The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 2002
Running Times:
Format: colour     35mm
Ratio:
Sound: Dolby Digital

(full credits)

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Twentieth Century Fox / Mediastream III
Executive Producers: Sean Connery, Mark Gordon
Producers: Don Murphy, Trevor Albert
Associate Producer: Rick Benattar

SCRIPT
Script: James Dale Robinson
Comic: Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill
Characters: H. Rider Haggard (Allan Quatermain); Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde); Bram Stoker (Mina Harker); Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer); Jules Verne (Captain Nemo); Oscar Wilde (Dorian Gray) (all uncredited)

DIRECTION
Director: Stephen Norrington
2nd Unit Directors: Vic Armstrong, Michael A. Benson, Rich Thorne

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Dan Laustsen

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Paul Rubell

MUSIC
Music: Trevor Jones

SOUND
Production Sound Mixer: Mark Holding
Sound Mixers: Jim Bolt, Doug Hemphill, Paul Massey

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Chief Make Up and Hair Designer: Michelle Taylor
Make Up and Hair: Paula Price, Lesley Smith, Trisha Cameron, Gabina Poláková, Milan Vlcek
Make Up For Sean Connery: Pauline Heys
Hair: Lou Sheppard
Hair For Sean Connery: Vera Mitchell
Costume Designer: Jacqueline West

SPECIAL MAKE UP EFFECTS
Creature Effects: Steve Johnson's Edge Fx Inc

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Supervisor: Terry Glass
Special Effects Lead Senior Technicians: George Gibbs, Trevor Neighbour

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects: Big Red Pixel; Christov Effects and Design Inc; Cinema Production Services Inc; Cinesite (Europe) Ltd; Computercafe Inc; Digiscope; Double Negative; Engine Room; Giant Killer Robots; Industrial Light and Magic; Mar Vista Ventures; Modern Video And Film; Pixel Magic; R!Ot; Tippett Studio; VCE.Com / Peter Kuran
Visual Effects Supervisors: Janek Sirrs, John E. Sullivan, David Goldberg, Thomas J. Smith
Visual Effects Producer: Karen M. Murphy

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Carol Spier
Art Directors: James McAteer, James F. Truesdale, Elinor Rose Galbraith, Jindrich Kocí, Marco Bittner Rosser
Set Designers: Gordon White, Gordon Lebredt, Grant Van Der Slagt, Patrick Banister, Andy Thomson, Milena Koubková, Jason Knox-Johnston, Stephan O. Gessler, Jan Svoboda, David Wood, David Baxa

LOCATIONS
Locations: Prague, Czech Republic; Vienna, Austria; Malta; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Iceland; Morocco; Santa Clarita, California, USA
Studio: Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
Location Manager: Jaroslav Vaculík

STUNTS
Stunt Coordinator: Eddie Perez
Stunts: Gabe Cronnelly, Robert Alonzo, David Mottl, Christie Hayes, Aleš Košnar, Kevin Foster, Jirí Kraus, David Lištvan, Monika Podzimková, Kevin L. Jackson, Richard Burden, Kevin Abercrombie, Kimo Keoke, Geovanny Corvera, Richard Kwon, Shawn Kautz, Noon Orsatti, Randall Archer, Jonathan Eusebio, Victor Gendrano Jr, Petr Bozdech, Radek Bruna, František Deák, Tomáš Eremináš, Jirí Horký, Martin Hub, Vladislavas Jacukevicius, Jindrich Klaus, Miroslav Lhotka, Ivan Mareš, Jan Petrina, Jaroslav Pšenicka, Jirí Šimberský, Leoš Stranský, Shawn Robinson, Jamie Ryan, Brad Martin, John Medlen, Stanislav Samuchov, Jonas Tamulevicius, Jan Vosmík, Rudolf Vrba, Saulius Yanavicius, Jan Loukota, Tomáš Tobola, Jirí Firt, Pavel Krátký, Robert Lahoda, Rudolf Bok, Lelsey Aletter, Daniel Arrias, Craig Baxley Jr, Steve Baruch, Hiro Koda, Merritt Yohnka, Scott Wilder, Dustin J. Meier, Steve Upton

