“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” kicked off San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday as the first panel held in the massive Hall H, and it came with a great trailer and a slew of A-list stars.
Chin-length blonde Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Sophia Lillis and Hugh Grant took the stage to a standing ovation. In addition to the trailer, audiences were treated to two clips from the unfinished film, shot in Northern Ireland during the UK’s COVID lockdown. Pine described the film as having “a Spielbergian energy”, while Grant said it has a “Monty Python vibe”.
The trailer introduces Pine (as a bard), Rodriguez (as a barbarian), Justice Smith (as a warlock), and Lillis (as a druid) as a band of thieves trying to right a wrong that unleashed a great evil on the his land They encounter all sorts of fantastical creatures, and Page, as a cheeky paladin who (apparently) joins their quest.
Unlike the solemn and intense trailers for the recent fantasy series “The Lord of the Rings: The Lord of the Rings” and “The House of the Dragon,” however, the trailer for “Dungeons & Dragons” has a much more free-spirited and cheerful tone , typified for the final shot of Pine happily playing his lute.
One of the long clips (only shown in Room H) involves the characters navigating a maze while some other teams try to make their way through. Writer-director John Francis Daley said the film features dozens of monsters and creatures, as well as dozens of spells. The filmmakers worked with video game publisher Wizards of the Coast to make sure the lore was just right.
The footage also featured a displacement beast, basically a panther that can project its own image, and the jelly cube, basically a giant cube that’s gelatinous (and deadly). Directors said the film includes at least one cameo from a well-known “D&D” player, as well as several easter eggs from the game.
“I wasn’t a big ‘D&D’-er, but my nephew, who’s 13, is a big gamer,” said Pine, who plays Edgin in the film. He said the film “feels open and light and lively”.
“It was an amazing thing to see my whole family light up like that,” she added of her entire family playing with her nephew. “It slowly snowballed and three hours later, you forgot you didn’t want to fly.”
“[It’s] a game that should be played in every high school in the country,” Pine said. “You can get the bully and the game, of course, I’m just talking in terms of John Hughes, and I guarantee no one will remember what class they were coming.”
“I just wanted to spread the gospel of ‘D&D,'” he concluded.
Rodriguez, for his part, insisted: “You don’t grow up in Jersey without playing ‘D&D’.”
“It brought back all these memories of me being a kid in a basement joking around with my friends,” he said. “I think RPGs are great and more people should be playing them.”
Rodriguez gained 10 pounds of muscle to play the barbarian Holda.
Page, who plays a paladin, Xenk, said he was always “D&D adjacent,” gravitating toward “Chrono Trigger” and “Diablo.”
“I basically grew up as Eddie Munson,” Page said, referring to the “Stranger Things” Season 4 character, a social outcast and “D&D” enthusiast. “I know a little about the escapist fantasy that gives you no limits.”
Page also underwent intense training for the film, including stance and sword training.
“My thighs were killing me and I had the best butt of my life,” she said.
Lillis was a gaming fanatic as a teenager who traveled 20 minutes back to her old high school, after moving away, to play in the school’s “D&D” club.
When moderator Karl Jacobs said his notes indicate Grant has always been a big “D&D” fan, Rodriguez quipped, “I think you’ve mixed it up with S&M.”
“She’s not wrong,” Hugh replied, to laughter from his cast mates and the audience. “I’ve been a keen dungeon master for years. This is a British pastime. National sport, almost. I think that’s why the Jonathans thought of me for this.” Grant will play a scoundrel named Forge Fletcher.
Chloe Coleman, Jason Wong and Daisy Head round out the star-studded cast.
Jacobs, a Twitch streamer and co-host of the “Banter With Sapnap and Karl Jacobs” podcast, presented a behind-the-scenes clip that played with multiple glitches before the cast came out.
“Seeing your faces reminds us why we do this. Thank you for being here,” said writer-director Jonathan Goldstein at the start of the event.
“We both have a long history with ‘Dungeons & Dragons,'” said Goldstein, who used to play the first edition with his brother, who “always killed it.”
Daley learned about “D&D” because his character was a fan of the game in the cult series “Freaks and Geeks.” “It’s not just a game, it’s the feeling you get when you play,” he said.
Eddie Ibrahim, director of programming for Comic-Con International, opened the panel.
“We’ve been in this room together for three years!” Ibrahim said before promoting the Paramount Pictures presentation.
The film is based on the popular tabletop role-playing game that allows players to create their own wizards, fighters, monks and other heroes to face all kinds of fantastic beasts, trolls, necromancers and many more. The game has gained popularity recently thanks to shows like Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and the web series “Critical Role,” which was turned into an animated Amazon Prime Video show called “The Legend of Vox Machina.”
In 2020, Variety delved into a “Dungeons & Dragons” celebrity campaign hosted by Joe Manganiello that included Vince Vaughn, Tom Morello, “Game of Thrones” co-creator DB Weiss and more.
Goldstein and Daley, who directed the 2018 hit comedy “Game Night” and wrote “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2,” “Horrible Bosses” and “Vacation Friends,” directed the film. The screenplay is written by Goldstein, Daley and Michael Gilio based on Gilio’s story with Chris McKay. The project is being produced by Jeremy Latcham (who also attended), Brian Goldner and Nick Meyer, with Denis L. Stewart, Goldstein, Daley, Pine, Zev Foreman and Greg Mooradian executive producing.
Entertainment One and Sweetpea Entertainment are producing “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” which will hit theaters on March 3, 2023.
Watch the action-packed trailer below.
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