The next D&D movie...

[Thomas Seitz]

Or maybe they wanted to get a Icelandic metal concert going...

[Werthead]

Yup, the film is mainly being shot in Northern Ireland and it's using the Paint Hall/Titanic Studios (where Game of Thrones was based).

It's also shooting right now. The delay was because the start of filming was put back by COVID and though they could still make the original date, it would have involved rushing and crunching post, so they decided to get some more time in there.

[TomParker]

Quark Blast wrote:

The article I linked indicated that a (the?) major setting for the movie is represented in the overall landscape there. And overall that would work for Icewind Dale would it not?

And the overall landscape isn't just "ice." They certainly could be shooting on one of the snowy glacial areas, but there's a lot more to the country than that. It could be Icewind Dale but it could be anything.

[Quark Blast]

Shows tend not to shoot on location because it's expensive, what with ever changing lighting and unpredictable weather, and of course getting all the gear there and back again. The fact that the D&D movie is using the 'Game of Thrones' studios doesn't mean they're using the location of Ireland to set a portion of the movie in. Those studios are big, available and likely a good deal under the present global economic climate.

So it doesn't really matter that it's only 2nd Unit production in Iceland. What matters is answering; Why is that setting critical to the movie?

Iceland surely isn't just ice but it's also not a whole host of things; like forested, or urban, or tropical, or bright sand desert, or high mountains, etc. Stark and bleak is the thing Iceland does well.

Surely they will use a published setting for the movie and I srsly doubt they will use an obscure or generic setting. That leaves us with one of the more popular published settings that Hasbro/WotC fully own/control. And so:

Where besides Icewind Dale is there extant story telling in a D&D setting that's anything like Iceland?

[Werthead]

Quark Blast wrote:

Shows tend not to shoot on location because it's expensive, what with ever changing lighting and unpredictable weather, and of course getting all the gear there and back again. The fact that the D&D movie is using the 'Game of Thrones' studios doesn't mean they're using the location of Ireland to set a portion of the movie in. Those studios are big, available and likely a good deal under the present global economic climate.

Movies do shoot on locations because they can afford to bake redundancies into the schedule to deal with those issues (and sometimes just say screw it and if it's raining when they film, it's raining in the story, like LotR often did). Usually the studio serves as a base of operations with them then ranging outside to filming locations within a reasonable distance of the base, sometimes in the car park outside (an astonishing amount of LotR was shot in a car park in Wellington). Northern Ireland is small enough that you can travel from the Titanic Studio to anywhere in the province and back in under a day (having done that myself several times).

Quote:

Surely they will use a published setting for the movie and I srsly doubt they will use an obscure or generic setting. That leaves us with one of the more popular published settings that Hasbro/WotC fully own/control. And so:

Where besides Icewind Dale is there extant story telling in a D&D setting that's anything like Iceland?

We know the previous draft of the script was set in the Forgotten Realms, in and around Waterdeep. We've had no information on the setting since the current directors took over. There are no guarantees they are using an established setting rather than the directors' own home campaign world (I hope to hell they're not, because that's one of the many things that helped sink the 2000 movie).

[dirtypool]

Quark Blast wrote:

So it doesn't really matter that it's only 2nd Unit production in Iceland. What matters is answering; Why is that setting critical to the movie?

The article doesn't indicate that it is critical to the movie. It indicates that: "In part of the film, Icelandic landscape will play an important role."

The idea that it was critical or a major or even the setting of the film was entirely introduced into the conversation by your statement, not the article you linked to.

Quark Blast wrote:

Iceland surely isn't just ice but it's also not a whole host of things; like forested, or urban, or tropical, or bright sand desert, or high mountains, etc. Stark and bleak is the thing Iceland does well.

Iceland's tourism board it seems would disagree your assessment.

Quark Blast wrote:

Where besides Icewind Dale is there extant story telling in a D&D setting that's anything like Iceland?

Scrolling through those pictures, there look to be a great deal of landscapes that could be used in many of the published settings without using any amount of snow or ice.

