The Case of Dragonheart (1996)
Before Hollywood mastered the use of CGI, entire film projects sat in limbo, hoping for the day when technology would be sufficient to bring their stories to life. Although it was possible to bring gigantic monsters to life through practical effects like miniatures and animatronics, the process was arduous and expensive. Furthermore, filmmakers feared that audiences would find the use of older technology to be too corny, outdated, and just not “real” enough.
With each high-budget fantasy or science fiction film of the 80s, the combination of visual and special effects became more seamless. In 1993, when a certain dinosaur film premiered, CGI tricked audiences into believing that prehistoric reptiles could really walk the earth again. In 1996, this same technology brought another kind of reptile to life. This creature isn’t one you will find in your history books, instead, it comes straight from legend.
Dragonheart is the reason that many 90s kids fell in love with dragons. It’s a beautiful story about the bond of friendship between a man and a dragon, mixed with the drama of the dark ages. In this universe, dragons are highly intelligent and magical beings. They aren’t naturally violent, or ruled by instinct alone, and they are being ruthlessly killed by humans.
With its superb acting, intricate set design, groundbreaking special effects, and a breathtaking score, Dragonheart makes a lasting impression. So, let’s travel back to the 10th century and befriend a dragon!
SUMMARY
Bowen is a knight in the 10th century, tasked with training the young Prince Einon in combat. But, when a battle leaves Prince Einon fatherless and mortally wounded, Bowen follows the advice of the queen and takes his student to a nearby dragon. The dragon shares his life force with the king-to-be, saving his life. Now healthy and stronger than ever, Einon seizes power over the kingdom and proves to be a ruthless tyrant. Distraught and angry over what Einon has become, Bowen is convinced that the dragon poisoned the boy’s heart and he sets off on a mission to kill the remaining dragons as revenge.
All that changes, however, when Bowen meets Draco, who claims to be the last of his kind. Together, they form a partnership, scamming villages into paying Bowen for “killing” Draco. On their journeys, they come across a monk named Brother Gilbert, and a woman named Kara, who convinces Bowen to lead a rebellion against the merciless King Einon. As the group fights back against the king, Bowen discovers that he must make an impossible choice between freedom for him and his people, and his love for Draco.
MAKING OF
Dragonheart was a film 10 years in the making. The original story was written by Patrick Read Johnson and Charles Edward Pogue, with the screenplay written by Pogue. Pogue also wrote some other films like The Fly from 1986. Johnson is actually a visual effects artist that has worked on a lot of projects. It makes sense that a film that required so many state-of-the-art effects would be dreamed up by someone that specializes in the field.
By the time that director Rob Cohen was attached to the project, the screenplay had been floating around for several years. Producer Raffaella De Laurentiis held onto the screenplay, waiting for technology to catch up. No one on the team thought that it was possible to create a realistic-looking dragon, until Jurassic Park premiered in 1993. It was the seamless blend of practical effects and computer generated animation that convinced them all that Dragonheart could come to life.
As director, Cohen made some changes to the story. For example, it was originally meant to take place during the middle ages. But, he felt the time period was over-done. He decided that if dragons ever existed in Europe, it would likely have been during a more mysterious time not covered by historians. So, he chose The Dark Ages.
Cohen also had a lot of say in Draco’s mythology. The film mentions the animosity between the Saxons and the Celts. The Celts (characters like Queen Aislinn) have been known to honor dragons. The Saxons (like Bowen) either don’t care for dragons, or actively hunt them.
Cohen drew inspiration from several different depictions of dragons across cultures. In Eastern mythology, dragons can be amphibious and live in water, which is why Draco can swim. Draco is a far cry from the viscous, hoarding dragons of western mythology, though he does have the body of a western dragon, as he stands upright and has a wide wingspan. In Dragonheart, dragons are made from stardust, which explains why Draco is lighter than air and can breathe fire.
Finding the right cast for the film is always key.
According to Rob Cohen, no one on the production wanted Dennis Quaid to play the lead. They wanted someone popular, like an action star. There have even been reports that Liam Neeson was in talks to star in the movie. But, when Cohen met Quaid, he felt like he was the right person for the job.
