Stardust (2007 film)

The illustrated fantasy story Stardust was created by Neil Gaiman, with art by Charles Vess. It was first published by DC Comics in 1997 as a prestige format four-issue comic mini-series. Encouraged by publisher Avon, Gaiman decided to adapt Stardust, and in 1999, it was republished as a conventional novel in hardback without illustrations. Gaiman has compared the story to a fantasy version of the 1934 romantic comedy film It Happened One Night.[9][10]

In 1998, Stardust was optioned for a film adaptation by Bob Weinstein at Miramax. Gaiman wrote a treatment, and then Ehren Kruger wrote a treatment.[10] Gaiman described the process as "an unsatisfactory development period", and he recovered the rights after they expired. For years, Gaiman refused offers to develop the film. Having seen the disappointing results of the hands-off approach taken by Alan Moore, Gaiman preferred to retain control and influence the development of the film.[11][12]

Eventually, discussions about a film version of Stardust took place between Gaiman, director Terry Gilliam, and producer Matthew Vaughn. Gilliam dropped out following his involvement with The Brothers Grimm and not wanting to do another fairy tale. Vaughn left to produce Layer Cake but then became the director for the first time for that project. After Vaughn withdrew from helming the film X-Men: The Last Stand, talks resumed and in January 2005, Vaughn acquired the option to develop Stardust.[13] In October 2005, the director entered final negotiations with Paramount Pictures to write, direct, and produce Stardust with a budget estimated at $70–88.5 million.[14] Vaughn said half the financing for the film was British.[15][16]

The adapted screenplay was written by Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman, who had been recommended by Gaiman.[12][10] When asked how the book inspired his vision for the film, Vaughn said that he wanted "to do Princess Bride with a Midnight Run overtone."[17] 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. With Gaiman's blessing given to the screenwriters, the movie version has a greater element of whimsy and humour. Gaiman did not want people to go to the theatre to see a film that attempted, but failed, to be completely loyal to the book.[18] After creating the audiobook version of the novel, Gaiman realised that there were 10½ 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.[11] Gaiman understood the need to move the plot along faster: "In the book, Tristan crosses the wall, meets a strange creature, goes through the wood of vampire trees and, as his reward, gets the Babylon candle. Now we skip that. He gets the candle and just lights it and gets to Yvaine earlier. Otherwise, that would take an hour." Also the newly created character of Ferdy the Fence was used to push people together faster.[19] Vaughn acknowledges the changes from the book were substantial. The character of Captain Shakespeare was expanded extensively from the novel, where Captain Alberic is only briefly mentioned, and the last half hour of the film is almost entirely different from the book.[15]

Vaughn and Goldman decided that the witches needed names, as in the book they were collectively the Lilim. They chose names from classical sources that coincidentally included names found in Gaiman's The Books of Magic (Empusa) and Neverwhere (Lamia).[20]

On the film's differences from the novel, Gaiman commented, "I sort of feel like my grounding in comics was actually very useful because in my head, that's just the Earth-Two version of Stardust. It's a parallel Earth version of Stardust, which has Robert De Niro and stuff. And I get people who come to the book from having loved the movie who are really disappointed at some of the stuff that isn't there that Matthew brought."[21] Responding to a fan's statement about preferring the film's climax compared to the book, Gaiman clarified that he in fact had suggested the different ending that the film ended up using and liked it better for the film but liked the book ending better for the book.[22]

Claire Danes promoting Stardust

In March 2006, the studio cast Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, and Sienna Miller. Production began in the United Kingdom and Iceland in April 2006, with the majority of filming taking place in the UK.[23] Vaughn 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.[24]

Vaughn insisted on an unknown actor for the part of Tristan.[17][24][25] Cox was tentatively cast as Tristan, but to ensure the leads had chemistry on screen Vaughn would not confirm the casting until both leads were cast. Vaughn had Cox audition alongside the prospective leading actresses until the female lead was cast.[25] Cox had worked alongside Miller before, and played a small supporting as her brother in the 2005 film Casanova.[25]

Sarah Michelle Gellar was offered the role of Yvaine but turned it down, not wanting to be apart from husband Freddie Prinze Jr. while he was filming in the U.S.[26]

The role of Quintus was originally given to comedian Noel Fielding, but due to health issues he had to drop out and was replaced by another comedian Adam Buxton.[27]

Locations used in Scotland included the area surrounding the Quiraing, on the Isle of Skye.

