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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 2000)
Friday, Dfr.1 Hiiday, December 8, 2000 ’s inB tions rings i ei dea: • Texas (API A/ho wory ganizationsj Dallas Cot lethal dose! ; ted Thurs; nspiracyto'l caine, 'ants, Jesus lis Perez, d FavianRi! laxin md a $4 mij Jntenced^ to testin i Shermc t/o drugnnftl as and [ nembersoll e indicted | 'uiltyj s being e competercj ges agaiiisj d. dthegrosj California* distrib rth Texas, mer offers,si /s, died tel in and at -- com WHS, 1 111 ITH THE By \TT AGGIE/z/e Page 3A THE BATTALION 'ungeons and Dragons director Courtney Solomon alks about budget hurdles and making his first film y Matt McCormick "he Battalion Doctors think they have it bad because [hey have to go to school for 10 years. Mo ody thinks that filmmakers have as much ledication as doctors, but then again, they lave never met Courtney Solomon. Solomon icquired the film rights to the role-playing ame Dungeons & Dragons 10 years ago. Since that time, the Canadian has been working tirelessly to put the story on the big screen. With hard work and determination, Solomon finally got the financing to make the film. Dungeons & Dragons will be open ing around the country today, and, with a $35 million budget, is one of the most expensive efforts by a first-time director. Starring Jere my Irons, Bruce Payne, Thora Birch and Marlon Wayans, this film cannot be dis Wh k section .oryaboi j victims':: ering Universe • missed as mere hack. Q: Why this film first? It seems like such an ambitious undertaking for a first- time director. A: It is a really large first-time film. It was just the type of film I always wanted to make. I figure whether you make a $2 million film or you make this type of film as your first film, you have to be passionate about what you do. Obviously, the audience and every one else has a different opinion about the re sults at the end of the day; but you yourself in making it, because of the work and dedi cation, have to be passionate about it. I love Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). There was the problem of the D&D fans and their expecta tions and then the mass market and introduc ing Dungeons & Dragons to them in a way that they could understand and in a way that would be commercially viable. The two are different. We had to find a way to get in the middle of them as best we could. Q: How pleased are you with the final cut of the film? A: There are parts of it that I am not hap py with because I did not have enough mon ey. So I had to cut things that should have been done in the script while I was there. They could not have been done to the quali ty level of everything else. Obviously, we had to be super-resourceful with our money be cause even though it looks like we had a lot of money, we did not for this kind of film. Ordinarily, you could get $80 to $100 million to do this type of film. Ultimately, I am generally hap py with the whole vision. I think the movie plays nicely to an audience. My whole goal with the movie was not to create an Oscar-winning, crit ically acclaimed film like Brave- heart. My goal was to create a fun, popcorn movie that people would enjoy and be entertained by. You walk out and say, “that was fun.” Q: You assembled such an amazing cast for this movie. How closely did you work with them in creating this other universe? A: I worked with them a lot. We did full read-throughs, and they added a lot along the way. Marlon does a lot of ad-libbing on the set and that is how he does his best work. One thing we all decided uni laterally when we started this thing was we are all in this fantasy world and people have to suspend their disbelief when they walk into this movie. This place does not really ex ist. So all the characters, sort of like the world, have to be bigger than life. It is like a live-action cartoon in that respect. You can tell that the cast is all having fun. Q: II ow comforting was it to have such a talented crew around you? A: It was really comforting. If you go out as a first-timer, you want to have all of these really super-ex perienced people around you in the key positions. Considering our bud get, we could only have certain ones in certain categories who were su per-great. Q: Did you ever doubt yourself during the shoot? A: No, not really. Like I said, there were times I was disappointed. But 1 never really had much doubt. Q: How difficult was it working with the actors for composite shots when they were acting against a blue screen? A: Pretty hard. Most of it was story board ed and that was nice. It was still pretty hard. It is a lot harder for the actors because they are acting against nothing and that makes your job a lot harder because you really have to be explaining things to them. Q: What are you looking at for a follow up? A: I do not know. There are a lot of scripts here right now. 1 think right now just taking a deep breath and hoping this one does well. Then I will decide which kind I want to tack le next. I think I want to stay in this genre. Certainly, this was written as a trilogy so, if this one is successful, we will make a sequel. Q: Who were your influences in making this film? A: Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Loved their movies. Loved Jim Cameron movies. David Lean movies if you really go back. Lawrence of Arabia was an incredible movie. I would love to do something like that.
