Cue the Dragons

Locally made fantasy stars Jeremy Irons and a cast of thousands
By Felicia Morton

D&D has crawled out of the dungeons of the imagination onto the very real cobblestones of Prague.

The $30 million (1 billion Kc) film Dungeons & Dragons, based on the popular role-playing fantasy game, is currently being shot in the Czech Republic. The brainchild of Los Angeles based Sweetpea Entertainment and Prague based Stillking Films, Dungeons & Dragons is the most expensive production filmed entirely in this country.

The film also boasts one of the most respected actors today in the role of chief villain: Jeremy Irons. Irons' participation probably owes something to the presence of exectutive producer Joel Silver, backer of several of the hugely successful Die Hard and Lethal Weapon movies.

The cast list also includes Justin Whalin, of American television's New Adventures of Superman, and Marlon Wayans (In Living Color) alongside Irons' evil Profian. About 2,000 Czech extras, supplied by the Sagitarius casting agency of Prague, have been tapped to play the various and sundry D&D stock characters such as dwarves, elves and of course, dragons.

The production team claims they're sparing neither time nor expense to bring the fantastical realm of D&D to life.

"The American digital special effects crew spent about four months designing the first minute of computer animation alone," says Allen Crawford, digital effects animator with Station X, the digital studio that also worked on Titanic.

That opening shot will take the audience skimming over the toweres of the city of Sumdall. The design of each looming tower is unique. They seem inspired by a ragtag mix of Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine styles with perhaps a bit of Dr. Seuss thrown in. As Crawford puts it, "It's a city that looks as though it's been designed by a madman."

All 11 weeks of shooting are taking place in this country. Locations include Strahov Monastery, Svaty Mikulas church in Mala Strama, Rabi Castle, Lipnice Castle, Kacina Castle and, for a radical contrast, the Prague sewers. In a "council of mages" filmed in the State Opera house, the magical statesmen will preside from the boxes while commoners petition them from a fake-marble floor installed in place of the removed seats. In post-production, digital designers will transform the opera's stage into an enormous window providing a panoramic view over Sumdall.

Apart from the unique locations, Sweetpea Entertainment chose the Czech Republic over Romania, Hungary and Luxembourg for its skilled technicians and the impressive sound stages at Prague's Barrandove Studios. Crucially, this could all be had at a price significantly lower than what the film would have cost in Los Angeles.

"We've saved about $3 million," says Kia Jam, an enthusiastic producer at Sweetpea. "And everything's gone well. We'd like to work in the Czech Republic again."

Dungeons & Dragons was conjured up in the head of director/co-writer/producer Corey Solomon. The 28-year-old, originally from Toronto, Canada, was an avid D&D player nine years ago when he came up with the idea to make a movie about his favorite game.

"My mother was a freelance production coordinator in Toronto, so I grew up in the movie business," he says. With the encouragement of his family, he decided to take his idea to TSR Inc., the creators of D&D.

Between puffs on a Marlboro and swigs of Coke, Solomon reminisces about the seven years of legal battles that ensued with TSR before all sides settled their differences and the film could go ahead.

The team needed acting talent with unusual physical traits to play dwarves and other D&D folk.

Director Corey Solomon (below) is a "dungeon master" turning his dream into celluloid. Kacina Castle (above and below right) is one of the many local sites where elves, dwarves and other D&D   denizens are turning the role-playing fantasy game into a major motion picture.

Although the producers were looking for someone under 5 feet (152 centimeters) to play a tough dwarf called Elwood, 5-foot-4 inch Los Angeles actor Lee Arenberg says he told them "I have a few more inches but a foot more talent than the other short people" they were auditioning. Arenberg says he compensates for his height by walking with a stoop and spreading his legs wide.

Back at the offices of Stillking Films, compnay owner Matthew Stillman does not expect   the film to be "dwarfed" at the box office. Stillman says that Silver's connections at   Warner Bros. could help secure an American distribution deal with the entertainment conglomerate. The film's U.S. release is scheduled for summer, 2000. J&M Entertainment wil distribute the film in Europe the following autumn.

D&D enthusiasts number in the millions worldwide. But will they flock to a film that aims to bring to the wide screen a pseudo-medieval fantasy world normally bound within their imaginations?

Stillman thinks so, based on a healthy estimate of the size of the D&D fan club. "If all of them go and if they bring their partners with them --that's a solid audience base."

Mick Hawk, co-president of Bonton Entertainment, the country's largest film distributor, says, "Any film made here that has a certain buzz about it like this one, ... [and] highlights the talent that this country has to offer, will be great" for the local film industry.

Hawk adds, "Given that D&D is a cult product, this film has the potential to reach a wide audience that hasn't thought of the Czech Republic before."