Quaid took the role very seriously, but also understood the humor and lightheartedness of the film. He would ad-lib lines, and was gracious about being dragged through the woods in a 10-pound costume on 90-degree days. When he asked Cohen how Bowen could relate to Draco, Cohen explained that both characters were the last of their kind. Cohen said that Quaid gave a very intimate performance after they had this conversation.
Japanese sword master Kiyoshi Yamasaki trained Quaid for his battle scene choreography.
Some point before Dragonheart entered production, Sean Connery had expressed interest in playing Bowen. But when Rob Cohen joined the film, he felt like no one on earth could play a better Draco than Sean Connery. Not just because of the voice, but because of the gravitas and the humor that Connery he could bring to the role.
David Thewlis, now possibly best known for playing Lupin in Harry Potter, brought the evil King Einon to life.
Thewlis’ acting was so incredible, Cohen would sometimes re-frame scenes to capture his uncut performances. He played Einon as a cunning and thoroughly detestable villain, but audiences can still see why and how Bowen had loved him.
Kara, the female peasant and the person that convinced Bowen to help them fight Einon, was played by Dina Meyer. Meyer was actually a very strong woman, which matched the strength of her character and also depicted how a peasant woman during the 10th century would need to be strong in order to survive.
Beloved character actor Pete Postlethwaite rounded out the cast as Brother Gilbert, the bumbling monk who wants to chronicle Bowen’s adventures and ends up helping the team fight Einon.
Brother Gilbert delivers much of the comic relief in the film, though his romantic musings on Draco’s fate are the last words heard in the film, providing a perfect ending.
Dragonheart was filmed mostly on-location in Slovakia, with the actors filming for nearly five months before Draco was added to the picture. They made use of real ruins and a 10th-century castle in the center of Slovakia. The production actually helped finish the castle as part of a national monument restoration program. They followed the original architectural plans as much as possible, and in return, they were able to use the building for filming.
The crew paid extra attention to realistic details. For example, in one scene we see a dog. They made certain that the breed of the dog would have been around during the 10th century.
Scenes that took place inside the castle, like the feast, were incredibly elaborate. Everything was laid out the way that a king would eat his meals, and all the objects were hand-crafted by artists from all over the world.
Production Designer Benjamin Fernandez and his crew built several elaborate sets in natural locations like quarries and fields. The plants, like the wheat shown in the film, were accurate to the time period and were planted by the crew.
In one scene, Fernandez worked with Kit West (the special effects supervisor) to build a waterfall.
Speaking of attention to detail, costume designers Thomas Casterline and Anna Sheppard went above and beyond for authenticity. The crew built 10th-century looms, which the team then used to weave costume fabric. Then, they hand-sewed every piece together.
Different details on each costume say a lot about the characters. For example, Bowen is shown in the same black outfit for almost the entirety of the movie. In the beginning, it doesn’t show any wear. After several years as a dragon hunter, his clothes are tattered, to show that he’s lost his status as an honorable knight. Bowen wears black to signify that he is on a journey out of a dark place. The evil King Einon wears white to signify how he has tricked everyone into thinking he was innocent and pure.
Another interesting detail is that Brother Gilbert wears a seashell around his neck, which was a way for monks to signify to each other that they had made the great pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
One of the most impressive things about Dragonheart is that the actors were able to deliver such beautiful performances while talking to sticks and tennis balls (with a Sean Connery impression delivered by the director). The character Draco was designed by Rob Cohen and visual effects supervisor Phil Tippett and was almost completely animated by artists at Industrial Light and Magic.
Rob Cohen was afraid that the dragon would seem dead-eyed and not have any human characteristics. So, he actually went through EVERY film that Sean Connery had acted in and cut out every close-up scene. He organized the scenes into bins based on emotion and then handed them off to the animators. This way, they could model Draco's expressions after Connery’s while animating the character. They were also careful to match the dragon’s mouth and tongue movement with the actor’s as he spoke. Cohen said it was the first time that a film had a fully CG actor and that he was the highest-paid actor because it took 22 million dollars to create him.
