With a brand new trailer dropping for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves, IGN sat down with with the writer-directors of the movie, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, to study all method of D&D trivia, behind-the-scenes tidbits, and secrets and techniques hidden within the new footage. You’ll be able to hear them commentate over the trailer in actual time by watching the breakdown video, or preserve scrolling to learn what they needed to say.

Making a D&D Film for Everybody

Earlier than diving into the small print of the trailer, the Recreation Night time filmmakers shared their philosophy on how they approached making this film.

It goes with out saying that the table-top roleplaying recreation Dungeons & Dragons is a superb many issues to an awesome many individuals, and it might contain every part from manticores and thoughts flayers to runes and rings, however at its core, it’s a way for telling a narrative. For Daley and Goldstein, that meant discovering a central theme to base it on.

“This movie is about discovered household,” Daley mentioned. “Regardless of apparent variations, what retains them collectively is that this need to repair one thing that is a lot larger than themselves. After which, what finally retains them collectively is that this newfound affinity that they find yourself having for each other.”

Whereas the movie is ready on the earth of D&D and options acquainted lore, it’s not an adaptation of any pre-existing D&D story, however moderately a brand new story that goals to seize the spirit of enjoying a recreation of D&D. The thought was to make a film crammed with issues D&D followers would admire but inform a narrative {that a} newcomer may get pleasure from simply as a lot.

“The monsters, the creatures, the magic, the areas, all of that you will notice portrayed. However we’re not attempting to bathroom you down if you do not know something about D&D or when you’ve by no means performed, as effectively. Firstly, we wished this to be an enormous enjoyable journey that felt a bit of bit completely different than those that you simply’re used to seeing,” Daley defined.

Now, right here’s their frame-by-frame breakdown of the second trailer for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves.

Citadel By no means on the Horizon

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Goldstein: We start in Neverwinter, which is among the largest cities within the Forgotten Realms in Dungeons & Dragons. That is Citadel By no means. And we wished to create a metropolis that felt actual and vibrant, stuffed with exercise, but in addition a mixture of grungy and exquisite.

Daley: We actually wished to discover the a number of eras that this metropolis was inbuilt. Any outdated metropolis that you simply see in Europe, it feels lived and it feels prefer it’s obtained centuries of historical past behind it. And so, it was actually vital to us to search out one thing that felt genuine but in addition completely different from something you’ve got seen in our world.

Meet Holga and Edgin

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Daley: This scene actually showcases the connection between Holga, performed by Michelle Rodriguez, and Edgin, performed by Chris Pine. And whereas she’s able to tackle 10 foes directly, Edgin actually prefers to keep away from getting his arms soiled. So, it is a enjoyable dynamic that we get to see proper off the bat.

Goldstein: A whole lot of these exterior scenes round Neverwinter, we shot on our again lot in Belfast, Northern Eire, a few of which was from the Recreation of Thrones, King’s Touchdown backlot. Now, when you keep in mind that sequence ended with a dragon destroying many of the metropolis, so there wasn’t that a lot left to work with, so we needed to rebuild a lot of it, but it surely was enjoyable to be in there of their world and make it our personal.

Daley: We additionally get a glimpse right here on this scene of Holga’s brutally efficient combating type. It was vital to us for the combating all through this entire film to be portrayed in a method the place you’ll be able to really see what is going on on. So, we tried to keep away from fast cuts and lengthy lenses. Jackie Chan type of combating was actually the mandate once we approached all of those fight sequences. We had this workforce of those grizzled Bulgarian stuntmen led by Brad Martin, who’s our second unit director and stunt coordinator, who you’ll be able to see actually put their blood, sweat and tears on digicam right here.

Goldstein: So, Edgin and Haga have returned to Neverwinter to attempt to reunite with somebody, and so they’ve mainly been solid out, and orders have been given to execute them. And that is about to occur right here. You get a glimpse right here of the loot that Edgin carries as a result of he’s a Bard and his essential weapon is the lute, which is an unlikely type of weapon for a fantasy movie, but it surely’s an enormous a part of D&D. And you may see all through the film, he will get to make use of it in very fascinating methods.

The Mysterious Magic Horn

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Daley: Right here you see this character of who we all know little or no about holding the mighty MacGuffin, which we do not wish to give an excessive amount of details about right here, but it surely comes into play very prominently on this movie. And truly, on this scene, on this one shot, there are literally a couple of Easter eggs within the background that when you have been savvy to the world of D&D, you would possibly discover fascinating.

The Large Dangerous Evil Man

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Daley: We get a glimpse there of Szass Tam, who’s the chief of Thay. He is a necromantic lich, and never a pleasant man.

