Beowulf Posters
Character One-Sheets from Warner Bros/Paramount Film
Check out the new character posters for the upcoming Warner Bros./Paramount movie Beowulf, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Flick opens November 16th.
It's getting pretty hard not to act like a gushing fanboy when Paramount and Warner Bros. are releasing such amazing stuff for their upcoming motion-capture flick Beowulf.
The International Movie Poster Awards recently scored four character one-sheets to promote the flick. They're as cool as everything else associated with this movie, from the writers (Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman) to the cast list (everyone from Ray Winstone to Angelina Jolie), the trailers and even the figurines, courtesy of McFarlane Toys.
The first poster shows off the titular hero himself, communing with his very long sword. Beowulf is buffed up and ready to rock his winter wonderland with Stonehenge and the Aurora Borealis shining behind him (that's the Northern Lights, in case I'm losin' ya). The tagline "Pride is the Curse" hints that one of the Seven Deadly Sins may be the downfall of this mighty warrior.
The second poster also features our bad-ass Beowulf. He's still buffed up, possibly naked and holding his sword in a highly suggestive manner (sorry, couldn't resist!). But this time Beowulf's surveying the damage at King Hrothgar's hall. There are holes in the roof, and dead warriors hang from the rafters, showing us that Grendel had crashed this party first and he wasn't there for the booze and bean dip.
Speaking of Grendel, the next poster shows our favourite twisted freak looking out over Heorot, King Hrothgar's party palace. Grendel has his back to the viewer, and his left hand is clutching his shaved skull. It's obvious from his tortured stance that the poor guy is getting a lot of unwanted advice from the voices in his head right now. Crispin Glover, an actor whose sanity has been questioned more than a few times in the past, is portraying the gray-skinned monster in this flick and he seems like a great choice for the role.
"Evil Breeds Pain" is Grendel's tagline and, judging from his insanely twisted spine and the way he's longingly looking down at Heorot, he's in a lot of pain right now. Perhaps that's why he's so willing to spread it around with a big shovel.
The marketing department at Warner Bros. and Paramount would've gotten slapped upside their collective skulls if they hadn't dropped a half (or even three-quarters) naked picture of a motion-captured Angelina Jolie somewhere in one of these posters. Here the Divine Ms. Jolie is turning towards the viewer, with gold paint sliding off her shoulders and . . . hair. The tagline "Survival is Ruthless" tells us that this wet lady is not afraid to get down and dirty to avoid a date with the Grim Reaper. It's up to you to decide whether or not that's a good thing.
Certainly Grendel's Mother is at her most alluring in this picture, but her scorpion-like ponytail and the reptilian shadows in the background (reminiscent of H.R. Giger's art work in Species and Alien) hint that you might not want to get too close to this demonic cutie . . . not unless you want to wear your intestines around your ears.
This flick has been looking pretty good to this reviewer, and these new one-sheets haven't changed that initial impression. Beowulf looks like a possibility for some fun sword-and-sorcery mayhem when it hits November 16th. Perhaps you boys can use it as payback if your girlfriend drags you to Enchanted or some other estrogen-heavy flick. Look for a review in this space when it opens.
Fun Fact 1: Although the Aurora Borealis is common over Scandinavia and Iceland today, it's highly unlikely that it was around in Beowulf's era, since the Northern Magnetic Pole was farther away from the area back then.
Fun Fact 2: Crispin Glover allegedly wasn't asked back for the Back to the Future sequels because producers felt that his salary demands were too high. However director Robert Zemeckis used previously-filmed footage of Glover and body prosthetics to imply that he was in Back to the Future II. Glover then successfully sued Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg and the other producers of the film. It was a landmark case that set the standard for how actors could be presented on film. Presumably all is forgiven between Glover and Zemeckis now.
