Jack the Giant Slayer
Short description
Jack the Giant Slayer is a fantasy adventure based on the tale of Jack and the beanstalk. A young farmhand named Jack, sent to market with a horse and cart, returns with nothing but beans. When those beans sprout into an enormous stalk reaching above the clouds, they form a passage to a world of giants, who were driven out of the human realm long before and want it back. Princess Isabelle is taken into that world, and Jack joins the rescue party sent by the king, entering the giants' realm to bring her home and prevent an ancient conflict from restarting.
Bryan Singer directed the film, which followed his earlier work on The Usual Suspects, the first two X-Men films, Superman Returns, Valkyrie and Mockingbird Lane. The screenplay is credited to Christopher McQuarrie, Dan Studney and Darren Lemke, with Singer producing alongside Neal H. Moritz and David Dobkin. Nicholas Hoult plays Jack and Eleanor Tomlinson plays Isabelle. Ewan McGregor appears as Elmont, Stanley Tucci as Roderick, Ian McShane as King Brahmwell and Bill Nighy as General Fallon, among a credited cast of 55 and crew of 147.
Made for about 195 million US dollars, the film took roughly 198 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from 155,000 votes, on TMDB 5.9 from 5,358 votes, and critics gave it 5.7 from 206 reviews, placing the three broadly close together. It runs 114 minutes and was released at the end of February 2013.
What's left behind the scenes
- The process of creating the giants shown in the film took place in four stages. First, motion capture technology was used to record the actors' body movements and facial expressions, which were then transferred to a virtual environment. The second stage took place during filming, when the "simulcam" technology was used (this allows the director to see actors interacting with animated characters or a digital environment in real time). Then, motion capture was used again to smooth out the interactions between the virtual giants and the live actors. And the whole process ended with a final review and correction, if necessary, of details in the image of the animated giants, their skin, hair, clothing, etc., as well as correcting the composition of the frame, if needed.
- Work on the film began in 2005, when DJ Caruso was initially planned to direct.
- Director Bryan Singer had to restrain himself in terms of using visual effects and not make them too realistic, considering the film's future rating and the age of the target audience.
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Anairyn Barnard auditioned for the role of Jack.
- During the fight with Roderick Elmont, he drops Jack's dagger three times, but only picks it up once. The first time is when he falls onto the giant statue (he doesn't pick it up), the second time is when the blade is knocked from his hand (he later retrieves it with his mouth), and the third time is when the blade pierces Roderick. It isn't shown how the dagger gets into Elmont's hands between the first and second drops.
- The only non-British actor in the film's cast, Stanley Tucci, specifically developed a British accent for work on this project. According to the actor, he had always wanted to play a role with a British accent.
- Jamie Campbell Bower was initially considered for the lead role, but due to an injury sustained during filming of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1" (David Yates, 2010), he was unable to even audition.
- When the giant in the kitchen skewers the pigs with sticks, and then Elmont, the sticks change in length with changes in camera angle. When Elmont is already in the oven, the stick is shorter than it was before.
- Adelaide Kane, Lily Collins, and Juno Temple were considered for the role of Isabel.
- The film contains some allusions to the biblical story of David. David, like Jack, killed a giant and then married the king’s daughter to become king himself. David killed Goliath with a slingshot, and in the film, one of the giants shoots stones at the city with a slingshot.
- The film's release was postponed by nine months for additional work on the special effects.
- When General Fallon (the two-headed giant) throws beans into the water, there are five beans, but only four stalks grow.
- The character of Ewan McGregor says he has a bad feeling, a phrase echoed twice by his character Obi-Wan Kenobi from 'Star Wars'. Warwick Davis and Ralph Brown also starred alongside him in 'Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace' (1999).
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