Daley: This character poses an enormous potential risk to not solely our characters however the world that they dwell in. And it was essential to us that the stakes we launched should not simply massive and world-threatening but in addition extremely private, and we will not give an excessive amount of away, however every of our characters are becoming a member of this battle for their very own explicit causes, and we wished these to be simply as very important as the larger image risk.

Goldstein: Szass Tam is somebody that can be acknowledged by longtime gamers. He is a personality who comes from the lore. He is one of many few that we plucked from the sport. He is tremendous creepy, and he is very highly effective, and there is loads of thriller about him.

Daley: Whereas we solely get glimpses of him right here, what we study him is that he is extremely charming and charismatic, and has a method with with the ability to persuade his underlings to do his bidding in a method that’s distinctive to the character.

Goldstein: We painting him as a little bit of a cult chief.

Xenk Yendar, Very Severe Paladin

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Daley: This character that we see right here is Xenk Yendar, performed by Rege-Jean Web page. He is a Paladin with this traumatic previous. He is an adept fighter. He is extremely severe and in some ways, the antithesis of the remainder of our group of thieves. He is obtained zero humorousness and seems like he was plucked out of one other fantasy movie that clearly creates a scrumptious rift between him and Chris Pine’s character who’s equal elements threatened and baffled by him.

Goldstein: In case you noticed our final film Recreation Night time, Xenk is kind of the Gary, the Jesse Plemons of this film. We at all times discover it humorous when somebody’s taking issues very severely and has no humorousness in any respect.

Simon Actually Must Degree Up

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Goldstein: That is Justice Smith enjoying a personality Simon, and he’s a sorcerer, and he comes from an extended line of very well-known and really profitable wizards and sorcerers, and there is loads of strain on him to be good at what he does. Originally of the film once we meet him, he isn’t precisely an awesome sorcerer. We wished to replicate the enjoyable you get in enjoying and organising your characters. You roll cube, generally you get a excessive quantity, which suggests you are excellent at one thing, however usually you get a low quantity. Simon did not get an awesome quantity, however he does degree up over the film.

Daley: Simon has this factor known as wild magic, which provides him this actual unpredictability within the spells that he casts. So, fairly often the spell he is attempting to solid is not the one which involves fruition, and that’s one thing that’s in some ways as synonymous with what he is coping with himself. He has little or no management over his energy, however there’s something deeply highly effective inside him that he must faucet into.

Doric’s Shapeshifting Is Fairly Wild

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Daley: That is Sophia Lillis enjoying Doric, who’s our tiefling druid. We knew we wanted a well-rounded out group, and so, every member of our ensemble has their very own expertise and setbacks and so, she’s actually expert at with the ability to become completely different animals. She’s a wild form, and so, it provides her this unimaginable distinctive potential that additionally permits her to slide into cracks and crevices and locations that standard sized folks cannot. So, it is one thing that we undoubtedly showcase rather a lot all through this movie.

Now Coming into the Underdark

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Goldstein: The orifice right here is one entrance to the Underdark, which is a infamous cavernous world that exists in Dungeons & Dragons. And our workforce heads down there looking for this different magical merchandise they want.

Daley: We constructed these huge units to carry the Underdark to life. Our manufacturing designer, Ray Chan was instrumental in conceiving what these locations may appear like. Notably, the realm our characters are attempting to get to is that this hanging metropolis of ruins which might be suspended from these huge chain hyperlinks. And so, between our unimaginable crew of manufacturing designers and artists, we have been capable of construct this place after which prolong it utilizing visible results the place we see this huge lava flows and this enormous cavernous house.

Behold Neverwinter Enviornment

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Daley: This can be a good glimpse on the Neverwinter area, which is the coliseum that sits within the metropolis of Neverwinter, simply on the Sword Coast, and it is the place the Highsun Video games happened way back earlier than Lord Neverember outlawed them.

Goldstein: These statues are literally two figures from the historical past of Neverwinter. Each element, we actually tried to concentrate to issues that tremendous followers would acknowledge, however that would not throw off individuals who do not care.

An Axe as Fiery as Its Wielder

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Goldstein: We wished to have distinctive weapons for all our characters, issues that might be memorable and distinctive to our film. And Holga’s axe, about two-thirds of the best way via the film, lands on this molten metal and turns into a distinct weapon fully.

Daley: I feel in all role-playing video games, upgrades and new weapons and amassing and looting is important. However I feel in D&D, it actually provides you license to push the envelope when it comes to how distinctive and weird these weapons and gadgets are.

Goldstein: Tremendous badass, however this is among the few issues that is not being lit by magic.

