byParamount Pictures (US)
Warner Bros.
Release dates
November 16, 2007
Running time
115 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$70 million[1]
Box office$143,939,986

Beowulf is a 2007 animated film adaptation of the Old English epic poem of the same name. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film was created through motion capture, a technique similar to that used by the director in The Polar Express. The cast includes Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Alison Lohman, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Brendan Gleeson, and Angelina Jolie. It was released in the United States, Canada and the UK on November 16, 2007, and was avaliable to view in an IMAX 3D format.

Plot

King Hrothgar is celebrating the construction of his new mead hall, Heorot. Their noisy celebration disturbs the monster Grendel. He attacks the hall, killing many of the men inside. Hrothgar challenges Grendel to fight him instead, but the monster runs off into the night. Hrothgar closes Heorot and proclaims that he will give half the gold in the kingdom to any man who can defeat Grendel. Beowulf and his men arrive by ship, and Beowulf offers to destroy Grendel. He convinces Hrothgar to reopen Heorot and let Beowulf's men stay there. Unferth, the King's most trusted advisor, challenges Beowulf's credibility. The warrior tells a tall tale of how he slew several sea serpents, so therefore he can slay Grendel too. Hrothgar offers Beowulf his precious golden drinking horn as a reward for Grendel's death.

That evening, Beowulf asks his men to sing loudly. He undresses completely, in order to fight the unarmoured and unclothed Grendel on equal terms. Grendel is infuriated by the noise and attacks the hall in a blind fury. Beowulf fights him, finally trapping Grendel by his arm with a chain breaking the arm off as Grendel tries to escape. Beowulf is proclaimed a hero and Grendel's arm is nailed above the door of Heorot. Afterwards, Hrothgar asks his beautiful young wife Queen Wealtheow to bear him a child. It is revealed that Hrothgar was in fact the father of Grendel, and that Wealtheow has been refusing to have sex with her husband out of revulsion for this past deed.

Enraged with her son's death, Grendel's mother flies to Heorot. She distracts Beowulf in a dream in the guise of Wealtheow, whom the warrior has fallen for. When Beowulf awakes, he finds that all of his men are dead, except Wiglaf, who had been at the beach preparing their ship for departure. Beowulf confronts Hrothgar, who tells Beowulf that Grendel's mother is the last of the monsters. Unferth apologizes to Beowulf for having doubted him, and offers his sword Hrunting for use in slaying Grendel's mother. Beowulf and Wiglaf find the cave. Beowulf enters it alone, eventually confronting Grendel's mother. She appears to him as a beautiful nude woman with golden liquid dripping from her skin. She offers him fame and power if he will give her a son. She also demands the Horn of Hrothgar with the promise that as long as it is in her safekeeping, Heorot will be safe.

Beowulf returns to Heorot, claiming to have slain Grendel's mother. He shows them Grendel's head as proof, and says that he lost both Unferth's sword and Hrothgar's Horn during the battle. King Hrothgar names Beowulf heir to the throne. He then leaps from the balcony and falls to his death. His body is reclaimed by Grendel's mother. Beowulf is crowned king, and takes Wealtheow as his wife.

Many years pass. King Beowulf is unable to enjoy his power and glory, and his relationship with Wealtheow has also grown cold. When Unferth's slave Cain finds the Horn of Hrothgar on a barren hill, Beowulf understands that Grendel's mother has ended their deal. That night he dreams of his son by Grendel's mother. The son, who appears as a golden youth, threatens to kill both Beowulf's wife and his young mistress Ursula. The next day, a fierce dragon attacks a village outside of Heorot. The dragon gives a message to Unferth for Beowulf: "The sins of the father!"

Beowulf and Wiglaf ride to the cave of Grendel's mother and Beowulf confronts the dragon. The dragon flies to Beowulf's castle, but Beowulf is able to cling to its back. The dragon spots Wealtheow and Ursula on the castle wall and attempts to burn them. Beowulf finally manages to slay the dragon, losing his own arm in the process. The two fall to the shores far below. The dragon's form changes to that of the golden man of Beowulf's dreams. Wiglaf arrives at the beach in time to hear Beowulf's last words. He leaves his kingdom to Wiglaf. Beowulf receives a Viking funeral. As Wiglaf watches the burning boat that serves as Beowulf's funeral pyre, he sees Grendel's mother kissing the corpse. Grendel's mother then appears in the water in human form and beckons to Wiglaf.

