Stardust (2007 film)
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| Stardust | |
|---|---|
| Image:Stardust promo poster.jpg Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Matthew Vaughn |
| Written by | Novel: Neil Gaiman Screenplay: Jane Goldman Matthew Vaughn |
| Narrated by | Ian McKellen |
| Starring | Charlie Cox Claire Danes Michelle Pfeiffer Robert De Niro Ricky Gervais Mark Strong Peter O'Toole |
| Music by | Ilan Eshkeri |
| Cinematography | Ben Davis |
| Editing by | Jon Harris |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 10, 2007 |
| Running time | 128 min. |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $88.5 million[1] |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Stardust is a 2007 fantasy film directed by Matthew Vaughn. The film is based on Neil Gaiman's novella of the same name, illustrated by Charles Vess, originally published by DC Comics, and stars an ensemble cast including Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, Nathaniel Parker, Peter O'Toole, David Kelly, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sienna Miller, Mark Heap and Charlie Cox. In addition, it is narrated by Sir Ian McKellen.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
| The plot summary in this article or section is too long compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
The story begins around 150 years ago, in an English town named Wall, which is built beside a wall that is a portal to a magical realm of Stormhold. After a young man named Dunstan Thorne (Ben Barnes) crosses the wall, he meets a captured princess named Una (Kate Magowan) who is used as the slave of the witch Ditchwater Sal (Melanie Hill). She gives him a glass flower, which she claims will bring him incredible luck, for the price of a kiss. Dunstan makes love to her and returns through the portal to his hometown of Wall by the morning. Nine months later, Una sends him a baby in a basket, their infant son, Tristan.
Eighteen years later, the King of Stormhold (Peter O'Toole) is dying, and his four surviving sons (Septimus, Primus, Tertius, and Secundus) fight over who will be the next king while their three brothers already dead (Quartus, Quintus, and Sextus) look on as ghosts. After Secundus (Rupert Everett) appears late, and is tricked into being pushed off a balcony by Septimus (Mark Strong), he becomes a ghost as well. The King turns a ruby into a diamond and says that whichever son retrieves it and returns it to a ruby will be king. The ruby knocks a star out of the sky, which the grown Tristan Thorne (Charlie Cox) sees. Tristan promises to retrieve the star for the beautiful yet conventional Victoria (Sienna Miller) to prove his love for her. However, at the same time, three witch sisters, Lamia, Empusa, and Mormo, see the falling star, and Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), leaves to capture it. By devouring its heart, she and her sisters will be restored to beauty and power. Tristan tries to cross the wall, but the guard, in spite of his old age, manages to stop him.
Now an adult, Dunstan (Nathaniel Parker) gives Tristan the glass flower and a package left with him by his mother, which contains a letter and a Babylon candle that allows one to travel wherever one wishes. Though intending to travel to his mother, Tristan accidentally thinks of Victoria and the fallen star and instead finds himself at the star's crash site in Stormhold and ends up bowling over a startled young woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes), who, it turns out, is the star. Tristan resolves to take her back to Victoria anyway and traps her with an enchanted chain and promising her the remains of the Babylon candle if she comes with him to Victoria. Meanwhile, Septimus kills Tertius and the Bishop with a glass of wine. Primus survives, as he drank the one glass of unpoisoned wine (intended for the Bishop).
Yvaine manages to escape Tristan with the help of a Unicorn, but is lured into a trap by Lamia, who is posing as an innkeeper. The stars whisper to Tristan while he sleeps, telling him he must protect 'their sister' Yvaine. Tristan convinces Primus, who is passing by on a coach, to let him join him and the pair arrive at the Inn. There, Lamia kills Primus by slitting his throat (leaving Septimus as the only remaining son and putative heir), and both Yvaine and Tristan barely escape with their lives when Tristan uses the stub of his Babylon candle to transport them "home"; but because they have differing ideas of home, they go halfway between both the sky and Earth and are stranded on clouds.
Tristan and Yvaine are captured by the "notorious" Captain Shakespeare (Robert De Niro) on a flying pirate ship, but he reveals that he is secretly a flamboyant cross dresser who shuns killing, is very proud of his reputation, and used to dream of crossing the Wall to England like Tristan dreams of traveling to far away places. He teaches them various things, such as fencing, the piano, and the waltz. Shakespeare drops off Yvaine and Tristan near Wall (and gives advice to Tristan that his true love may be the star). Shortly afterwards, Shakespeare's crew saves him from Septimus, who is now tracking Yvaine as well, since he wants both the ruby that she carries and her heart, so that he can gain immortality and rule forever. After Septimus fled the ship, the crew reveal they always knew the Captain was a "whoopsie".
Meanwhile, Tristan and Yvaine meet Sal, who still has Una as her prisoner, but in the form of a bluebird (leaving her unable to speak to her son). Sal tricks Tristan into giving up his magic flower (which protects the wearer from magic) for a ride to the wall and turns him into a dormouse out of spite. As they travel, Yvaine admits her love to Tristan who doesn't seem to notice anything but his piece of cheese. Sal keeps her end of the bargain and changes him back to human form and in an inn, Tristan asks if Yvaine meant what she said in the caravan. Shocked and confused, she is comforted by Tristan who reveals he loves her as well.
