Oh, one other thing. Someone mentioned earlier about our fondness for explaining the reason for the bad guy's evil ways, in essence justifying it. Well, for about thirty years now, we've been dealing with postmodern lit theory. One of the things about that is the blurring of binaries like good and evil, light and darkness, male and female, chaos and order, etc ad infinitum. You know that part of the Yin Yang where each has a part of the other inside of it? It's kind of like that. Movies have only recently caught on to this trend, and you can see it everywhere. In general, postmodern theory is a good analytical tool, but sometimes they go too far when applying it to a good old fashion man-vs.-monster story. There's a reason why those archetypes have endured for thousands of years and no modern lit theory is going to change that. :)

(check out the cast of characters. Seems like Grendel has a dad and a kid. )

Alex, you just ruined my evening. Sounds like Grendel may end up resembling Herman Munster more than a "kin of Cain."
Sam. let the butchering begin.....!

Regards

On the other hand, I have a sneaking suspicion I'm going to be very forgiving with this movie. ;)

http://beowulfandgrendel.com/v-web/gallery/Th...celand_067

I'm such a sucker for the redheads...

Greetings Patrick Kelly, Thank you for the info sir. I get all that but for some reason the site doesn't load right for me. Who knows? The usual reliably "unreliable" technology we have. ;) Time for a new computer and ISP. :eek: Again my thanks. Sincerely, Patrick Fitzmartin

Hi all -

It's great to see such a heady mix of enthusiasm and passionate skepticism for our project.

Much as I respect the concerns of those who feel I've gone away from the story, I'd only offer this. As I elaborated at greater length on our website, [ www.beowulfandgrendel.com ] the Beowulf poem is written by someone removed in time [several hundred years], distance, culture, language and religion from the characters and situation about which he writes. Stories - particularly in an oral culture - tend to evolve a little over several hundred years. Meaning no disrespect to the poem, I thought it might be interesting to do a version of the story before it went through its Christian good-vs-evil framing. Blame my latent paganism. I too am removed from the characters and situation - by many more hundreds of years, by language, distance, culture... but I just wasn't willing to change all that for the sake of a movie. [joke... just in case...]

I tend to resist literary fundamentalism - especially in the case where the poem is telling a story that's been passed to the poet through many hands. There is the issue of history being written by the winners.

And, besides all that, Cain too had a gripe.

Cheers.

Andrew Berzins [screenwriter of B & G][/quote]

Hello Andrew and welcome to myArmoury!

I'm awaiting your movie with a great deal of anticipation. It's set in one of my main periods of interest. The arms and armor of this era are some of my favorites. (Spectacle helms are my absolute favorite and it looks like you have some nice ones there!) I don't mind a bit of license in these projects. Translating any written work to the screen is always a compromise. Especially something as archaic and debatable as Beowulf. Good luck on the project and please kep us posted on any developments!

I think I recognise one of the swords here. The top sword in the third picture looks a lot like my first sword. If it is the same, I hope they have one of the older ones; right after I got that sword (Christmas present 1996), they made the tang much narrower, and removed much of the distal taper. Both had an ugly plastic grip that I am glad to see was replaced for the movie.

I would recomend some lock-tite on that (threaded) pommel, if it hasn't been done already.

-Grey

Edited because, despite a minor in writing, I can't comunicate clearly at 3:45 in the morning.

I'm looking forward to this movie with great anticipation. I actually like stories where the monster/villain is humanized and has motivation beyond just being evil for the evil he does. It looks like a real effort is being made to use costumes and weapons that will be more accurate than what we usually get in this type of movie. Maybe this will motivate me to finally read the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf that's been sitting around on my "to read" book shelf. It's been more than 30 years since I read the poem!

If this movie is a success, maybe we can look forward to the granddaddy of all epic poems, Gilgamesh. Although I'm sure the makers will tone down the action between Enkidu and Shamhat.

Don't read Heaney's translation. Poor guy acts as if he doesn't know the difference between a kenning and a simile. His effort really lessens the impact of the poem. Try Liuzza's instead. It is by far the best verse translation out there excepting, of course, my wife's unpublished translation. :p

Regards

Patrick, Alexi, Einar...

Thanks for the welcome, guys. I'm not too much of a weapons fiend but was thrilled by the work of the Valentine folks. We took a position from early on in the design development that our Geats had a few miles on their sails and thus would have picked up influences in dress and armoury from far and wide - at the least anything that might reach the Baltic. And as I'm sure you all understand, we're making an entertainment, not a museum piece, so some liberties do occur.

As to those on the site fearing "butchery," I think there are many reasons why a movie "true to the poem" has not happened up to this point. I would love to see a feature script that gracefully accomodated the digressions, handled the time-shifts, made us warm to the boastfulness, made us believe that a creature that can eat thirty men in a sitting can have its arm torn from its socket by a mortal, albeit a powerful one.

It's a story. Ours is a version. We've tried in our way to be passionate and true to it.

And Patrick - I'll try to update you guys as I can. The wind is certainly in our sails! Skull!

Andrew - I have yet to voice my opinions on the thread, so will do so now.
I am very, very excited about this movie! I have always credited the Beowulf text for sparking my interest in learning about later European history. I actually hold the text very dear to me heart :D
Consequently, I was glad to hear that the movie wasn't perfectly true to the original text. There is much subtlety in the text that would not translate very well on film. From what I've seen/read on the movie site, I think you are doing fair justice to the text and to the mind(s) that created the story!
Now are we planning on a sequel for the last section of the poem? please? :D

Brock - I would echo Michael: Heaney's translation has never struck as fair to the original - in my opinion, you can do much better with what is out there ;)
Michael - I haven't read Roy Liuzza's translation yet, but it is on the wish-list... hmmm, don't suppose your wife's text will be coming out soon? :cool:

[ Linked Image ]

I have got to admit I LOVE THIS SWORD!!! The thing is simply fantastic.
Now I only wish I had some disposable income so I could get one of my own :D
Maybe some day. I can wish can't I? ;)

edited to add:

She is quite nice too.

[ Linked Image ]

Unfortunately I can't afford one of those right now either :lol:

David,

(Michael - I haven't read Roy Liuzza's translation yet, but it is on the wish-list... hmmm, don't suppose your wife's text will be coming out soon? )

In the interest of royalties, I wish I could say it is. Her study on hagiography and medieval romance ranks about one billionth at Amazon. Oh well.....!

I would like to add, for those who don't already know it, that Michael Drout, is currently preparing Tolkien's prose translation of Beowulf for publication in 2005. That should be a real treat.

Regards