Dungeons & Dragons (2000) was a passion project turned cinematic disaster

[Aeson]

Dungeons & Dragons (2000) was a passion project turned cinematic disaster 25 years ago, a diehard D&D fan defied the odds to make his dream movie — it was a total disaster

I got the impression while reading this the writer was trying to rehab the movie and Courtney Solomon. I'm not sure the fan base will agree. What say you, the fan base?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't know that it was a rehab so much as sympathetic to Solomon being in way over his head, which I think is pretty obvious from the end product.

Of course, I'm the maniac who wishes that WotC released the movie-based content they clearly had half-done when it turned out there wasn't an audience for it.

 

[Alzrius]

I couldn't help but note this line in the article:

(TSR owner Lorraine Williams allegedly refused both Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron as directors).

Given that Williams, upon securing a tentative deal with the Tolkien Estate for a Lord of the Rings line of D&D products, managed to kill it by insisting on also being granted the rights to publish novels set on Middle-Earth, that's entirely plausible.

As for Solomon and the year 2000 D&D movie...all I can say is that if this article is meant to be a rehab piece, then it needs to check back into the clinic.

 

[Deset Gled]

Dungeons & Dragons (2000) was a passion project turned cinematic disaster 25 years ago, a diehard D&D fan defied the odds to make his dream movie — it was a total disaster

I got the impression while reading this the writer was trying to rehab the movie and Courtney Solomon. I'm not sure the fan base will agree. What say you, the fan base?

I'd like to also submit this magazine, that interviewed Solomon directly back around the original release:

Cinefantastique Vol 32 No 4-5 (Dec 2000) : Cinefantastique : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Double-issue with various cover stories on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Additional articles on Unbreakable, The Sixth Day, Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole...

archive.org

Generally, I agree that Solomon was a giant fan boy with lots of dreams and a lot less experience. And the decisions made by TSR at the time were, frankly, stupid.

Also, I watch a lot of low budget horror and love me some campy or period-appropriate weirdness. But I haven't seen the D&D 2000 movie in at least 20 years, and it's not on my list to give a new chance any time soon.

 

[Clint_L]

Forgive me for taking this quote with a huge grain of salt.: "TSR owner Lorraine Williams allegedly refused both Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron as directors."

Sure she did. Add that to the list of her alleged crimes against the fanbase. That's some quality reporting.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Forgive me for taking this quote with a huge grain of salt.: "TSR owner Lorraine Williams allegedly refused both Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron as directors."

Sure she did. Add that to the list of her alleged crimes against the fanbase. That's some quality reporting.

Charitably, I'm betting that was Solomon arguing with Lorraine Williams about directors and her shooting down all the hypothetical directors he tossed out there, after getting the directors he wanted -- who definitely weren't Coppola or Cameron -- shot down.

So it's like me turning down Charlize Theron when she wanted to marry me. Purely hypothetical and silly to even pretend was going to happen. (Call me, Clarlize.)

 

[jdrakeh]

The 2000 D&D movie was trash. Marlon Wayans carried the whole thing as a comic relief character. And that's really all that you need to know.

 

[aco175]

For those like me that could not recall which one of the awesome movies.

I did like Snails, at least for a name to give one of my PCs. The movie did have dragons though.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I did like Snails, at least for a name to give one of my PCs. The movie did have dragons though.

I think the characters in particular are decent enough to re-use in a home game, without telling my players what was going on. A scenery chewing Jeremy Irons wizard? Yes, please. A taciturn evil henchman with blue lips for some reason? Cool!

And inspiration points for anyone who spots what's going on.

 

[gnarlygninja]

Charitably, I'm betting that was Solomon arguing with Lorraine Williams about directors and her shooting down all the hypothetical directors he tossed out there, after getting the directors he wanted -- who definitely weren't Coppola or Cameron -- shot down.

So it's like me turning down Charlize Theron when she wanted to marry me. Purely hypothetical and silly to even pretend was going to happen. (Call me, Clarlize.)

I don't see anything about Lorraine Williams being involved, but there's an interview from 2000 where Solomon claims Coppola was interested in it for a while before bailing and James Cameron was briefly interested before he (understandably) ditched it to make Titanic.