While Yvaine sleeps, Tristan leaves her to deliver a lock of her hair to Victoria, intending to tell his former love that he has found the star, but no longer wishes to marry her. While in England, Tristan noticed that Yvaine's hair has turned into fragments of rock, stardust, showing that she cannot enter his land and keep her human form. Shocked, he quickly goes to return to her. At the same time, Lamia, Yvaine, Una, and Ditchwater Sal meet at the border between Wall and Stormhold (Yvaine believes that Tristan has returned to marry Victoria and intends to enter Wall to find him. Una steals Sal's caravan to warn her that if she enters Wall, Yvaine will turn into a rock). Lamia kills Sal, freeing Una from her chain, however after Una tries to protect Yvaine from the witch, both are taken captives by the sisters. Septimus and Tristan form an uneasy alliance and rush to save Yvaine, whose heart Lamia is about to take. In the ensuing battle, Lamia's sisters are killed, but Lamia kills Septimus in turn and reanimates his corpse to attack Tristan. Tristan crushes him with a chandelier. Lamia feigns grief over the deaths of her sisters and pretends to let the couple leave, but then locks them in to kill them. Yvaine tells Tristan to hold her, which sets off a massive burst of starlight so intensely bright that Lamia is killed. Yvaine tells Tristan that she could only do that when she was truly happy, as she was now that she knows he loves her.
Una reveals that she was the only daughter of the King of Stormhold, which makes her son, Tristan, the throne's only surviving male heir. After retrieving the gem from the necklace Yvaine had been carrying, the red from the colourless ruby returns, proving that Tristan is of royal blood. In the end Tristan becomes the new king with Yvaine as his queen. At the coronation, Una, now reunited with Dunstan, presents Yvaine with a Babylon candle. After eighty years of ruling (once their children and grandchildren have grown up), Tristan and Yvaine light the Babylon candle and travel into the heavens, where they become twin stars.
[edit] Cast
- Charlie Cox as Tristan Thorne
- Claire Danes as Yvaine
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Lamia
- Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare
- Henry Cavill as Humphrey
- Sienna Miller as Victoria Forrester
- Ricky Gervais as Ferdy the Fence
- Peter O'Toole as King of Stormhold
- Nathaniel Parker as Dunstan Thorne
- Mark Strong as Septimus
- Rupert Everett as Secundus
- Jason Flemyng as Primus
- Mark Heap as Tertius
- Adam Buxton as Quintus
- Julian Rhind-Tutt as Quartus
- David Walliams as Sextus
- Melanie Hill as Ditchwater Sal
- Kate Magowan as Una
- Sarah Alexander as Empusa
- Joanna Scanlan as Mormo
- Ben Barnes as Young Dunstan Thorne
- David Kelly as Guard
- Mark Williams as Billy
- Dexter Fletcher as Skinny Pirate
- Ian McKellen as Narrator
[edit] Production
[edit] Optioning
The 1998 fantasy novel Stardust by Neil Gaiman was first optioned for the movies by Miramax in 1998-9. According to Gaiman, the film went "through an unsatisfactory development period", and he recovered the rights after they expired.[2] Eventually, discussions about a film version of Stardust began taking place between Gaiman, director Terry Gilliam and Matthew Vaughn. After Gilliam dropped out following his involvement with The Brothers Grimm, Vaughn left the talks to direct Layer Cake. Gaiman and Vaughn resumed talks after the director walked away from helming the film X-Men: The Last Stand and in January 2005, Vaughn acquired the option to develop the film adaptation.[3] In October 2005, the director entered final negotiations with Paramount Pictures to direct and produce Stardust with a budget estimated at $65 million (US).[4]
[edit] Writing
The adapted screenplay was written by Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman. When asked how the book inspired his vision for the movie, he said that he wanted "to do Princess Bride with a Midnight Run overtone."[5] One of the difficulties with adapting the novel was its earnest and dark nature: an adult fairy tale in which sex and violence are presented unflinchingly. As a result of changes, the movie version has a greater element of whimsy and humor, with Gaiman's blessing given to screenwriters Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn. Gaiman did not want people to go the theater to see a film that attempted to be completely loyal to Stardust the book and failed.[6] After creating the audiobook version of the novel, Gaiman realized that there was 10 1/2 hours of material in the book. This led him to acknowledge that the film would have to compress the novel, leaving out portions of the work. Budgetary concerns also factored into the adaptation, even with the level of 2006 technology. [7]
Vaughn and Goldman decided that the witches needed names (as in the book they were collectively Lilim); their Classical decisions included a reference to The Books of Magic (Empusa) and Neverwhere (Lamia).[8]
[edit] Locations
In mid-April 2006, principal filming took place in Wester Ross, in the Scottish Highlands[9] followed immediately by filming on the Isle of Skye.