Production

Author Neil Gaiman and screenwriter Roger Avary wrote a screen adaptation of Beowulf in May 1997 (they had met while working on a film adaptation of Gaiman's The Sandman in 1996, before Warner Bros. canceled it).[2] The script had been optioned by ImageMovers in the same year and set up at DreamWorks with Avary slated to direct and Robert Zemeckis producing. Avary stated he wanted to make a small-scale, gritty film, with a budget of $15-20 million, similar to Jabberwocky or Excalibur.[2] The project eventually went into turnaround after the option expired, the rights returned to Avary, who went on to direct an adaptation of The Rules of Attraction. In January 2005, producer Steve Bing, at the behest of Zemeckis who was wanting to direct the film himself, revived the production by convincing Avary that Zemeckis' vision, supported by the strength of digitally enhanced live action, was worth relinquishing the directorial reins.[3][4] Zemeckis did not like the poem, but enjoyed reading the screenplay. Because of the expanded budget, Zemeckis told the screenwriters to rewrite their script, because "there is nothing that you could write that would cost me more than a million dollars per minute to film. Go wild!" In particular, the entire fight with the dragon was rewritten from a talky confrontation to a battle spanning the cliffs and the sea.[2]

Sony Pictures Imageworks created the animation for the film. Animation supervisor Kenn MacDonald explained that Zemeckis used motion capture because “Even though it feels like live action, there were a lot of shots where Bob cut loose. Amazing shots. Impossible with live action actors. This method of filmmaking gives him freedom and complete control. He doesn’t have to worry about lighting. The actors don’t have to hit marks. They don’t have to know where the camera is. It’s pure performance." A 25 x 35-foot stage was built, and it used 244 Vicon MX40 cameras. Actors on set wore seventy-eight body markers, and transparent costumes. The cameras recorded realtime footage of the performances, shots which Zemeckis reviewed. The director then used a virtual camera to choose camera angles from the footage which was edited together. Two teams of animators worked on the film, with one group working on replicating the facial performances, the other working on body movement. The animators said they worked very closely on replicating the human characters, but the character of Grendel had to be almost reworked, because he is a monster, not human.[1]

In designing the dragon, production designer Doug Chiang wanted to create something unique in film. The designers looked at bats and flying squirrels for inspiration, and also designed its tail to allow underwater propulsion. As the beast is Beowulf's son with Grendel's mother, elements such as Winstone's eyes and cheekbone structure were incorporated into its look.[5] The three primary monsters in the film share a golden color scheme, because they are all related. Grendel has patches of gold skin, but because of his torment, he has shed much of his scales as well as exposing his internal workings. He still had to resemble Crispin Glover though: the animators decided to adapt Glover's own parted hairstyle to Grendel, albeit with bald patches.[1]

Cast

The cast members of Beowulf were filmed on a motion capture stage. They were altered on screen using computer-generated imagery, but their animated counterparts bear much resemblance to themselves.

The protagonist, Beowulf, is portrayed by Ray Winstone. Zemeckis cast Winstone after seeing his performance as King Henry VIII of England on television.[2] On the topic of the original poem, Winstone commented during an interview that "I had the beauty of not reading the book, which I understand portrays Beowulf as a very one-dimensional kind of character - a hero and a warrior and that was it. I didn't have any of that baggage to bring with me."[6] Winstone enjoyed working with motion capture, stating that “You were allowed to go, like theater, where you carry a scene on and you become engrossed within the scene. I loved the speed of it. There was no time to sit around. You actually cracked on with a scene and your energy levels were kept up. There was no time to actually sit around and lose your concentration. So, for me, I actually really, really enjoyed this experience." Winstone also noted that his computer-generated counterpart resembled himself at the age of eighteen, although the filmmakers did not have a photo for reference.[7] Winstone also played a dwarf performer, and both the dragon and the "Golden Man."[6]

