Showing posts with label Excalibur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Excalibur. Show all posts

26 July 2022

Helen Mirren

 Helen Mirren was born on July 26th, 1945 in London, England. 

Dame Helen Lydia Mirren

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968)
with Diana Rigg

Caligula (1979)

Excalibur (1981) with Nicol Williamson

2010 (1984)
with John Lithgow 

The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999)
with Eric Stoltz, Julie Delpy and Peter Fonda

The Voice of Deep Thought in Douglas Adams
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

The Queen (2006)



22 May 2022

Richard Wagner

 Richard Wagner was born on May 22nd, 1813 in Leipzig, Germany. 

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)

Siegfried’s Funeral March (1876)

Excalibur (1981)

12 May 2022

Gabriel Byrne

 Gabriel Byrne was born on May 12th, 1950 in Dublin, Ireland. 

Gabriel Byrne

Excalibur (1981)

Miller’s Crossing (1990)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Stigmata with Patricia Arquette (1999)

Vampire Academy (2014)

Hereditary (2018)


10 April 2022

Excalibur

 Excalibur was released on April 10th, 1981 in US theaters. 

Excalibur

Based on the 15th century Arthurian romance Le Morte de’Arthur by Thomas Mallory  

Le Morte de’Arthur

Directed, produced and co-written by John Boorman

John Boorman

Starring Nigel Terry, Cherie Lunghi, Nicholas Clay, Nicol Williamson, Dame Helen Mirren, Paul Geoffrey, Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Gabrielle Byrne and Robert Addie. 

Nicholas Clay, Nigel Terry,
Cherie Lunghi and Patrick Stewart

Helen Mirren and Nicol Williamson had previously worked together and had had a falling out of sorts. Boorman was aware of this and used it on set to create a friction between the two actors.

Helen Mirren and Nicol Williamson


Liam Neeson and Helen Mirren

Gabriel Byrne

Robert Addie

Paul Geoffrey

Featuring both Boorman’s son as Young Mordred and Daughter as Igrayne, Duchess of Cornwall. 

Charlie Boorman


Katrine Boorman

The music of Richard Wagner, particularly Siegfried’s Funeral March is featured prominently throughout the film.  

Richard Wagner



18 January 2022

John Boorman

 John Boorman was born on January 18th, 1933 in Middlesex, England. 

John Boorman

Deliverance (1972)

Zardoz (1974)


The Exorcist II The Heretic

Excalibur (1981)

17 August 2021

Siegfried’s Funeral March

 On this day in 1876, Richard Wagner premiered the 4th and final part of his epic drama Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods) premiered at Wagner’s own opera house Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

Richard Wagner

One particular composition, Siegfried’s Funeral March, was featured extensively in the greatest version of the best story ever told. 

Not up for debate. 


John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) - Siegfried’s Funeral March

Boorman used two other pieces of Wagner’s music in Excalibur as well. 

He’s all about Wagner. 

Gotterdammerung was referenced in Zach Snyder’s Zombie/Heist crossover Army of the Dead. The name of the maker of the safe that they have to crack is Hans Wagner and the safe to be cracked is the fourth and final safe that he built. 

The name of the safe is Gotterdammerung. 

A snippet of Siegfried’s Funeral March is played as the safe is cracked and opened. 

Entering Gotterdammerung

Snyder also used Wagner’s music in Watchmen (2009) which leads me to believe that Zach Snyder is, in fact, all about Wagner as well.  

Siegfried’s Funeral March was also used in the totally batshit Czechoslovakian surrealist film Daisies (1966) directed by Vera Chytilova. 

It plays during a scene in which two girls circle a banquet table before gorging themselves on food. What makes this scene that much more absurd is that Czechoslovakia at the time was experiencing a food shortage. 

Jitka Cerhova and Ivana Karbanova


Daisies (1966)

I just watched Daisies and thoroughly enjoyed every second of its 76 minutes. 

…and that’s saying something since the internet ate my brain.  


Also on this date: