Summit Entertainment got the rights to 1986’s ‘Highlander’ in 2008 and announced Henry Cavill would star in the reboot a couple of years ago. The film’s director, Chad Stahelski, recently confirmed to Collider that Cavill and the others finally started filming in Scotland last January.
He shared excitement about the new project as follows:
“It’s another opportunity to do a property that I love. I love what it’s about, I love working with immortality and love stories through time. I think it’s a good way to take a great period piece, and sci-fi, and mix them together.”
Sword Work In The Upcoming Film
The ‘John Wick’ director previously said ‘Highlander’ would be a swords version of the 2014 film but assured viewers in the recent chat that there would be more than sword fights in it. He explained what to expect:
“I’ll keep it to the core. Most audiences, I’ll use the gun analogy; most of what you know about gunfights or car chases, because most of us don’t get involved in gun fights, or car chases, or sword fights, we learn through movies. And what those movies show you is about 95% bullshit. You don’t fight 50 guys with your bare hands and then walk away, but it’s fun. It’s wish fulfillment.”
And added:
“So, ‘John Wick,’ we know it’s a cartoon — I know it’s not — but we also have fun with it. But we do tactical reloads, we try to do fire manipulations, stuff like the professionals do, the military do. But then we have fun with it, you know? Sword work is very much the same.”
The Director Trusts His Team To ‘Excite’ The Viewers
Stahelski is in charge of a screenplay by Mike Finch and is focused on making everything believable though he trusts Henry Cavill and the rest of the cast to handle the swordplay well:
“Most of our concerns now are not really about training cast. We’ve got that machine up and running, and I think we have the right cast. We have the right people. We have the right trainers. We’ve dug up some of the best sword people I’ve ever met in my life in the last six months, that are helping us.”
The director continued:
“It’s more about how do you bring it all together and make it something. It’s not ‘Princess Bride,’ it’s not ‘Crouching Tiger,’ it’s not ‘Master & Commander,’ it’s not ‘Zorro.’ What’s this new look of action or sword fighting that people could be excited about? That keeps me up at night.”
‘Highlander’ doesn’t have a set release date at the moment, but Stahelski plans to wrap up filming by the end of the year.