The antagonists Grendel and Grendel's mother are portrayed by Crispin Glover and Angelina Jolie, respectively. Glover had previously worked with Zemeckis in Back to the Future (1985), when he portrayed George McFly. Zemeckis had found Glover tiresome on set, because of his lack of understanding of shooting a film, but realized this would not be a problem as on a motion capture film he could choose his angles later.[8] Glover's dialogue was entirely in Old English.[7] Jolie had wanted to work with Zemeckis. She had read the poem years ago but could not remember it well until she read the script and was able to recall basic themes. The actress was told that she "was going to be a lizard. Then I was brought into a room with Bob, and a bunch of pictures and examples, and he showed me this picture of a woman half painted gold, and then a lizard. And, I’ve got kids and I thought 'That's great. That's so bizarre. I'm going to be this crazy reptilian person and creature.'" Jolie filmed her role over two days when she was three months pregnant. She was startled by the character's nude human form, stating that for an animated film “I was really surprised that I felt that exposed."[7]

King Hrothgar is portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins noted in an interview that since Zemeckis is an American, he wasn't certain what accent Hopkins should use for the role of Hrothgar. Hopkins told him, "Well, Welsh would be my closest because that's where I come from." It was also his first time working with motion capture technology. Hopkins noted that “I didn't know what was expected. It was explained to me, I'm not stupid, but I still don't get the idea of how it works. I have no idea [...] you don't have sets, so it is like being in a Brecht play, you know, with just bare bones and you have nothing else." When asked if he had to read the original poem of Beowulf in school, Hopkins replied: "No, I was hopeless at school. I couldn't read anything. I mean I could read, but I was so inattentive. I was one of those poor kids, you know, who was just very slow, didn't know what they were talking about [...] So I tried to get around to reading Beowulf just before I did this movie, and it was a good modern translation. It was Trevor Griffiths, I’m not sure, but I couldn't hack it, and I tend to like to just go with the script if it's a good script."[9]

Unferth is portrayed by John Malkovich. Malkovich became involved in the project because one of his friends, who had worked with Zemeckis, "spoke very highly of him. I had always found him a very interesting and innovative filmmaker. I liked the script very much and I liked the group involved and the process interested me a great deal also." He found the experience of working with motion capture to be similar to his experiences working in the theater. He also found the process intriguing: "say you do a normal day of filmmaking. Sometimes that’s 1/8th of a page, sometimes it’s 3/8th of a page, normally let’s say it’s 2-1/2 pages, maybe 3. Now it’s probably a little more than it used to be but not always. So you may be acting for a total of 20 minutes a day. In this, you act the entire day all the time except for the tiny amount of time it takes them to sort of coordinate the computer information, let’s say, and make sure that the computers are reading the data and that you’re transmitting the data. It interests me on that level because I’m a professional actor so I’d just as soon act as sit around." Malkovich also recalled that he studied the original poem in high school, and that “I think we got smacked if we couldn’t recite a certain number of stanzas. It was in the Old English class and I think my rendition was exemplary."[10]

The cast also includes:


Philosophy professor Stephen T. Asma argues that “Zemeckis's more tender-minded film version suggests that the people who cast out Grendel are the real monsters. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil. The blame for Grendel's violence is shifted to the humans, who sinned against him earlier and brought the vengeance upon themselves. The only real monsters, in this tradition, are pride and prejudice. In the film, Grendel is even visually altered after his injury to look like an innocent, albeit scaly, little child. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the new liberal Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [...] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters." [11]

Southern Methodist University's Director of Medieval Studies Bonnie Wheeler is “convinced that the new Robert Zemeckis movie treatment sacrifices the power of the original for a plot line that propels Beowulf into seduction by Angelina Jolie -- the mother of the monster he has just slain.' What man doesn’t get involved with Angelina Jolie?' Wheeler asks. 'It’s a great cop-out on a great poem.' [...] 'For me, the sad thing is the movie returns to…a view of the horror of woman, the monstrous female who will kill off the male,' Wheeler says. 'It seems to me you could do so much better now. And the story of Beowulf is so much more powerful.'"[12]

