Fangmeier's fantasy flick firms up
Way back in March, we reported here that Christopher Paolini's bestselling fantasy novel Eragon was set to be turned into a film, directed by special effects guru and ILM veteran Stefen Fangmeier. Well, with shooting due to begin at the start of August, we finally have some more news about the cast - and a toothsome selection it is too.
The big news is that Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Djimon Hounsou have signed on to the cast. They join newcomer Ed Speelers as the title character, a farmboy who discovers a strange stone in the forest that hatches into a baby dragon. Since the ruler of the land, King Galbatorix, declared war on the order of Dragon Riders years before, this discovery puts Eragon – and his new friend – in a considerable amount of danger.
We don't know for sure what characters the actors are playing, but we're going to guess that Irons plays the mentor figure of Brom, a former Dragon Rider himself, while Malkovich may play the rebel leader of the Varden, Ajihad. We're also going to guess that Hounsou plays Murtagh, an exiled knight who befriends Eragon – although he might equally well play the deadly Ra'zac. Basically, we haven't got a blue, but hey! They pay us to speculate.
While Irons' involvement may give those unfortunate enough to have seen it fatal flashbacks to Dungeons and Dragons, we're still hopeful that this will be a rather better beast. Despite repeated attempts, we're still waiting for a really good film with dragons in, and if The Hobbit is ever going to happen, someone needs to prove that big flying lizards can work on the big screen.
Shooting starts on August 1, for a June 16 2006 release date – a positively Spielbergian turnaround time, given that one of the main characters is a dragon. The sequel to Eragon, 'Eldest', is published in August, and – assuming that all goes well on this film – will also be made in due course.
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