Daley: We do have a sword that Xenk wields that he makes use of his Divine Radiance to carry to life. Xenk additionally has a fairly cool sword, which you see a glimpse of on this. It is known as a dagger-sword, and it has a dagger inside the primary blade that he can use individually. So, it is two killing weapons in a single.

Taking up Sofina

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Goldstein: This can be a battle our workforce has with Sofina, performed by Daisy Head. That is in the primary plaza in Neverwinter, which can be Belfast, and that stone dragon up there, we really constructed a model of it after which it turns into a digital asset for this battle.

Daley: However that mentioned, I feel we used loads of the sensible parts of that dragon as effectively. Via the magic of trailers, we’re seeing really a number of moments on this movie portrayed as one. So, that first spell the place she’s summoning these meteors then turns into what one other spell that she does that animates this dragon to life and one which they should deal with now.

Goldstein: It was essential to me and John to include sensible results into this. That means issues that have been really there on set and constructed prosthetics and monsters. We did not wish to simply depend on inexperienced screens and VFX.

A Rogue By Any Different Identify Would Be Simply as Duplicitous

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Daley: Right here we’ve Hugh Grant, who’s a pleasant performer that we loved working with immensely. He performs a rogue, Forge Fitzwilliam, who’s on board with our recreation after they’re first a band of thieves, after which has plans of his personal, however I will not get into it way more than that.

Goldstein: This is not the type of film that you simply usually count on to see Hugh Grant in, which is why it was so thrilling to get him. I imply, we wrote the half for him and he learn the script and he liked it and got here aboard, which was an actual vote of confidence for us.

Daley: If he have been to be classed in a recreation, he can be undoubtedly a rogue. He is crafty and conniving and intelligent and barely evil, but in addition there’s a actual attraction to him. I feel that makes you retain coming again for extra.

There Will Be Dungeon Crawling

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Daley: Right here we’ve this maze that we devised that sits inside the Neverwinter area the place our characters are compelled to navigate it. And what was enjoyable about that is that it is rather a lot an allusion to the grid-style format of many dungeons that individuals play via after they’re in a marketing campaign.

Goldstein: John and I have been each gamers of D&D over time. I did it once I was youthful. John has performed extra not too long ago. A labyrinth is the factor you encounter fairly a bit in campaigns and we wished to discover a enjoyable approach to put our characters right into a lethal maze scenario.

Daley: That is one in every of our variations of a dungeon mainly as a result of we’ve a number of dungeon crawls inside this movie, and that does not essentially imply it is one thing that is underground and bleak.

Signature D&D Monsters

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Goldstein: Effectively, there you bought two of the best D&D creatures and that may be a gelatinous dice and a displacer beast.

Daley: They’re leaping right into a gelatinous dice to flee a displacer beast. And lots of would say that is a nasty thought. You maintain extra injury from inside a gelatinous dice than you’ll from being an assault by a displacer beast. However do not you are worried, we considered loads of this and so they’ve obtained a plan.

Get Able to Rumble

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Goldstein: Right here we’re again within the Underdark the place Xenk is dealing with down Dralas, who’s an murderer despatched to kill him and our different teammates. And it is a nice instance of a few of Ray Chan’s design work. You see these terracotta gnomes which might be evocative of China with the terracotta troopers.

Daley: We even have two very distinctive weapons that they are every wielding. Xenk’s is illuminated by Divine Radiance and he has a dagger-sword that detaches, in order that he can battle a number of foes on the similar time. We additionally see Dralas wielding the Inexperienced-Flame Blade, which if you’re fairly accustomed to the sport and spells, you would possibly know what that’s as effectively.

Watch Your Fingers

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Daley: Right here we’ve a mimic, which is one other very talked-about monster within the recreation of D&D and one that’s so distinctive within the fantasy world to D&D. You aren’t going to see this in some other fantasy movie, and we simply love how each treacherous and absurd it’s.

Goldstein: Enjoyable factor about that sequence was the tongue was an actual prosthetic that was on set and the remainder of the mimic inside was digital impact. However we wished to have the ability to actually wrap one thing round Michelle’s leg so she may battle it off.

Addressing the Owlbear Controversy

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Daley: Right here we’ve the owlbear, which is one other iconic monster in Dungeons & Dragons, and it’s really Doric, wild shaping into one as from her Druid self, and it was actually thrilling to see this factor come to life. We went via so many iterations as a result of these owlbears, once you’re taking a look at an illustration in a D&D guide, you will get away with rather a lot when it comes to the angles and the way it lumbers and the way it seems. However once you’re really seeing it in a three-dimensional house, it modifications the way you understand what it ought to appear like within the kind of most aesthetically pleasing but in addition formidable creature which you could make.

