The Last Unicorn
Short description
A unicorn living alone in a forest comes to believe she may be the only one of her kind left, after hearing hunters and a riddling butterfly speak of unicorns vanishing from the world. She leaves her home to find out what happened to the others, and her search draws her toward the domain of King Haggard and the mysterious Red Bull said to have driven the unicorns away. Along the way she gains two companions: Schmendrick, a magician whose spells rarely behave as intended, and Molly Grue, a woman who has waited her whole life to see a unicorn. Together they travel toward Haggard's castle, where the fate of the missing unicorns waits.
The film was released in 1982 and runs 93 minutes. It was directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr., the partnership behind a long run of animated features that includes The Hobbit in 1977, The Return of the King in 1980 and, in the same year as this one, The Flight of Dragons. Peter S. Beagle wrote the screenplay, and the voice cast includes Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Tammy Grimes, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Lee and Angela Lansbury.
It earned about 6 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from roughly 28,800 votes, and on TMDB 7.3 out of 10 from several hundred; critics rated it 6.6 out of 10 across 26 reviews, slightly below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Christopher Lee arrived at the recording studio with Peter S. Beagle's book of the same name. In it, he had marked certain nuances that, in his opinion, simply could not be overlooked.
- Shortly after the release of the animated film, Topcraft studio (responsible for the animation of 'The Last Unicorn') was hired by the then-budding director Hayao Miyazaki to film 'Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind' (1984). Later, in 1985, Studio Ghibli was founded by the core members of Topcraft and Miyazaki.
- In 2010, one of the film's directors, Jules Bass, recounted that he was suddenly contacted by Jeff Bridges, who offered to participate in the film's work for free and even recommended reaching out to his friend Jimmy Webb to suggest he compose the soundtrack.
- All the songs for the film were written by the band America, who created an entire album with the same name, The Last Unicorn.
- Christopher Lee (1922-2015) came to the recording studio with a copy of the book (1968) by Peter S. Beagle, which served as the literary source material for the cartoon. He had marked certain nuances in it that, in his opinion, absolutely could not be missed. He did the same during the filming of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (Peter Jackson, 2001) and its sequels, arriving with books in hand and always insisting on strict adherence to the original text.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
