Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves’ filmmakers on serving two masters

Not long ago, Dungeons & Dragons was a strange game only the nerdiest of the nerds played. Now, it’s for everyone.

Put together, the words “dungeons” and “dragons” have certain connotations.

They evoke images of geeks, sitting around a table in a darkened room, wearing cloaks and casting “spells” and waging “campaigns” with trolls and magic staffs. It’s not the Satanic Panic that gripped some American suburbs in the 1980s (thanks, Stranger Things, for the history lesson), but it’s not “cool”.

D&D has long been the realm of geek culture but when the esoteric and the mainstream have been blending and merging for two decades, that gives a Hollywood studio the confidence to bankroll a screen adaptation to the tune of, reportedly, $US150 million.

That’s not chump change, that’s serious money, and it was going to take experienced filmmakers to manage the balance between catering to long-rusted on fans, and newbies who have never before tried an RPG (that’s role-playing game to the uninitiated).

Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Picture: Paramount

Filmmaker John Francis Daley started his screen career as a child actor as Sam Weir on Freaks and Geeks, a character which definitely belonged to the latter designation. On the Judd Apatow-produced and Paul Feig-created series, Daley’s Sam, along with onscreen friends Bill and Neal often threw the 20-sided dice.

Twenty-three years on, Daley with castmates Martin Starr and Samm Levine filmed a promo ad for Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, reprising their roles. Daley’s Sam jokes at the end, “It’s such a fun game, someone should make this into a movie” before Levine replies, “That’ll never work”.

Time flies when you play D&D. #DnDMovie#FreaksandGeekspic.twitter.com/iW8MqnP3Pt

— Dungeons & Dragons Movie (@DnDMovie) March 28, 2023

Of course, it’s a full circle moment for Daley because when he replies, in character, “That’s the stupidest idea in the world” we all know it isn’t.

Daley, along with his filmmaking partner Jonathan Goldstein, did exactly that, writing and directing the comedic caper that is Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. The movie has tallied $US124 million in tickets in one week of release and has a 90 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Not a dumb idea. But it did require a delicate balance, needing to incorporate action, comedy, fantasy and a fun friendship story. And it needed to serve existing D&D fans without alienating newcomers. Easy, right?

Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley at the D&D premiere. Picture: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

“We feel really good that the movie we made will reach people who don’t know D&D,” Goldstein told news.com.au. “It straddles the line so that it works for fans because there’s a lot in there that they will respond to and recognise, but really, it’s a character story and adventure with a lot of heart and a lot of humour. For anyone who likes films.”

Goldstein and Daley have form. The duo wrote Horrible Bosses, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and wrote and directed Vacation and Game Night. They know their way around making audiences laugh while also plucking their heartstrings.

Daley paid tribute to the studio, Paramount, for having the confidence in them “injecting our weird sensibility into a D&D film, which I think aligns with D&D as a whole”.

Daley said D&D appealed to them because it “sets itself apart from anything else that you really see in fantasy”.

Goldstein said that in the writing process, he and Daley would take stock and be cognisant of any terminology or specific D&D references that if a newcomer didn’t know, would detract from their understanding. “If that happened, we would make it cleaner, or lose it or simplify them so you could understand,” he explained.

Daley emphasised that the layered approach as to ensure that, “if you don’t know anything about D&D, you’re still going to be able to enjoy the film without being bogged down by the overwhelming use of proper nouns but if you are familiar with it, you’re going to find a lot of easter eggs. And a lot of things that speak to you as a total nerd.”

Dungeons & Dragons is in cinemas now.

Given how much the mainstream culture has absorbed geek culture, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that the D&D movie could create some new game players.

Producer Jeremy Latcham was happy to evangelise for the original game.

“I certainly hope that people are attracted to the whole world that’s here because I think Chris Pine said it really well when we were at Comic-Con together. He said, ‘Every kid in the world should play D&D because it teaches them so many things’.

“It’s about conflict resolution and teamwork and confidence and team building. And it’s a great way to develop storytelling abilities. It also sparks creativity in people who wouldn’t necessarily consider themselves creative, it requires you to tell a story even if you don’t consider yourself a storyteller.

“That is really special and something that you don’t see in any other game.”

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is in cinemas now