by Conan Simmons – March 2, 2021 – 6:04 pm
Hugh Grant has signed on to play the big bad guy opposite a heroic Chris Pine in the fantasy adventure, ‘Dungeons and Dragons’. Sophia Lillis and ‘Bridgerton’ breakout star Regé-Jean Page have also joined the cast which already includes Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith.
Based on the classic role playing game that first gained notice in 1974 when game creators Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson published the rule book that started it all.
The directors of ‘Game Night’, Johnathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, will direct and write the final script after a draft by Michael Gilio. Toy making company Hasbro is producing through its production division, eOne, with Jeremy Latham and Brian Goldner as producers.
Hasbro/eOne will take on distribution of the film in the U.K. and Canada with Paramount Pictures taking distribution for rest of the world.
Filming is gearing up to take place in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
‘Dungeons & Dragons’ first made it to the big screen in a widely panned feature released in 2000 starring Jeremy Irons. In spite of bad reviews two sequels were made.
Hasbro is also in development on a live action television series based on the game. The series is currently being scribed by ‘John Wick’ writer Derek Kolstad, who is also writer for upcoming Disney+ Marvel series ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’. The new D&D series will compete directly with Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ series and ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel series, ‘House of the Dragon’ from HBO Max.
Hollywood first took notice of the role playing game as a plot device in the early 1980’s. A notable curiosity is the made for television film, ‘Mazes and Monsters’ from 1982 starring a then unknown Tom Hanks. It was inspired by the 1979 disappearance and suicide of Michigan State University student, James Dallas Egbert III, which caused a media frenzy and created a lot of controversy around the role playing game throughout the 1980’s.