[Thomas Seitz]

Yeah we don't know crap about the plot. So pulling what we can from a location (ANY location) is pretty speculative bordering on conspiracy theory territory

[Quark Blast]

Werthead wrote:

Quark Blast wrote:

Shows tend not to shoot on location because it's expensive, what with ever changing lighting and unpredictable weather, and of course getting all the gear there and back again. The fact that the D&D movie is using the 'Game of Thrones' studios doesn't mean they're using the location of Ireland to set a portion of the movie in. Those studios are big, available and likely a good deal under the present global economic climate.

Movies do shoot on locations because they can afford to bake redundancies into the schedule to deal with those issues (and sometimes just say screw it and if it's raining when they film, it's raining in the story, like LotR often did). Usually the studio serves as a base of operations with them then ranging outside to filming locations within a reasonable distance of the base, sometimes in the car park outside (an astonishing amount of LotR was shot in a car park in Wellington). Northern Ireland is small enough that you can travel from the Titanic Studio to anywhere in the province and back in under a day (having done that myself several times).

Yes, but in the case we are considering they went all the way to Iceland to shoot (2nd unit) on location. Not Norway, not the Swiss Alps, not Tunisia, not Bali, not Promyshlennyi... but Iceland.

Why?

.

Werthead wrote:

Quote:

Surely they will use a published setting for the movie and I srsly doubt they will use an obscure or generic setting. That leaves us with one of the more popular published settings that Hasbro/WotC fully own/control. And so:

Where besides Icewind Dale is there extant story telling in a D&D setting that's anything like Iceland?

We know the previous draft of the script was set in the Forgotten Realms, in and around Waterdeep. We've had no information on the setting since the current directors took over. There are no guarantees they are using an established setting rather than the directors' own home campaign world (I hope to hell they're not, because that's one of the many things that helped sink the 2000 movie).

Sure, we saw with SW VII, VIII, and IX that sometimes producers let directors do.... less than optimal things to the franchise. But in the case of this movie we know two things for certain:

1) They originally set it in Forgotten Realms/Waterdeep.

2) They were using canon to surround the story even if the particular story itself wasn't yet published in any way outside of the script.

Therefore it's not so much of a stretch to think these things are driving the current movie.

I was hoping someone else might know something about the various published settings that makes one of them fit at least as good, or perhaps better than, Icewind Dale does for Iceland.

Some conspiracies are real and some speculation turns out to be right. We're talking about a fantasy movie here people! It's ok to use your imagination, take the clues we've been given, and make an educated guess or two.

Further along this line is we know who the principal actors are. Does that tell us anything about the movie? Chris Pine would never something something something, therefore something something something. Sophia Lillis once said something something something, therefore something something something.

Anyone? Any ideas?

[dirtypool]

“Quark Blast” wrote:

I was hoping someone else might know something about the various published settings that makes one of them fit at least as good, or perhaps better than, Icewind Dale does for Iceland.

Is it just the word “ice” that you’re stuck on?

[Thomas Seitz]

dirtypool,

It does seem that way. Of course with QB we should be careful.

[Tristan d'Ambrosius]

Quark Blast wrote:

Yes, but in the case we are considering they went all the way to Iceland to shoot (2nd unit) on location. Not Norway, not the Swiss Alps, not Tunisia, not Bali, not Promyshlennyi... but Iceland.
Why?

Appropriate landscape for script and production. And tax breaks. Most likely

[Werthead]

Quark Blast wrote:

Yes, but in the case we are considering they went all the way to Iceland to shoot (2nd unit) on location. Not Norway, not the Swiss Alps, not Tunisia, not Bali, not Promyshlennyi... but Iceland.

Why?

Iceland is also dirt cheap (to shoot in) and has massive tax breaks for films shooting there. GAME OF THRONES shot there when they were still a relatively low-budget production in the second season.

[Thomas Seitz]

I forgot all about that, Wert. Thanks.

[Quark Blast]

Tristan d'Ambrosius wrote:

Quark Blast wrote:

Yes, but in the case we are considering they went all the way to Iceland to shoot (2nd unit) on location. Not Norway, not the Swiss Alps, not Tunisia, not Bali, not Promyshlennyi... but Iceland.

Why?

