Chad Stahelski says Henry Cavill’s Highlander is still happening
One of Cavill’s many fantasy franchises is still in the works and has “some very good elements”
Aux News Highlander
Don’t let the catchphrase fool you: “There can be only one” does not apply to Highlander films, TV shows, and cartoons. There’s an expansive Highlander universe waiting to be mined should I.P. excavators ever get around to it.
John Wick 4 director Chad Stahelski has been attached to a new Highlander starring Henry Cavill since 2021 when the project was announced. Since then, Cavill has left Witcher, re-entered and re-exited the DC universe, teased a Warhammer 40,000 series, and played Sherlock Holmes twice. The guy loves to be in the franchise game. But amid all these iconic roles Cavill has taken on, he still has yet to slip into Connor MacLeod’s plaid—which, for the record, is not a kilt. Never fear, Stahelski says Highlander is still on the docket.
Speaking to the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Stahelski said they have “some very good elements” but want to ensure the movie has room to grow. “The trick is when you have the tagline ‘there can only be one,’ you can’t just kill everybody the first time,” he said. But the director isn’t interested in just remaking Highlander. It sounds like he wants to expand the weird mythology of the character.
“I’ll say it for you first: Our story engages a lot of the same characters and stuff like that,” he revealed. “But we’ve also brought in elements of all the TV shows, and we’re trying to do a bit of a prequel, a setup to The Gathering, so we have room to grow the property.”
Stahelski is also very aware of the material he’s adapting, referring to the original Highlander as “one of the best worst films ever.” Still, he argues, the movie has “power.”
“There’s not a lot that happens in the second act,” he says. “It’s mostly about, you know, bitchin’ flashbacks with Sean Connery mugging the camera[…]You watch the movie, and it has no business being good or cool or interesting, but for whatever reason—the fisheye lenses, weird sword fights, fucked up dialogue, and the Queen soundtrack make it one of the funnest movies you’ll ever watch.”
However, none of this will happen until the studios end the strike. So, if anyone wants to see Cavill claim the sword, they must wait until the writers and actors get a fair deal.
[via IGN]
41 Comments
>>It sounds like he wants to expand the weird mythology of the character.
Now I do have an idea on how to expand the mythology. Hear me out:Aliens
PEOPLE OF THE PLANET ZEIST
They did that in Highlander 2 and it was confusing, to say the least. It also seriously disrupted the mythos already established (even though it was pretty thin). Adding the alien elements just made it creepy, unappealing and unecessarily dark. It robbed the story of the wonderful mystery, even magic, in it.
I believe that was the joke they were making.
Yeah, I have completely lost my sense of humor. It’s been a rough year.Good one.
“Yeah, I have completely lost my sense of humor.”
You’ve ever had one?
Now you know how Henry Cavill feels all the time.
It’s never been done before!! *exaggerated cough*
That was apparently due to a lot of studio interference. There’s a director’s cut (Renegade cut) out there that’s slightly more coherent and doesn’t have the alien angle and instead has some time travel element where they’re from the future or ancient past or something?
That sounds interesting. Thanks.
I’ve heard that Cavill left Witcher because it was getting extremely physically demanding for a guy now in his 40s. He did almost like, die on the set of season 2. But he probably still is in great shape if he wants to do this.
I don’t think Highlander require him to dehydrate for 3 days, since most of them wore trench coat. Even Adrian Paul didn’t go that far and more of 90’s hunk with biceps + ponytail (long hair make your face look thin). Christopher Lambert however didn’t give a f*ck about his physical or swordmanship.As for the Warhammer 40K he could be cover in CGI/prop armor all the time.
They would definitely update that part of it. If the main character doesn’t look like a steroidal god with a shaved chest, Hollywood executives are under the impression that the audience will start throwing stuff at the screen. Which we won’t! I didn’t pay to see that.
Also, 10,000% chance that Warhammer thing never gets off the ground.
To be fair to Lambert – he’s pretty much blind and can’t wear contact lenses.Which is perfect casting for a sword fighter who doesn’t wear glasses.I’m not surprised he didn’t have the best choreography – he nearly took Ironside’s hand off filming the second one lol
Christopher Lambert Zatoichi reboot when?
Didn’t Beat make his blind swordsman not blind? Although yes, I’d watch Lambert cutting through extras John Rhys Davis style in a Western Zatoichi
I don’t think Cavill is a great choice for Macleod. If they want to stick to story from the movie, he was supposed to have been a younger (i.e. maybe 20s) man when he became immortal.That said, Cavill would make an excellent mentor or even villain character.