Draco was defined by 240,000 points on the computer. Dimensionally he was 18 ft tall, 43 feet long, with a 52.3 ft wingspan. Every piece of animation had been storyboarded, and the team started this process even before they knew that it would be possible. Rob Cohen was actually filming another movie while the animators worked to create Draco, and he would keep in touch to direct them on how he wanted the character to look.
At the end of production, ILM created 181 CGI shots that took up about 30 minutes of the film. There was a combined team of 96 animators and directors that worked on scenes for weeks at a time.
Although Draco was almost completely animated, animatronics were used for certain scenes. For example, when they first meet, Draco and Bowen get into a stand-off that ends with Bowen in his mouth. The team built a giant animatronic mouth and tongue that they could manipulate. Dennis Quaid (as Bowen) had to be fastened to the tongue because it was so strong it could knock him out. The scene had to be shot three times in the Slovakian Forest and combined with animatronics, CGI, and rotoscoping to create one complete piece.
MUSIC
The score for the film was done by Randy Edelman. Cohen praised him greatly and said he is a composer of enormous talents. Cohen chose him for his classical training, his ear for melody, and his ability to have images and music complement each other.
Edelman and Cohen worked closely together. During that time Cohen knew exactly what he wanted and would describe the feelings he wanted the music to give. Some examples of this would be “tense but heroic,” or “poignant and muscular.” These descriptions made it harder for Edelman but resulted in a more interesting and well-done score.
Edelman’s music is so beautiful that it has been used during broadcasts of the World Olympics. In 2014 NBC used “World of the Heart” and “Finale” from Dragonheart in their closing credits soundtrack.
ALSO STARRING
Jason Isaacs as Lord Felton, the second in command to King Einon. Isaacs is an English actor known for several roles in films like The Patriot, Harry Potter, and Armageddon.
Julie Christie as Queen Aislinn. She is a British film legend, known for many roles from the sixties. These include Doctor Zhivago (1965), Darling (1965), and Don’t Look Now (1973.)
Brian Thompson as Brok, the brute that served both Einon and his father.
Thompson got his major start as a small part in The Terminator and has since been in many other films as small parts.
He has a pretty funny line:
Young Einon : The peasants are revolting.Brok : They've always been revolting, Prince. But *now*, they're rebelling.
AWARDS/ RECEPTION/ LEGACY
The film was nominated for Best Visual Effects but lost out to Independence Day.
Dragonheart did win a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film!
In 1997 Scott Squires won the Hollywood Digital Award for the film.
And finally, Sean Connery won a Best Voice-Over Performance Award from the Online Film and Television Association.
According to IMDB the budget for the film was an estimated $57 million and the worldwide gross was just over $115 million. The movie was so popular with audiences that action figures and toys were made.
Since the first movie came out there have been four direct-to-video movies, with some being prequels. Dragonheart: A New Beginning, Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse, Dragonheart: Battle for the Heartfire, and most recently in 2020 Dragonheart’s Vengeance.
FUN FACTS
A couple times in the film, Draco sings. That was not Sean Connery’s voice, it was actually Rob Cohen’s voice, singing in his best Scottish accent
The man that plays young Einon was a British actor that didn’t have a lot of money. After appearing in Dragonheart, he entered the lottery and won 6 million dollars!
Rob Cohen’s son makes a brief appearance as a young boy in the field that yells, “Father, father, look!”
In the early stages, before the film was made, Universal let Raffaella De Laurentiis do a screen test of Draco. At the time they wanted to make it a smaller budget and this would mean practical effects would be better. This test was done with a specially made dragon head from the best shop around, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop! Unfortunately, the cost would have been too great.
Thewlis was dressed in white and Bowen in black, to reverse the standard identification of villains and heroes.
Dragonheart is a film that pulls you into its universe and lets you believe in magic. From the performances to the costumes, to the sets, this movie stops at nothing to create a compelling cinematic experience. The music casts a fantastical glow on the entire production, turning this sometimes-serious/sometimes-quirky fantasy adventure into a story of epic proportions.
But more than all of that, Dragonheart is fun. It’s a great film to pop in on a Saturday afternoon. It holds lessons about honor, love, and friendship, and it sparks your imagination. It’s a great watch for any fantasy fan. Not only does this movie have dragons, but it also has a lot of heart.