Appropriate landscape for script and production. And tax breaks. Most likely

Yes, I've said as much. But if we make the very reasonable assumption that the movie is going to take place in an existing official campaign setting, Iceland rather limits the choices does it not?

Stark and bleak is the thing Iceland does well. Maybe the story takes place in the Shadowfell?

[Aberzombie]

Too bad they don’t have access to Disney’s Volume stage. Then they could film every different location in one place.

[Thomas Seitz]

I'm not sure they have Disney's/Marvel Studios budget, A-zombie...

[JoelF847]

Though having access to the Volume (or one of the other versions of that technology which other studios have developed) actually helps projects which have less budget. It's much cheaper than shooting on location, building elaborate physical sets, etc.

[Werthead]

Disney have Volume and Paramount have developed their own version (STAR TREK: DISCOVERY's fourth season has been using it) but I don't think other facilities are online yet. It is still very new technology.

[Marc Radle]

What they are doing with the technology in Mandalorian is pretty remarkable, but I still prefer real sets and location shooting whenever possible.

[dirtypool]

Seriously. Iceland does a whole lot more than just "stark and bleak." Looking through their tourism website there seems to be landscapes that would be appropriate in many different canonical settings.

[Quark Blast]

Looking at their tourism website I see nothing that looks like temperate forest, or temperate rain forest, or medieval urban, or medieval village, or tropical beach, or tropical forest, or tropical rain forest, or tropical seas, or sub-tropical savanna, or grand erg, or high mountains, or "English" midlands, or post-apocalypse urban, or....

All I see are bleak beaches, icy volcanic plateaus, minor active volcanoes, major dormant/inactive volcanoes, lots and lots of ice fields and periglacial environments, low tundra set among stark ocean views and/or bleak low mountains, and Bjórdrykkja.

Sure in Toril, Oerth, Eberron, Krynn, etc. there are places with a general appearance like that of Iceland but, excepting Icewind Dale in the Forgotten Realms, setting there isn't anything well developed in a CRB or explored via other media (PC gaming, novels, etc.) which would indicate Iceland could be used as a backdrop.

Ergo, Icewind Dale for the win!
:D

[JoelF847]

Quark Blast wrote:

Looking at their tourism website I see nothing that looks like temperate forest, or temperate rain forest, or medieval urban, or medieval village, or tropical beach, or tropical forest, or tropical rain forest, or tropical seas, or sub-tropical savanna, or grand erg, or high mountains, or "English" midlands, or post-apocalypse urban, or....

All I see are bleak beaches, icy volcanic plateaus, minor active volcanoes, major dormant/inactive volcanoes, lots and lots of ice fields and periglacial environments, low tundra set among stark ocean views and/or bleak low mountains, and Bjórdrykkja.

Sure in Toril, Oerth, Eberron, Krynn, etc. there are places with a general appearance like that of Iceland but, excepting Icewind Dale in the Forgotten Realms, setting there isn't anything well developed in a CRB or explored via other media (PC gaming, novels, etc.) which would indicate Iceland could be used as a backdrop.

Ergo, Icewind Dale for the win!
:D

I'm pretty sure all movies and TV shows filmed in Portland only feature scenes and settings in and around a busy port, with ships and shipping containers as far as the eye can see.

[dirtypool]

Quark Blast wrote:

All I see are bleak beaches, icy volcanic plateaus, minor active volcanoes, major dormant/inactive volcanoes, lots and lots of ice fields and periglacial environments, low tundra set among stark ocean views and/or bleak low mountains, and Bjórdrykkja.

Those descriptions and these photos don’t quite align.

“Quark Blast” wrote:

Ergo, Icewind Dale for the win!

Sure, ignore all those lush green photos because Icewind and Iceland both have ice in it.

[Thomas Seitz]

dirtypool,

You have to understand, for QB, if he's not right, then everyone else is wrong.

Joel,

Yeah. I'm with you on that one.

[Andostre]

I hope this movie has a dragon.

Maybe also a dungeon.

[Tristan d'Ambrosius]

Andostre wrote:

I hope this movie has a dragon.

Maybe also a dungeon.

But then it'd just be Dungeon & Dragon.

