Stormbreaker
Short description
Stormbreaker follows fourteen-year-old Alex Rider, an ordinary schoolboy whose life changes after his uncle Ian dies under suspicious circumstances. Alex learns that the man who raised him was not a bank manager but an agent for British intelligence, and that MI6 now wants him to finish what his uncle started. The service recruits him to investigate Darrius Sayle, a wealthy businessman whose apparent gift of new computer systems to schools across the country hides something more dangerous. Trained in climbing, diving, martial arts and the use of advanced gadgets, Alex goes undercover while trying to keep up the appearance of a normal teenager. Anthony Horowitz wrote the screenplay, adapting his own novel, the first in the Alex Rider series.
Geoffrey Sax directed the film. It followed his television work Doctor Who and the 2005 release White Noise, and came before Frankie & Alice in 2010. Alex Pettyfer plays Alex, with Sarah Bolger as Sabina Pleasure, Ewan McGregor as Ian Rider, Robbie Coltrane as the Prime Minister, Stephen Fry as Smithers and Damian Lewis as Yassen Gregorovich. The production was mounted on a budget of 45 million US dollars and returned 24 million US dollars worldwide.
Audience response was modest: on IMDb the film holds 5.1 out of 10 from around 26,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.2 out of 10 from 688 votes. A critics' rating of 4.9 out of 10 from 65 reviews places professional assessments close to the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider novel series has been translated into twenty-eight languages, and the total circulation of the seven books has exceeded 10 million copies.
- There were plans to adapt the remaining five books published at the time of filming. After the project's commercial failure, this became unlikely, although Anthony Horowitz announced even before the film's release that he had already written a screenplay based on the second novel in the Alex Rider series, “Point Blanc”.
- Over five hundred boys auditioned for the lead role of Alex Rider. The author of the Alex Rider spy novel series, Anthony Horowitz, personally recommended Alex Pettyfer for the lead role after being most impressed with the actor's work in the British television drama “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” (2005). Pettyfer was initially offered the lead role in “Eragon,” but he declined the offer, preferring “Stormbreaker,” which was filmed in England, while “Eragon” was filmed in the Czech Republic, and the young actor suffers from aerophobia (fear of flying).
- Filming began on July 5, 2005, and lasted six weeks on the small Isle of Man off the coast of Great Britain and another six weeks in London itself.
- The film was released in the United States under the title “Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker.” Accordingly, a poster and trailer for the film were released featuring this new title.
- In June 2006, the producers of "Stormbreaker" signed a contract with the Japanese corporation Nintendo, whereby the Nintendo DS handheld game became an important element of the film's plot. In July 2006, a video game based on the film was released, available exclusively on Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance handhelds. Originally, in Anthony Horowitz's book, the main character had a Game Boy Color handheld, a predecessor to the Game Boy Advance.
- The name of the main antagonist in the film was changed from Herod Sayle to Darius Sayle, and his nationality from Lebanese to American. The main reason for these changes was negotiations with Mickey Rourke regarding potential involvement in the project, for which Anthony Horowitz adapted the character to fit the actor.
- Because Alex Pettyfer was only 15 years old at the time of filming, he was not allowed to drive according to British law, and for this reason, the scene from the book in which Alex Rider chases the villain was replaced with a horseback chase.
- Well-known British BBC news anchor Simon McCoy appears in a cameo as a newsreader announcing the launch of the "Stormbreaker" computers.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