Several nights and days of location filming also took place in the woods near Ashridge Business school, Hertfordshire in June.[10] In summer 2006, there was some filming at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire and in the village of Castle Combe, Wiltshire. Filming was finished by July 13, 2006.[11]
One film location was on Elm Hill in Norwich. The area, with a mixture of Tudor and medieval buildings dating as far back as the 11th century, was transformed into the streets of Stormhold. The Briton's Arms tea house became the Slaughtered Prince public house. The owners were so enthralled with the new look - including a spectacular mural and new thatching - that they appealed to the local council and English Heritage to keep it. However, their request was refused.
[edit] Casting
In March 2006, the studio cast actors and actresses Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, and Sienna Miller entered into Stardust, with production started to begin in the UK and Iceland in April 2006, with the majority of filming taking place in the UK. [12] Vaughn himself picked Danes, Cox and Pfeiffer for their roles. He intended Captain Shakespeare to be played by either De Niro or Jack Nicholson. Stephen Fry was pitched as a possible Shakespeare, but Vaughn eventually picked De Niro. [13]
[edit] Reception
Stardust was released on August 10 2007 in the United States in 2,540 theaters, earning US $9,169,779 in its opening weekend (an average of $3,610 per theater). The film also opened the same day in Russia and the rest of the Commonwealth of Independent States, earning $8,788,726 as of September 2 2007. Stardust has earned $134,000,610 worldwide as of December 9 2007. [14]
The film rates 75% at the movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[15] The film has received Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop rating of 65% from major news outlets.[16] On another aggregator, Metacritic, Stardust received a 66% rating based on 33 reviews.[17] Stardust was released in the UK and Ireland on October 19 2007, where it enjoyed particularly strong reception and box office success.
Associated Press film critic David Germain named the film the #7 best film of 2007.[18]
[edit] DVD and HD DVD release
The film was released on both Region 1 DVD and HD DVD on December 18,2007.The DVD was released in both Fullscreen and Widescreen aspect ratios.[19] The HD DVD and DVD special features include:
- Good Omens: The Making of Stardust
- Deleted scenes
- Blooper reel
- Theatrical trailer
The film and special features on the HD DVD version are presented in 2.35:1 Widescreen high definition 1080p and feature a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio soundtrack. [20]
The film will be released for Region 2 DVD and HD DVD on February 25, 2008.
[edit] Music
- Dimmu Borgir's song "Eradication Instincts Defined" is featured in both the UK and USA trailers.
- British pop band Take That have written and recorded the theme for the film titled "Rule the World", featuring Gary Barlow on lead vocals. The song is not featured on the soundtrack to the motion picture. However, the song was released as a single for Take That on October 22, 2007 in the UK.
- U.S. record label Decca Records released a soundtrack album featuring Ilan Eshkeri's score on September 11, 2007. However, the song "Rule the World" was not included on the album.[21] The soundtrack is available for purchase from Apple's iTunes store.
- Prelude 2 in C Minor from the first book of the "Well-Tempered Klavier" by Johann Sebastian Bach was adapted for use in the first part of the scene at Lamia's inn.
- Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, No 6 in D Major by Antonín Dvořák was adapted for use for the dancing scene aboard the flying ship
- "The Galop Infernal" from Jacques Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld", more commonly known as the "Can-Can", was used for the fight on the pirate ship.
[edit] References
- ^ Archie Thomas. "London shoots up 18% while U.K. prod'n falls", Variety, 2006-01-26. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
- ^ Brooke Tarnoff. "Neil Gaiman, Stardust Interview", UGO: Underground Online. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
- ^ Adam Dawtrey. "Vaughn pushes ahead with 'U.N.C.L.E.' feature", Variety, 2005-01-16. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
- ^ Dave McNary; Nicole Laporte. "Par sprinkles 'Stardust'", Variety, 2005-10-25. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
- ^ Exclusive: Stardust Director Matthew Vaughn
- ^ Anthony Breznican. "Storyteller Gaiman wishes upon a star". Retrieved on 2007-09-27.
- ^ Brooke Tarnoff. "Neil Gaiman, Stardust Interview", UGO: Underground Online. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
- ^ Neil Gaiman's Journal: April 2006
- ^ "Highland films screened at Cannes", BBC.co.uk, 2006-05-12. Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
- ^ "OLV INTERNATIONAL Road Trip: The Enchanting Locations of Stardust". Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
- ^ "OLV INTERNATIONAL Road Trip: The Enchanting Locations of Stardust". Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
- ^ Michael Fleming. "A sprinkling of 'Stardust'", Variety, 2006-03-06. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
- ^ Damon Wise. "Stardust is a fairytale like no other", The Times, 2007-09-29. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Stardust (2007). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
- ^ Stardust. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
- ^ Stardust - Cream of the Crop. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
- ^ Stardust (2007): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
- ^ David Germain; Christy Lemire (2007-12-27). 'No Country for Old Men' earns nod from AP critics. Associated Press, via Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
- ^ http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=66107
- ^ http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1137/stardust.html
- ^ http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=21218707
[edit] External links
- Official movie page
- US Trailer (including HD versions)
- Stardust Soundtrack Review at Tracksounds
- European Premiere video
- Stardust at the Internet Movie Database
- Stardust at Metacritic
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