Stardust (2007 film)

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Stardust

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 Kingdom
United States
Language English
Budget $88.5 million[1]
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Stardust is a 2007 fantasy film from Paramount Pictures, directed by Matthew Vaughn. The film is based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name, illustrated by Charles Vess, originally published by DC Comics, and stars an ensemble cast including Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais, Nathaniel Parker, Peter O'Toole, David Kelly, and Mark Heap. Narration is by Sir Ian McKellen.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Tristan Thorn (Charlie Cox) is the son of Dunstan Thorn and a captive princess. The couple met only one night and fell in love instantly. Unfortunately, when Tristan was born, she was not allowed to keep him and instead sent him to live with his father. She put in his basket a "Babylon candle", and a letter to Tristan explaining everything.

The story then jumps eighteen years to Tristan as a young man, in love with the prettiest girl, Victoria (Sienna Miller) in a small English town (Wall Village). He is desperate to bring her a newly fallen star by her birthday as that is the only way she will agree to marry him. He uses the candle to fly to where the star landed, which is not in England but a magical land called Stormhold. But then he discovers that the star is not what he expected. It is actually a beautiful, immortal and spirited woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes). Despite this, Tristan is determined to marry Victoria and uses a silver chain that his father obtained after trying to free the princess to take Yvaine to England, promising to use the last of the magic candle to take her back to the sky afterwards.

However, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. Yvaine is in terrible danger because the living sons of the King (Peter O'Toole) are looking for her because only the jewel that she carries can secure the throne to one of them. Septimus, one of the princes, later finds out that a star's heart grants immortality so wants to devour her heart so that he can rule the kingdom forever. Additionally the three witches known as "The Lilim" — Mormo, Empusa and the eldest and the most powerful, Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) — want her because they want to recover their beauty and eternal youth.

As Tristan sets out to protect Yvaine and bring her back to his beloved at the other side of the wall his journey brings incredible encounters with the pirate Captain Shakespeare (Robert de Niro) and a shady trader (Ricky Gervais) among others. Yvaine and Tristan fall in love - Yvaine confesses her feelings to Tristan after a witch named Ditchwater Sal turns him into a mouse, Yvaine not realizing that he can still understand her.

After being changed back into a human Tristan is too woozy to continue the journey, and the two stop at an inn. Tristan tells Yvaine that he returns her love. While Yvaine sleeps, Tristan cuts a piece of her hair and goes back to England to tell Victoria that he no longer loves her. However when he tries to give Victoria the hair he finds that it has turned into stardust, or rock. He realizes that Yvaine cannot enter England and stay in human form and hurries back to the other side of the wall to find her.

Unfortunately, he arrives too late. The captive princess, having seen Yvaine solemnly head towards the wall, races to warn her. Lamia, too, heads towards the wall. The princess stops Yvaine just in time, but Ditchwater Sal, who's been keeping the princess captive, attacks her and drags her back to the cart. Lamia confronts Sal and kills her, which sets the princess free. However, Yvaine and the princess are both captured by Lamia and taken back to The Lilim's castle, Yvaine to be killed and the girl to be a servant. Tristan meets Septimus at the castle, and the two decide to attack the witches together. Septimus attacks the captive princess where it is revealed that she is Una, daughter of the King of Stormhold (the ghosts of the other six brothers are delighted to see her). Tristan, with the help of Septimus, manages to defeat Mormo, but Lamia kills Septimus, and Tristan is forced to fight the prince's animated corpse and witches alone. Tristan defeats Empusa and the animated corpse of Septimus, and then confronts Lamia in a fierce battle. During the battle, Lamia nearly kills Tristan, but Yvaine, now knowing that Tristan really loves her, is able to unleash a powerful wave of light that disintegrates Lamia. Tristan picks up the jewel that Yvaine's been carrying, and becomes the next king of the land of Stormhold, with Yvaine at his side as queen. (Una was the king's daughter, making Tristan the last male heir.) It is stated that the two will live forever since Yvaine "gave" him her heart when she fell in love with him. After several generations pass, the two lovers use another Babylon candle that Una gives them to return to the sky, where they become twin stars. And they still live happily ever after.