The production started filming in mid-April 2006, with principal photography taking place at Pinewood Studios in London. Location filming started in Wester Ross, in the Scottish Highlands[28] followed immediately by filming on the Isle of Skye. The scene where Prince Septimus consults the soothsayer was shot in Iceland.[29] The film makers had wanted to use more locations in Iceland but were unable to get the horses they needed.[30][10]

Several weeks of location filming also took place in the woods and the Golden Valley near Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, in June and July.[31] In mid-2006, there was some filming at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire and in the village of Castle Combe, Wiltshire. Some of the scenes requiring wide open spaces for riding and coach scenes were filmed at Bicester Airfield in Oxfordshire.

Another 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.[32] 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, but their request was refused. Filming also took place in Wales, at the Brecon Beacons National Park.[33][34]

The design of the witches' lair was inspired by the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles in France, but with black instead of white and silver instead of gold.[17]

Filming was finished by 13 July 2006.[31]

The film required 830 visual effects (VFX) shots which were supervised by Peter Chiang and produced by Tim Field. Double Negative supervised 350 shots, and other work was shared out among six other companies including LipSync Post, Cinesite, The Senate, Baseblack, Machine and Rushes. Mattes & Miniatures provided miniatures. The pirate skyship set was shot against a 360 degree greenscreen and required fully CG backgrounds and digital extending the size and the bow of the ship. Some distance shots of ship were entirely CG. Yvaine required a star glow effect for more than eighty shots.[35][36] Two of the witches required a signature magical effect, Lamia had a green fire effect created using a combination of particle animation and joint-driven soft body ribbons, and Sal had a black smoke effect, created by turning animated geometry into a target-driven fluid simulation. The age transformation of Lamia was achieved using composite of multiple motion control plates, including a pass in the full prosthetic makeup, the transformed youthful Lamia, and a pass where the hair was pulled through a dummy head, played in reverse to give the appearance of hair growing, composited and blended with a procedural glow effect. Twenty feet of The Wall was built on location as a practical effect and extended into the distance using digital painting. VFX were completed by February 2007.[35]

The film score was composed by Ilan Eshkeri, who previously worked with Vaughn on Layer Cake.[37] Eshkeri was given the script before production began and wrote the first pieces of music inspired by the illustrations of Charles Vess from the graphic novel. Eshkeri was also on set during some of the filming.[38] The score was released by Decca Records on 11 September 2007.[39][40] Eshkeri won the award for Best New Composer of 2007 from the International Film Music Critics Association,[41] and the score was also nominated in the category Best Original Fantasy Score.[42]

• After watching an early cut, British pop band Take That wrote and recorded a song for the film titled "Rule the World", featuring Gary Barlow on lead vocals. The song features in the end credits to the film and was released as a single on 22 October 2007 in the United Kingdom and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart.[43][44][45]
• Dimmu Borgir's song "Eradication Instincts Defined" is featured in both the UK and US trailers.[46]
• Prelude 2 in C Minor from the first book of the "Well-Tempered Clavier" by Johann Sebastian Bach was adapted for use in the first part of the scene at Lamia's Inn.[40]
• Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, No. 6 in D Major by Antonín Dvořák was adapted for use for the dancing scene aboard the flying ship.[40]
• "The Infernal Galop" from Jacques Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld", more commonly known as the "Can-can", plays during the fight between Captain Shakespeare's men and Septimus's men on board the sky vessel.[40]

Stardust was well received by test audiences. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was surprised when the film was well received across all demographics, despite the film not having been designed for everyone, expecting instead for parts of the audience to feel the film was not for them. In their feedback audiences agreed it was not a fairy tale, giving various descriptions of it, such as an adventure with magical elements.[47] A March release had been planned but when Paramount saw its commercial potential it was pushed back to a later date.[17]

Stardust premiered at the Paramount Studio Theatre in Los Angeles on 29 July 2007.[48] The film was later released on 10 August 2007 in the United States. It opened in 2,540 theatres, earning US$9,169,779, an average of $3,610 per theatre, putting it in 4th place, with Rush Hour 3 taking 1st.[49] The film also opened the same day in Russia and the rest of the Commonwealth of Independent States,[50] earning $8,118,263 as of 14 October 2007. In the UK and Ireland, the film was released on 19 October 2007, it came in second at the box office in its opening weekend and spent 8 weeks in the box office top ten.[51][52] Stardust was blocked from release in China due to additional restrictions on foreign films on top of the existing quota system limiting non-Chinese films.[53]

Stardust earned a total of $137,022,245 worldwide.[4] Its biggest markets were the United States, where it made $38 million, and the UK, where it made $31 million (approximately £19.5 million).

Associated Press film critic David Germain put the film in 7th place on his list of the 10 best films of 2007.[69] "Rule the World" was also submitted for consideration at the 80th Academy Awards for Best Original Song but was not nominated.[70]