Today, Collider is joining forces with The Jim Henson Company to give readers an exclusive behind-the-scenes sneak peek of the upcoming live-action fantasy flick,Grendel. Based onJohn Gardner’s 1971 novel of the same name, the movie allows the villain from the Old English poem,Beowulf, to step into the spotlight and tell his version of the events. Stacked with a cast that includesJeff Bridges(The Big Lebowski) as the titular monster andDave Bautista(Knock at the Cabin) as the warrior Beowulf, the production looks like it will be yet another hit to come from the legendary company.
Pulling the curtain back and revealing the magic that went into bringing Grendel off the pages and onto the screen, viewers are invited to step intoJim Henson’s Creature Shopand watch the movie unfold — one dream at a time. The images unveil the early stages of design, featuring a pen and ink illustration from the project’s director,Robert D. Krzykowski,that shows the helmer’s very first imaginings. From there, you can flip through the process as the crafty and creative minds at the Creature Shop build and fit the costume withJim Henson’s son,Brian Henson, leading the charge. Another shot catches Krzykowski and Henson outside the office, taking in a bit of fresh air, celebrating the incredible work they’ve accomplished.
‘Grendel’ Has Long Been On the Director’s Mind
Collider’sArezou Aminrecently had a chance to chat with Krzykowski about his latest title. During their conversation, the director shared plenty of bits and pieces about howGrendelwill compare stylistically to the other Creature Shop projects that came before it and why this was the story that called to him. Opening up about the latter, the director says that his fascination withGrendelwent all the way back to his teenage years when he cracked open the novel in high school. He explained:
“It was taught to us, and the teacher was this bearded professorial guy that paced back and forth in front of the class and performed it, and it just felt so cinematic, and theatrical, and I just loved its sense of humor and its look at philosophy and religion and art and culture. It just fascinated me and I never really stopped thinking about it.”
Krzykowski went on to explain that it was his “dream” to get Jim Henson’s Creature Shop on board for the production, believing that it was something that would fit their brand perfectly. As luck would have it, the filmmaker says that he was speaking with the Henson company about a completely different project whenGrendelcaught the attention of its leaders. He told Collider:
“In my early conversations, I went to the Henson company to meet Brian for a different project and this came up and weirdly, I hadn’t even considered bringing it up to them. And Brian just lit up. He and his producing partner,Vince[Raisa], they both were kind of leaning forward as I was telling them about it, and he just turned to Vince and said, ‘this sounds like something I would wanna produce.’”
What Audiences Can Expect From ‘Grendel’
Teasing the tone, visual style, and major themes ofGrendel, Krzykowski said:
“That is really exciting because it also balances this very cerebral world that Grendel lives in, where he’s trying to understand humans, and he’s trying to find his place among them, and he can never quite figure out how to get the right pieces in the right order to be satisfied. I think that there’s something really interesting about that. As you move through this, there’s a great warning in the way that Grendel engages with the world, and I know Jeff Bridges and I have talked about that a lot, the moral purpose of this, and I think that it leaves the audience with something really meaningful to talk about when they leave a story like this.”
Check out our exclusive batch of images inside Jim Henson’s Creature Shop above and stay tuned for information aboutGrendel.
