Based on the seminal 9th century anglosaxon poem, beowulf, it tells the bloodsoaked tale of a norse warriors battle against a great and murderous troll, grendel, who has laid seige to the kingdom of hrothgar, the much respected king of the danes. Digital actors in beowulf are just uncanny the new. The bloodsoaked tale of a norse warriors battle against the great and murderous troll, grendel. The widowmaker as grendel, swedish born stellan skarsgard dogville as king hrothgar and canadian born sarah polley. As scenes were filmed in severe weather conditions, which couldnt have been recreated by special effects, actors gave genuine reactions and responses when faced with the weather. The widowmaker as grendel, swedish born stellan skarsgard dogville as. Beowulf productions, grendel productions, spice factory, telefilm canada. Despite the impressive icelandic scenery, beowulf and grendel fails to find its footing in the transition from epic tale to the big screen. In a besieged land, beowulf must battle against the hideous creature grendel and his vengeance seeking mother. The movie drags somewhat in the middle but comes charging back with the. Darclight films, equinoxe films, movision entertainment.
After the death of his father by danish king hrothgar and his warriors, grendel plots his revenge. It made me think of the wonderful example of dramatic narrative on film, which is so. The movie, filmed without cgi on location in iceland, hosts a true international cast starring scottish born gerard butler phantom of the opera, as beowulf, icelands leading actor ingvar sigurdsson k19. The movie, filmed without cgi on location in iceland, hosts a true international cast starring scottish born gerard butler phantom of the opera, as beowulf, iceland s leading actor ingvar sigurdsson k19. The epic poem beowulf gets an imaginative, lowbudget workout in this 2005 icelandic. It was filmed in the frigid temperatures of iceland by a native icelandic director sturla gunnarson, who now lives in canada. Canada, united kingdom, iceland, united states mpaa rating r. Net has interviews, news, pictures, movie information, fan club, films, multimedia. This adaptation, filmed in iceland, is faithful to beowulf s tone, but makes many changes to the story.
Filmed in iceland, this movie captures the starkness of the medieval north. Beowulf is a godly man who uses his bare hands and brute strength to take on grendel, ripping his arm from its socket. A story which originated in oral tradition around 600 ad retold on screen in lets call it a classic. This has ambitions of being an actual movie and a fairly close adaptation of the source material. Every western youve ever seen is based on beowulf so the story itself has tremendous bones, and it really appealed to me, the idea of doing something that was kind of a scary movie.
In turn, beowulf and hrothgar are rendered impotent just like grendel, who lacks genitalia altogether, and then beowulf ends up losing an arm like grendel does. Movies filmed in iceland a film buffs guide arctic. The 2005 retelling of the beowulfgrendel saga is incomparable. Telefilm canada, the movie network, equinoxe films. The story filmed in iceland plays out in a brutish northern europe where the reign of the. Of course, we dont always have to go by the source material fully, as the movie th warrior did a good job of revisioning this story. Sometimes only ideas or themes are taken from the story. I dont remember exactly what i said in commentary on the dvd, but i would still maintain that beowulf had not been filmed when we took it on. Beowulf and grendel filmed in iceland, this is awardwinning director sturla gunnarsons vision of the anglosaxon epic. I picture the director ranting at her in icelandic, while a very polite translator. Beowulf simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The movie was a joint venture between canada, england, and iceland and released to festivals. This collapsing of the poem is furthered when the moorwen has offspring partway through the. It gives us some sympathy for the troll grendel and has some amusing comic relief in the telling of the story. On the whole, i thought the filmmaker was confused by it, and was forced by his. Beowulf and grendel gerard butler dot net officially. Beowulf and grendel is not the action movie with a public domain lit wrapping that i have always assumed it was. June 15, 2005, toronto international film festival. Grendel is the last surviving member of a primitive tribe. It stars gerard butler as beowulf, stellan skarsgard as hrothgar, ingvar eggert sigur. Shot along icelands rocky southern coast, it wisely. The ambitions are welcome and some things here work well. Released in 2005, the movie was filmed in numerous locations throughout iceland. Net officially unofficial fan site dedicated to the career of scottish actor gerard butler, gb. The warrior beowulf ray winstone must fight and defeat the monster grendel crispin glover, who is terrorizing denmark, and later, grendels mother angelina jolie, who begins killing out of revenge.
Donuts 1995 and subsequently wrote the futureset tv movie borealis 20. The film was beautiful to behold breathtaking scenery of iceland set alongside a moving and powerful score. The movie deviates from the legend some as it expands certain elements. The harsh weather conditions lent an authentic atmosphere to the production. Beowulf 1999 film beowulf and grendel 2005 film grendel 2007 film. June 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message.
Grendel has no grudge against the geats, and will not attack them. Despite the impressive icelandic scenery, beowulf and grendel fails to find its. Beowulf and grendel movie news, pictures and info featuring gerard butler. Keeping the monster alive also dovetails with the actionfilm formula in which a hero the dashing gerard butler as beowulf battles a villain. This adaptation, filmed in iceland, is faithful to beowulfs tone, but makes many changes to the story. The movie, filmed without cgi on location in iceland, hosts a true. When beowulfs men finally track the monster to his lair, they find a way to provoke him. Please help by replacing imdb with thirdparty reliable sources. Written at some point between the seventh and 10th centuries, the original beowulf tells the story of a warrior who saves the danes from the great monster grendel and the creatures vengeful. Film notoriety awaits beowulf uk news the guardian. In 2006, a documentary of the making of beowulf and. This movie is beautiful, better than the one with angelina joli, in my. In 2005 peter he was appointed chairman of the visioninc group of.
This is purely a medieval action flick with plotting loosely based on the original epic poem. The story of beowulf has often been told in books, plays, and films. Gerard butler dot net officially unofficial gerard butler web source. Some of the interviews on the dvd special features are also interesting, particularly the ones about filming in arctic gales. Imdb may not be a reliable source for film and television information and is generally only cited as an external link. I met with sturla and he said he wanted to do a movie in iceland. The desire to write beowulf and grendel started when i was a kid, explains berzins. Out of allegiance to the king hrothgar, the much respected lord of the danes, beowulf leads a troop of warriors across the sea to rid a village of the marauding monster.
Here is information about some of the best and most noteworthy film adaptations of beowulf. You can also take in beautiful landscapes as iceland was its filming location. The story filmed in iceland plays out in a brutish northern europe where the reign of the manygods is giving way to one the. Sometimes the full story is told, sometimes just parts of the story. The audacity of having neil gaimann rewrite the story through the neurotic lens of a writer obsessed with symbolism is bold and exciting from the standpoint of movie production in general though i cant understand why beowulf would lend itself to that. So whats your favorite movie or tv show filmed in iceland. A iceland, but one might suppose it to be b iceland, not, as one might suppose, in c iceland, however, one might suppose it. The film is a cooperative effort between eurasia motion pictures canada spice factory u. The monster, grendel, is not a creature of mythic powers, but one of flesh and blood immense flesh and raging.
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