Director, Producer of 'Highlander' Attend 25th Anniversary Screening in Hollywood on Astini News
Russell Mulcahy and Peter Davis, director and producer of 1986's "Highlander," came to the Egyptian Theatre on August 13, 2011. American Cinematheque screened a beautiful 70 mm print found in Chicago which had never been shown before in honor of the film's 25th anniversary. Mulcahy and Davis were excited to be there, although the heavy traffic had them believing it would take 25 years to arrive in Hollywood.
Although one audience member asked if "Highlander" was inspired by the "Twilight Zone" episode "Long Live Walter Jameson," it actually came from Gregory Widen's senior thesis at UCLA titled "Dark Knight." Davis found the script to be brilliant in conception, so Widen rewrote it along with screenwriters Peter Bellwood and Larry Ferguson. When he chooses to make a movie, Mulcahy said it always comes down to the script and said "Highlander" at its heart is a great story of romances.
Before helming "Highlander," Mulcahy was a music video director. Among his credits are Duran Duran's "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Wild Boys," which led critics to describe "Highlander" as resembling an overextended music video. Mulcahy, however, agreed with their assessment, as he drew from his experience in making music videos. He also called the opening shot hovering over the crowd of wrestling fans the first use ever of a sky cam. As for the wrestling scene, the filmmakers filmed it all in 10 minutes and called it "filmmaking adrenaline."
In casting "Highlander," Christopher Lambert was coming off of "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan." Davis remarked, however, that Lambert couldn't speak a word of English and could barely pronounce his own name. All his lines ended up getting looped as a result. As for Sean Connery, he was only on set for 7 days and his contract stipulated he be in the movie for at least 20 minutes. Mulcahy remarked that Connery was the only actor who could have looked cool in that over the top costume he wore.
With Michael Kamen's score and the "f---ing awesome" music by Queen, "Highlander" found a perfect melding of rock and orchestral music. It turns out that Queen was to write only one song for the movie, but, after they saw a 20-minute reel of footage, they liked what they saw and recorded five more tracks. Mulcahy even reminisced about crashing on Freddie Mercury's couch and waking up to find him making breakfast for him.
"Highlander" did no business when it was released in America, and Mulcahy remarked that the movie poster with Lambert's face in black and white made him look like a "serial rapist." But it got treated like a serious movie in France and soon found new life in Europe as well as on video and cable. After 25 years, Davis said there's no doubt Mulcahy made a "truly great movie." Just don't get them started on the sequels. One audience asked about "Highlander II: The Quickening," and Mulcahy gasped and put his head in his hands. Davis came to his rescue and said:
"We're having a nice evening right now, so we won't be talking about that."
As for the other sequels, the filmmakers were asked if they pursued any involvement with them. To this, Davis asked Mulcahy if he wanted to comment. Mulcahy's response: "I'm not going there."
To that, Davis replied: "Neither will I."
It turns out people did not take Connor MacLeod seriously when he said: "There can only be one!"
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