The Highlander franchise is wild. They made five films over 21 years, not one of which made any money at the box office – but apparently they made tons of money on VHS and DVDs, because they kept churning them out and even got a live-action TV series that lasted six years. I’m sure Cavill could do it, and presumably put some of that sword training from The Witcher to work. Honestly, if they wanted to stand out as a movie, having really good sword-fighting technique and practice in the fights could look good and not break the bank on the budget. EDIT: Is fucking Kinja broken again? It won’t let me “star” stuff, and while it does post comments you have to refresh the page before they show up.
Yes, Kinja is even more broken than it’s ever been. Stars will show up after you refresh, too.
Stahelski: “one of the best worst films ever.”
I don’t know this guy and don’t care, but that is some grade A arrogance and condescension. It’s a brilliant flick: original story, amazing soundtrack, bad-ass villain. The story is tight and compelling (because the stakes are so high). It’s incredibly sexy, it’s arthouse, campy and self-aware and there can only be one. I don’t think anyone but Lambert and Connery could have pulled it off. I’ve never seen any sign of humor from Cavill but do your best. Brooding and posing seem to be his forte.
He was Keanu Reeves’s stunt double for The Matrix (and I think first two sequels) and the director of all the John Wick films.Believe it or not, he was paying the film a huge complement, Red Letter Media’s entire Best of the Worst feature is based on this principle, funnily enough through it they unearthed the absolute gem Surviving Edged Weapons which seems apropos here.(Apropos – a word that also gained prominence thanks to the Matrix sequels.)
Very interesting. Loved the Matrix films but after the first John Wick I was sorry I’d seen it and won’t be seeing the others.
“Loved the Matrix films but after the first John Wick I was sorry I’d seen it and won’t be seeing the others.”
Was it too condescending to you?
Holy shit, thank you for bringing Surviving Edged Weapons to my attention. I produce a horrorcore rapper whose big shtick is stabbing so this is going to be a bottomless reservoir of samples.
He was also Brandon Lee’s stunt doubles in The Crow. (Which is why he’s adamant on gun safety on set.)
Yeah, that’s where he lost me completely. Even if that’s what you think, don’t say that shit out loud. The modern Highlander fan base probably isn’t that wide or deep, but there’s still no reason to burn them on your project before you’ve even rolled a camera.
personally i think it’s refreshing.
I’m going to be honest, I’m stoked he said that. ‘Highlander’ is a lot of fun, but it is a trash-heap of a movie. And if Stahelski had come out and done the usual “this is a treasured classic that we want to honour in our new version” spiel, I would have known he was wrong for it. That he’s willing to say what a lot of us are thinking and call it kind of crap actually gives me some hope.
“I don’t know this guy and don’t care, but that is some grade A arrogance and condescension.”Obviously you don’t care.
“I’ve never seen any sign of humor from Cavill but do your best.”
He may not be a comedy master like *looks at the cast list of Highlander* Christopher f*cking Lambert, but he sure showed signs of comedic chops in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
“Brooding and posing seem to be his forte.”
You might consider watching him, ever, before opening your stupid mouth and vomiting your ignorance and poor taste all over everyone.
I’m going to bet he’s one of those “HURR, HE’S AN EGYPTIAN WITH A SPANISH NAME AND A SCOTTISH ACCENT!” guys.
So, I see what you’re saying but… while you’re right, you’re also kinda wrong?Now, let me start out: “original story, amazing soundtrack, bad-ass villain. The story is tight and compelling (because the stakes are so high). It’s incredibly sexy” — I agree 100% with this. Full stop.But it’s also shot terribly, even for an 80s film, and Christopher Lambert is fucking blind so the stunt-work is more A New Hope-level swordfighting where even The Princess Bride came out just a year later. I’ve honestly put Highlander on the top of my list of “good movies that could be rebooted with modern techniques” if only to get great swordfighting (I mean, shit, even Nick Gillard’s contributions to The Phantom Menace is almost 25 years old at this point — where could we be today!), and a better shot movie. As long as they keep a good story, some of the mythology, etc. (I’d still like to see Watchers from the TV series, etc.), and treat the source material appropriately — a reboot could be amazing. And Stahelski knows how to shoot a film and do fight choreography.
No.
Highlander is one of my absolute favorite movies ever, and , yet, “one of the best worst films ever” seems an accurate assessment, to me. It doesn’t offend me at all.
Christopher Lambert pulls a reverse Willem Dafoe about his potential participation in any hypothetical remake.
None of this is worth a damn if they don’t, and bear with me on this:Keep the soundtrack.
Not Highlander if Freddie Mercury isn’t screaming “Who Wants to Live Forever”?
“Who Wants to Live Forever”Greatest love rock song or… GREATEST love rock song?
Hard pass. Cavil is heading to that crazy bigot territory of TrumpyDumpty and I don’t want it anywhere near my first genre love.