Former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo argues that “The film changes the very nature of its hero. He becomes vulnerable and flawed, and he loses much of his nobility. The minute he starts lying, he becomes less interesting. The monster, Grendel, is also rather diminished here. He is imagined as a pathetic creature - you feel as if he's being eaten from the inside by maggots. I never had the sense of his enormous and terrifying strength. They've created a whole new plot about who slept with Grendel's mother, which feels clunky."[13]

Release

Columbia Pictures was set to distribute the film, but Steven Bing did not finalize a deal, and arranged with Paramount Pictures for U.S. distribution and Warner Bros. Pictures for international distribution.[14] Beowulf was set to premiere at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, but was not ready in time.[15] The film's world premiere was held in Westwood, California on November 5 2007.[16]

To promote the film, a four issue comic book adaptation by IDW Publishing was released every week in October 2007.[17] A video game featuring the vocals of Winstone, Gleeson and Hopkins was released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and PSP formats.[18] and the Beowulf Soundtrack Album featuring the grand & powerful score by Alan Silvestri released on Nov. 20, 2007.

At Comic-Con International in July 2006, Gaiman said Beowulf would be released on November 22, 2007.[19] The following October, Beowulf was announced to be projected in 3-D in over 1,000 theaters for its release date in November 2007. The studios planned to use 3-D projection technology that had been used by Monster House, Chicken Little, and 3-D re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas, but on a larger scale than previous films. Beowulf would additionally be released in 35mm alongside the 3-D projections.[20]

Box office

Beowulf ranked #1 in the United States and Canada box office during its opening weekend date of November 18 [21] grossing $27.5 million in 3,153 theaters.[22]

As of December 3, 2007, the film has grossed an estimated domestic total of $68,939,986 and a foreign box office total of $75,000,000 for a worldwide gross of $143,939,986 in 17 days.[23]

Critical reception

As of December 4, 2007 on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Beowulf received a rating of 70 percent, based upon 155 reviews. Under the category "Cream of the Crop" Beowulf received a rating of 71 percent, with an average reviewer rating of 6.5/10.[24] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 59 out of 100, based on 35 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[25]

Giving Beowulf three out of four stars, Roger Ebert argues that the film is a satire of the original poem.[26] TIME magazine critic Richard Corliss describes the film as one with "power and depth" and suggests that the "effects scenes look realer, more integrated into the visual fabric, because they meet the traced-over live-action elements halfway. It all suggests that this kind of a moviemaking is more than a stunt. By imagining the distant past so vividly, Zemeckis and his team prove that character capture has a future."[27] Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers argues that “The eighth-century Beowulf, goosed into twenty-first century life by a screenplay from sci-fi guru Neil Gaiman and Pulp Fiction's Roger Avary, will have you jumping out of your skin and begging for more [...] I've never seen a 3-D movie pop with this kind of clarity and oomph. It's outrageously entertaining."[28]

Tom Ambrose of Empire gives the film four out of five stars. He argues that Beowulf is "the finest example to date of the mo-capabilities of this new technique [...] Previously, 3D movies were blurry, migraine-inducing affairs. Beowulf is a huge step forward [...] Although his Cockney accent initially seems incongruous [...] Winstone’s turn ultimately reveals a burgeoning humanity and poignant humility." Ambrose also argues that “the creepy dead eyes thing has been fixed." [29] Justin Chang of Variety argues that the screenwriters "have taken some intriguing liberties with the heroic narrative [... the] result is, at least, a much livelier piece of storytelling than the charmless Polar Express." He also argues that “Zemeckis prioritizes spectacle over human engagement, in his reliance on a medium that allows for enormous range and fluidity in its visual effects yet reduces his characters to 3-D automatons. While the technology has improved since 2004's Polar Express (particularly in the characters' more lifelike eyes), the actors still don't seem entirely there. Beowulf is more vocally than visually commanding."[30]