Goldstein: We’re conscious that there was a certain quantity of controversy that emerged within the D&D fan neighborhood after the primary trailer confirmed our Druid wild-shaping into an owlbear. And it was one thing we mentioned an awesome deal once we have been writing it. We all know that technically, it is not permissible, however we subscribe to the “Rule of Cool.” And we felt that if we, because the dungeon masters of this film, would let our gamers do that, then why ought to we deprive the viewers of one thing that is as cool and enjoyable as this?

Household Issues

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Daley: Edgin is alluding right here to dropping every part that ever mattered to him, and we’re seeing him in less complicated, quieter occasions together with his household. So, you’ll be able to think about what might need been misplaced, however I will not give an excessive amount of away past that.

Planeswalking

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Daley: There are a number of planes which you could go to inside the recreation of Dungeons & Dragons. So we thought this might be a extremely enjoyable one to painting, and with out giving the rest away, what D&D gave us license to do is actually warp our notion of actuality and what’s actual, and anyone aircraft isn’t any much less actual than the opposite, but it surely does look weird to our human eyes.

Meaty Mage Hand

Daley: Right here we have got two completely different spells, Sofina wielding Mage Hand combating down Simon’s Earthen Hand, which is one other very distinctive to D&D one thing that we knew we wished to see on movie due to how completely different it’s, and the way we get to play with this arm wrestle within the fantasy house.

Goldstein: [Mage Hand is] a spectral floating hand. We wished it to be evocative of her coloration scheme but in addition horrific and it is like a meat hand.

Daley: Yeah, it is fascinating. I feel each wizard’s mage hand would in all probability look completely different and be particular to them and their persona and their aesthetic. And so this, as a result of she is necromantic, this felt like a great match.

Social gathering Members, Assemble!

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Goldstein: This can be a second when our workforce lastly gels as a workforce actually coming collectively utilizing all of their expertise in opposition to the villain. And that is an awesome second in any D&D marketing campaign the place the strengths of every character is dropped at bear.

Daley: We additionally wished to showcase it in a enjoyable roundy-round “oner” that’s quintessentially turn-based, when you take a look at every of their actions.

That’s One Chonky Dragon

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves (Credit score: Paramount Footage)

Goldstein: That is Embershard, our model of Embershard, who’s a dragon that exists within the lore in our model. As you’ll be able to see, he is gotten a bit of chunky.

Daley: Embershad within the lore is named being a glutton. And so, we actually wished to lean into that concept for one in every of our dragons. We wished every of our dragons to be particular in their very own proper as a result of folks know what dragons appear like. They’ve seen loads of them within the fantasy world, and so, we wished to place our personal distinctive taste in that.

Goldstein: In some methods this dragon sequence is an effective instance of the tone that we tried to stability via the entire film, which is rarely undermining what’s at stake. Individuals’s lives are in danger and other people die, however you are additionally hopefully laughing loads of the time and that was the tight rope that we walked.

Daley: Since it is a movie based mostly on a really distinctive position enjoying recreation, it was crucial that we really feel like we’re in a single and the most effective elements of D&D is how one can put your personal unique spin on the creatures that you simply thought that you simply have been accustomed to.

Somebody Forgot to Verify For Traps

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Goldstein: That is our hanging metropolis of Diyun, you’ll be able to see, and this bridge that they should get throughout, which Simon rapidly triggers the destruction mechanism. And it is the joke we love within the precise movie. As you see, there is a for much longer lead as much as the explosion. It forces them to unravel this drawback in a brand new method.

Daley: It is also very particular to enjoying any good marketing campaign of D&D the place you are having to continuously pivot when plans go awry. So, on this final bit, we wished to point out how even probably the most well-laid plan can implode from a single misstep or unhealthy roll of the die. The opposite factor that is so particular to the sport because it sits within the fantasy house is that it has a humorousness. Essentially the most enjoyable and fascinating campaigns are those the place we’re laughing in a single second and crying within the subsequent. We needed to showcase that emotional fluidity even within the trailer. (That is proper. I mentioned emotional fluidity.) The humor right here is we’re by no means taking them out of the circumstances that our characters are in, however like most human beings, and I suppose on this case halflings and tieflings, we regularly discover humorous within the tragic. It is what retains us from going insane.

Goldstein: We’re tremendous excited to share this with the world. We have spent the final two and a half, three years creating this, and we’re actually excited and happy with it, and might’t wait to share it with everyone.

The US launch date for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves is March 31, 2023.