[KahnyaGnorc]

Northern Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc., would be far better locales for the vast Reghed Glacier and Great Ice Sea of Icewind Dale. If Forgotten Realms, maybe Ruathym or another island of the Northmen (like northern Moonshaes, esp if they also do shoots in Ireland or the like). Iceland isn't really that icy enough.

[Psiphyre]

KahnyaGnorc wrote:

Northern Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc., would be far better locales for the vast Reghed Glacier and Great Ice Sea of Icewind Dale. If Forgotten Realms, maybe Ruathym or another island of the Northmen (like northern Moonshaes, esp if they also do shoots in Ireland or the like). Iceland isn't really that icy enough.

Right!

Iceland could be perfect for an adventure set in the Bloodstone Lands (Damara & Vaasa). Or even Narfell & the 'North Country' of northern Rashemen! Maybe even Sossal (although that realm may be a little too icy like Icewind Dale...)? Or, if you want the Realmsian analogue of Iceland, there's Tuern!

& That's if they're even still using the Realms as a setting...??

Carry on, I guess...

--C.

[Werthead]

KahnyaGnorc wrote:

Northern Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc., would be far better locales for the vast Reghed Glacier and Great Ice Sea of Icewind Dale. If Forgotten Realms, maybe Ruathym or another island of the Northmen (like northern Moonshaes, esp if they also do shoots in Ireland or the like). Iceland isn't really that icy enough.

Those locations are much more expensive and much more difficult to film in.

People film in Iceland because it does have immense, windswept frozen vistas (the Beyond the Wall scenes in Game of Thrones were filmed in Iceland and looked frozen enough, and in fact were so dangerous they almost killed the director when his car slid off the road), but they're all within reasonable driving distance of a big(ish) city, Reykjavik, which serves as an excellent filming base. Going to more remote locations in the middle of ass-end Canada might get you even more amazing scenery, but it's also more dangerous, being much more remote from civilisation if things go wrong. The insurance costs for going to such places goes through the roof.

Iceland gives you such vistas with easy access to civilisation, not to mention the huge tax breaks given by the Icelandic government.

Also worth reiterating that they only sent a B-camera crew to Iceland to film what sounds like background plates for the D&D movie. The main cast was not present. Maybe they're going back later on to film more scenes there with castmembers, but if not it doesn't sound like a major location in the film.

[Heather F]

I've removed some posts and posts quoting them. Stay on topic and stop the bickering. We want this to be a place where people can converse without watching people attack each other.

[Orville Redenbacher]

Looks like its set in the Forgettable Realms based on some recent copyright filings.

An ex-Harper turned thief escapes from prison with his partner, a female barbarian, and reunites with a no-talent wizard and a druid new to their team in an effort to rob the cheating conman who stole all their loot from the heist that landed them behind bars, and used it to install himself as the Lord of Neverwinter. Only the traitor is allied with a powerful Red Wizard who has something far more sinister in store.

[dirtypool]

Someone wants to install themselves as the Lord of Neverwinter?

Fascinating.

[Werthead]

I actually like that. Much better than EVIL DUDE IS TRYING TO CONQUER/DESTROY/EAT THE WORLD AND HERO PEOPLE MUST STOP THEM.

Keep it medium to small scale, go bigger later on.

ETA: Screenrant have debunked it.

[thejeff]

Werthead wrote:

I actually like that. Much better than EVIL DUDE IS TRYING TO CONQUER/DESTROY/EAT THE WORLD AND HERO PEOPLE MUST STOP THEM.

Keep it medium to small scale, go bigger later on.

Well, even that quote includes "something far more sinister".

[Orville Redenbacher]

thejeff wrote:

Werthead wrote:

I actually like that. Much better than EVIL DUDE IS TRYING TO CONQUER/DESTROY/EAT THE WORLD AND HERO PEOPLE MUST STOP THEM.

Keep it medium to small scale, go bigger later on.

Well, even that quote includes "something far more sinister".

Hopefully that's a lead into the next film(s).

[Thomas Seitz]

Too bad about the synopsis not happening. I'd like to see a heist fantasy film set in Forgotten Realms.