Legend (film)
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Legend is a 1985 fantasy film released by 20th Century Fox (in Europe) and Universal Pictures (in the U.S. and Canada), directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, and Billy Barty.
Plot summary
The story is set "once, long ago" in a world of unicorns, princesses, fairies, and demons. Cruise plays Jack O' The Green, a woodland dweller who takes Princess Lily (Sara) to see the last of the living unicorns. But temptation and fate cause the world to freeze over when the male unicorn is killed and its horn stolen, and the female unicorn and Lily are kidnapped by evil goblins. Ultimately, it is Jack (with the help of a group of fairies) who must save Lily from the demonic, Satan-like Lord of Darkness (Curry), who wants to take Lily as his bride. Jack and the fairies overcome all obstacles to reach the Tree Of Darkness (where Lily and the unicorn are being held) and conquer the demonic Lord before the world enters a never-ending Age Of Darkness.
The legend behind Legend
The film was written by William Hjortsberg and produced by Arnon Milchan. But the behind-the-scenes story on the making of the film is in itself a legend. Halfway through the filming, the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios (where the film was shot, and had been used for many James Bond films) burned completely to the ground, forcing the producers to finish the movie on hastily completed sets. Then, the film failed in test screenings. Among the complaints from test audiences was about Jerry Goldsmith's score (considered by some music critics to be Goldsmith's greatest film work), and how teenage audiences would accept the film. Ultimately, both Universal and director Scott had decided to cut the film drastically from its nearly two hour length to 89 minutes for domestic release, and replacing Goldsmith's score with rock music by Tangerine Dream, Yes leader Jon Anderson, and Bryan Ferry (while Scott allowed Goldsmith's score to remain on European prints).
In the years that followed, Goldsmith's score (which was released as a soundtrack CD) would become the most-asked-for and least heard music score in film history.[[Citing sources citation needed]] Ironically, this CD release has made the Tangerine Dream soundtrack a rarity where used copies offered for sale by retailers are as much as 4 times the price of a normal CD. Finally, in 2002, Universal released a 113-minute "director's cut" on DVD restoring previously cut scenes, and Goldsmith's original score.
Legend and The Legend of Zelda
In recent years, there has been some controversy as to whether the film Legend had inspired Shigeru Miyamoto to create The Legend of Zelda or if the game inspired Ridley Scott to create the movie. There have been various statements made that Miyamoto was inspired to create the game The Legend of Zelda after seeing the movie Legend, while others have argued that it was his native childhood home in Japan that influenced Miyamoto to create Zelda and not the movie.The movie was released at roughly the same time as Zelda, therefore, both the movie and the game could have been created at the same time. Miyamoto once said that he did see the movie but did not state whether it inspired him to create Zelda. However, there is the possibility the movie may have had an influence in later Zelda games, most notably ', and '.
Zelda was released in 1987, while the screenplay for "Legend of Darkness", by William Hjortsberg (screenplay writer for Angel Heart and other films) that eventually became the screenplay for the film Legend, was written prior to 1985.
External links
- http://www.david-bennent.com / David Bennent (Gump) Homepage
- [Legend] at Tom Cruise Online.com
- [Ridley Scott's LEGEND FAQ]
- [Film Sculptor] Special Effects Sculptor who worked on the film
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