[edit] Cast

[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 $70 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 the screenwriters. 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 started on Stardust. The production was filmed at Pinewood Studios in London. Location filming started in Wester Ross, in the Scottish Highlands[9] followed immediately by filming on the Isle of Skye. Some parts of the film were also shot in Iceland.

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.[10]

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 Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, and Sienna Miller. Production began in the UK and Iceland in April 2006, with the majority of filming taking place in the UK. [11] 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.[12] Sarah Michelle Gellar was offered the chance to audition for the role of Yvaine but turned it down to spend more time with her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr..[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 $8,118,263 as of October 14 2007. Stardust has earned a total of $135,553,760 worldwide.[14] Its biggest markets were the US where it made $38 million, and the UK where it made $31 million (approx. £16 million GBP).

The film rates 66% at the movie review aggregator Metacritic based on 33 reviews.[15] On another aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, the film received 76% rating.[16] The film has received Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop rating of 65% from major news outlets.[17] Stardust was released in the UK and Ireland on October 19, 2007, where it enjoyed particularly strong reception and box office success, thought to be in part due to the hype created by the release of Take That's "Rule the World" song which feature in the closing credits of the film.[citation needed]

Associated Press film critic David Germain named the film the #7 best film of 2007.[18] The New Yorker’s Bruce Diones called it “more surprising and effective than the usual kiddie-matinée madness.”[19]

[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.[20] The HD DVD and DVD special features include:

  1. Good Omens: The Making of Stardust
  2. Deleted scenes
  3. Blooper reel
  4. 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. [21]

The film was released for Region 2 DVD and HD DVD on February 25, 2008. The only special feature contained on the DVD release was a commentary by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman.

[edit] Music

[edit] References

  1. ^ Archie Thomas. "London shoots up 18% while U.K. prod'n falls", Variety, 2006-01-26. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  2. ^ Brooke Tarnoff. "Neil Gaiman, Stardust Interview", UGO: Underground Online. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  3. ^ Adam Dawtrey. "Vaughn pushes ahead with 'U.N.C.L.E.' feature", Variety, 2005-01-16. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  4. ^ "'Stardust' Author Neil Gaiman Tells Why He Turns Down Most Adaptations — But Not This One", MTV, 2007-08-10. Retrieved on 2008-02-14. 
  5. ^ Exclusive: Stardust Director Matthew Vaughn
  6. ^ Anthony Breznican. "Storyteller Gaiman wishes upon a star". Retrieved on 2007-09-27. 
  7. ^ Brooke Tarnoff. "Neil Gaiman, Stardust Interview", UGO: Underground Online. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  8. ^ Neil Gaiman's Journal: April 2006
  9. ^ "Highland films screened at Cannes", BBC.co.uk, 2006-05-12. Retrieved on 2007-09-03. 
  10. ^ a b "OLV INTERNATIONAL Road Trip: The Enchanting Locations of Stardust". Retrieved on 2007-09-28. 
  11. ^ Michael Fleming. "A sprinkling of 'Stardust'", Variety, 2006-03-06. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  12. ^ Damon Wise. "Stardust is a fairytale like no other", The Times, 2007-09-29. Retrieved on 2007-09-29. 
  13. ^ Sarah Michelle Gellar Turned Down 'Stardust' Role For Her Husband. Retrieved on January 28, 2008.
  14. ^ Stardust (2007). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-10-15..
  15. ^ Stardust (2007): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  16. ^ Stardust. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
  17. ^ Stardust - Cream of the Crop. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-08-14.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ Bruce Diones. 'Stardust review'.
  20. ^ DVD Times - Stardust (R1) in December - New artwork
  21. ^ HD DVD Review: The Bourne Ultimatum | High-Def Digest
  22. ^ General - Stardust Original Soundtrack / 0

[edit] External links

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