CASTING
Casting: Donna Isaacson, Lucinda Syson

CAST
Sean Connery (Allan Quatermain)
Naseeruddin Shah (Captain Nemo)
Peta Wilson (Mina Harker)
Tony Curran (Rodney Skinner)
Stuart Townsend (Dorian Gray)
Shane West (Tom Sawyer)
Jason Flemyng (Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde)
Richard Roxburgh (M)
Max Ryan (Dante)
Tom Goodman-Hill (Sanderson Reed)
David Hemmings (Nigel)
Terry O'neill (Ishmael)
Rudolf Pellar (Draper)
Winter Ave Zoli (Eva)
Robert Willox (Constable Dunning)
Robert Orr (running officer)
Michael McGuffie (copper #1)
Joel Kirby (copper #2)
Marek Vašut (soldier)
Ewart James Walters (Toby)
Michal Grün (assassin #3)
Robert Vahey (elderly hunter)
Sylvester Morand (old traveler)
Mariano Titanti (Edgar Shreave)
Huggy Leaver (hanson cab driver)
Pavel Bezdek (marksman #1)
Stanislav Adamickij (marksman #2)
James Babson (marksman #3)
San Shella (terrified crewman)
Ellen Savaria (recordist)
Riz Meedin (Venice conning tower crewman)
Sartaj Garewal (rocket room crewman)
Neran Persaud (Crewman Patel)
Andrew Rajan (headphones crewman)
Daniel Brown (stunned guard)
Aftab Sachak (breathless crewman)
Guy Singh Digpal (signal crew man)
Harmage Singh Kalírai (Crewman Chandra)
Brian Caspe (guard #1)
Robert Goodman (Valet)
René Hájek (flame thrower)
Semere-Ad Etmet Yohannes (witch doctor)

PLOT SUMMARY

In 1899, adventurer Allan Quatermain is recruited by the British government (represented by the mysterious M) to help combat the menace posed by the mysterious Phantom and his army who are supplied with the most technologically advanced weapons of the day. To help him thwart the Phantom's plans to sabotage a peace conference in Venice and plunge the world into a devastating war, Quartermain is joined by Captain Nemo and the crew of his submarine the Nautilus; the vampire scientist Mina Harker; invisible petty thief Skinner; the immortal Dorian Gray; American secret Service agent Tom Sawyer; and the scientist Dr Jekyll and his monstrous alter ego Mr Hyde.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is nowhere near the disaster its been portrayed as. It's no masterpiece to be sure, but get past the fact that it has virtually nothing to do with the Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill comic beyond the title and the very basic plot, and you're left with a handsomely staged if mindless blockbuster. Thinking about the plot for more than a few seconds isn't a great idea - it tends to fall apart the very instant you start questioning how the gargantuan Nautilus can fit into a relatively narrow and shallow river like the Thames, or start marveling at the film-makers' obvious ignorance of the culture, history or topography of Venice. But switch the brain off and you've got a wonderful looking romp with snappy one liners (when asked what he is by a dying opponent, the bullet riddled but unscathed Gray quips "I'm... complicated") and great performances. No, it doesn't make any sense, the action scenes are all edited in that deeply annoying hi-speed fashion that leaves them barely comprehensible and it tends to lose focus once it leaves Venice, but it's most certainly not as awful as its been painted.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

2003
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, USA
Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award Male (Shane West) - nominated

2002
June
28: Prague - filming begins

2003
July
11: USA - theatrical release

August
8: Brazil - theatrical release
14: Israel, New Zealand - theatrical release
21: Australia - theatrical release
22: UK - shown at the London Frightfest
27: France, Switzerland - theatrical release
28: Russia - theatrical release

September
5: Spain - theatrical release
10: Belgium - theatrical release
11: Argentina, Netherlands - theatrical release
12: Iceland - theatrical release
25: Czech Republic - theatrical release

October
2: Germany - theatrical release
3: Austria, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, South Africa - theatrical release
10: Denmark, Greece, Sweden - theatrical release
17: UK - theatrical release

Prepare for the Extraordinary

The power of seven become a league of one

A Rogue. A Scientist. A Spy. A Hunter. A Vampire. A beast. An Immortal

LXG - promotional abbreviation
LXG: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - promotional title

20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1908)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1910)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1912)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1913)
Dracula (1992)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Monster (1950)
King Solomon's Mines (1985)
Mary Reilly (1996)
Mysterious Island (1961)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

MAGAZINES

Empire no.160 (October 2002) p.33 (UK)
production notes

Empire no.168 (June 2003) p.32 (UK)
illustrated interview with Don Murphy (Pipeline: Premier League)

Entertainment Weekly no.683 (22 November 2002) pp.10-11 (USA)
article (Gentlemen's Disagreement by Benjamin Svetkey)

Fangoria no.224 (July 2003) pp.26-29 (USA)
illustrated article (Hyde and Go Shriek by Will Murray)

Film Review Special no.47 (2003) pp.6-43 (UK)
illustrated article (Sean Connery Special by Grant Kempster et al)

Premiere vol.16 no.10 (June 2003) p.70 (USA)
illustrated preview (Summer Movie Preview)

Screen International no.1412 (11 July 2003) p.19 (UK)
illustrated credits, review (by Mike Goodridge)

Variety 14 July 2003 pp.23, 32 (USA)
illustrated credits, synopsis, review (by Todd McCarthy)

KEYWORDS

alternative history, book into film, comic into film, invisibility, invisible man, jekyll and hyde, spies, steampunk, submarines, twist endings, vampires, victorian

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008