BGN had the pleasure of attending the first official Hall H panel at Comic-Con 2022 featuring Paramount Picture’s Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The film is set for a March 3, 2022 release.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is based on the game by Dave Arneson and E. Gary Gygax. The film is co-directed and co-written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, writers of Spider-Man: Homecoming. It stars a killer cast including Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and the Furious), Chris Pine (Star Trek, 2009), Regé-Jean Page (Bridgerton), and Justice Smith (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu). Sophia Lillis (IT, 2017), Hugh Grant (The Undoing), Chloe Coleman (My Spy), and Daisy Head (Shadow and Bone).
Today’s panel was moderated by Twitch star Karl Jacobs and featured producer Jeremy Latchman (Iron Man), director/writers John and Jonathan, and cast members Chris, Michelle, Regé-Jean, Sophia, and Hugh. The crowd in Hall H got a glimpse of a behind-the-scenes featurette of the making of Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. They also got a sneak peek of a scene from the film and the official trailer before it was released online.
It was a fun panel. The team was excited to share content with the fans. Jumping right in, the group talked about their personal experiences with D&D. Jonathan talked about playing the game as a kid with his older brother. John mentioned how he’s been an avid player since he was 14 and the show Freaks and Geeks.
Michelle is all about D&D. She said: “I grew up in Jersey. You don’t grow up in Jersey without playing D&D. It’s just what you do.” Regé said he’s always been “D&D adjacent.” He continued: “I was picked on at school as being weird and foreign. I went home and made angry guitar music and played Chrono Trigger as Diablo.”
For Chris and Hugh, the game D&D was a new experience. Chris mentioned his 13-year-old nephew being obsessed. They had a family game night and played D&D. “I had this idea,” said Chris, “D&D should be played in every high school or school across the nation.” Speaking in John Hughes terms, Chris mentions how you can get the bully, the jock, and everyone all in a room, and in 20 minutes, no one would remember the class they were in. “They would just want to play and laugh,” he said. I think we have gained a fellow nerd.
Then there is Hugh Grant. Karl mentioned jokingly how Hugh has always been a lifelong D&D fan. Michelle quickly chimed in: “I think you’ve mixed it up with S&M.” The crowd went wild, not sure what to make of the joke.
The crowd got anxious as Hugh began to speak with a straight face. “She’s not wrong,” he states plainly. The crowd erupts. “I’ve been an enthusiastic dungeon master for some years. That’s a British pastime. A national sport almost. I believe that’s why the Jonathans thought of me for this.” Laughter roared through the hall. We hadn’t even got to the content of the film, and everyone loved it.
The trailer hints that the main plot follows this group of thieves who have unknowingly stolen the wrong item for the wrong person. In an attempt to fix this wrong, they go on a quest and make enemies. Not much to go on, but here are some takeaways from the panel about Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves:
No Medieval times film would be complete without the perfect background. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was filmed in Northern Ireland.
John Francis Daley: One of the biggest challenges was trying to find…well, we wanted them to go through this wheat or oat field that was not green. In Northern Ireland, that is way harder than it actually seems. We went on hours and hours of location scouts trying to find a yellow field, and you’d think that that wouldn’t be that hard. But we finally, after like 12 hours of scouting, found this oat field that we ended up buying acres of oats from so that we could film on it.
Not only is the cast fun and full of amazing chemistry, but the film itself is also funny!
Hugh Grant: found the script incredibly funny. I hate all scripts. I’m notoriously negative. To my astonishment, I was sent this thing, which really made me laugh. I thought it had a real Monty Python vibe to it. You know, such as the clip you just saw. That was the main thing and quite a juicy role for me.
D&D is known for its monsters and creatures. For Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, there is a fusion of practical and special effects from the people that gave us Grogu, Legacy Effects.
Jonathan Goldstein: [It’s] the chance to bring to life these creatures, these places, these people that we’ve only been able to sort of image in our heads and to give solid matter to them is such a thrill. You’re gonna see things today and then eventually when the movie comes out that you’ve been playing, that we’ve been imagining for years. Now that we have the visual effects, technology, and also practical effects in the movie, we’re able to bring those to life and that’s just so exciting.
The filmmakers did everything they could to make sure Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves delivered the right D&D content including Wizards of the Coast, Critical Role, and studio consultants.
Goldstein: We worked at every step of the way with the Wizards of the Coast, who were an invaluable resource for us from before, when we were writing the script, all the way through production to try and make sure that what we were doing was in line with the lore. So, I think hardcore fans, hopefully, they’ll see, the reality of the game reflected in there. And for those who don’t know the game very well, it’s still going to work because it’s a fun movie.
The Paramount Pictures and eOne production premieres March 3, 2023 in theaters.