Kenneth Turan of National Public Radio criticizes the film arguing: “It's been 50 years since Hollywood first started flirting with 3-D movies, and the special glasses required for viewing have gotten a whole lot more substantial. The stories being filmed are just as flimsy. Of course Beowulf does have a more impressive literary pedigree than, say, Bwana Devil. But you'd never know that by looking at the movie. Beowulf's story of a hero who slays monsters has become a fanboy fantasy that panders with demonic energy to the young male demographic."[31] Manohla Dargis of the New York Times criticizes the fact that the film “stripped [away ...] much of the original poem’s language, its cadences, deep history and context."[32] San Francisco Chronicle critic Mick LaSalle suggests: "It's the Beowulf saga once again, and the movie becomes tiresome and trivial - well done within the narrow limits of its aspiration but not worth the inflated effort. To do Beowulf again, there should be some reason to do Beowulf at all. In 2005, for example, Beowulf & Grendel revisited the tale in order to present Grendel as a nice guy with his own point of view. That was a very bad reason to revisit Beowulf, but at least it was a reason."[33]

References

  1. ^ a b c Barbara Robertson (2007-11-28). "Beowulf Effects". CG Society. Retrieved 2007-12-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d Tom Ambrose (December 2007). "He Is Legend". Empire. pp. 139–142.
  3. ^ Nicole Laporte (2005-01-20). "Sony, Bing get Anglo on 'Beowulf'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Kevil Kelly (2007-07-26). "Comic-Con: 'Beowulf' Footage Screening, Q&A, and Party!". Cinematical. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Sheigh Crabtree (2007-11-04). "'Beowulf' breathes fire into a new kind of dragon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-11-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b Rob Carnevale (2007-11-12). "Beowulf". BBC. Retrieved 2007-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b c Sheila Roberts. "Cast of Beowulf Interview". Movies Online. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  8. ^ "Becoming Beowulf". IGN. 2007-07-25. Retrieved 2007-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Sheila Roberts. "Anthony Hopkins Interview, Beowulf". Movies Online. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
  10. ^ Sheila Roberts. "John Malkovich Interview, Beowulf". Movies Online. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
  11. ^ Asma, Stephen (December 7, 2007 Issue), Never Mind Grendel. Can Beowulf Conquer the 21st-Century Guilt Trip? [[The Chronicle of Higher Education]], pp. B20 {{citation}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |year= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  12. ^ "Beowulf movie cops out with revised theme:It's that evil woman's fault". SMU. 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2007-11-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Paul Arendt (2007-11-20). "Children's author Michael Morpurgo on Beowulf". Guardian. Retrieved 2007-11-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Michael Fleming (2005-08-17). "Par, WB cry 'Beowulf'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Eric J. Lyman (2007-06-13). "'Beowulf' misses Venice festival bow". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2007-11-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Robert Sanchez (2007-11-05). "Exclusive Photo Gallery: World Premiere of Beowulf!". IESB. Retrieved 2007-11-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ ""BEOWULF" COMING TO THEATERS AND COMICS". Comic Book Resources. 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ John Gaudiosi (2007-10-23). "Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone Make Video Game Debuts in Beowulf". Game Daily. Retrieved 2007-11-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ Hilary Goldstein (2006-07-21). "Comic-Con 2006: Neil Gaiman's Future Movies". IGN. Retrieved 2007-01-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ Ben Fritz (2006-10-24). "'Beowulf' gets 3-D bigscreen bow". Variety. Retrieved 2007-01-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Beowulf tops US box office chart". BBC. 2007-11-19. Retrieved 2007-11-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ "Beowulf (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-11-21.
  23. ^ "Beowulf (2007) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
  24. ^ "Beowulf - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  25. ^ "Beowulf (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  26. ^ Roger Ebert (2007-11-15). "Beowulf". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  27. ^ Richard Corliss (2007-11-16). "Beowulf and Grendel — and Grendma". TIME. Retrieved 2007-11-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  28. ^ Peter Travers (2007-11-15). "Beowulf (Paramount)". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-11-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ Tom Ambrose. "Beowulf". Empire. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  30. ^ Justin Chang (2007-11-09). "Beowulf". Variety. Retrieved 2007-11-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ Kenneth Turan (2007-11-16). "Beowulf' Sexes Up, Dumbs Down an Epic". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2007-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  32. ^ Manohla Dargis (2007-11-16). "Confronting the Fabled Monster, Not to Mention His Naked Mom". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  33. ^ Mick LaSalle (2007-11-16). "Review: 'Beowulf' is back, beefed up, in 3D". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-11-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

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