BOARD OF THE RINGS
The Game Night directors roll the dice again…
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOUR AMONG THIEVES
DIRECTORS JOHN FRANCIS DALEY, JONATHAN
GOLDSTEIN STARRING CHRIS PINE, REGÉ-JEAN PAGE,
MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ, HUGH GRANT ETA 3 APRIL
Outside of The Princess Bride, fantasy films are rarely funny. They often trudge along telling all-too-serious tales of Elves with pointy ears fighting Orcs with nose piercings without anyone making a single joke. Perhaps that’s why Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves seems so surprising: it has a real sense of humour.
Look behind the camera, however, and that’s no surprise at all. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the directors of Game Night and co-writers of Spider-Man: Homecoming, helm the upcoming adventure. The duo are not only avid D&D players, but they wanted their film – which stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page and
Hugh Grant – to capture the joyous spirit of the hugely popular role-playing game.
“It’s that freedom and fun,” Goldstein tells Total Film. “It’s a big, serious world, but the players can take it as seriously as they choose to. It’s such a great playground to have fun in. That’s how we approach the film.” Daley, his creative partner, adds: “You can have fun with the situations, even though you’re never undermining the stakes or taking the piss out of them.”
With Honour Among Thieves, the duo re-teamed with Spider-Man producer Jeremy Latcham for what they describe as a heist movie. “Our movie’s about an ensemble of imperfect people,” he says. “That is, to me, the thing that makes it always fun. It’s a found family.”
A fantasy-cum-comedy-cum-heist movie? Sounds like a recipe for something magical – and you don’t even need to find a Dungeon Master.