The word “epic” is often used, but in the case of Grendela live retelling of John Gardner's 1971 novel of the same name, that's not hyperbole. Director and screenwriter Robert D. Krzykowski adapted the book, a modern classic that retells the ancient English epic poem Beowulf from the point of view of the monster Grendel, who terrorizes Hrothgar's kingdom of the Danes for 12 years.
The cast is epic too, with Jeff Bridges as the titular monster, Bryan Cranston as King Hrothgar, Dave Bautista as the warrior Beowulf, and T Bone Burnett as the harp-playing blind Shaper.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop is doing the creature work and design. Filming will begin in Europe next year.
Palisades Park Pictures is handling international sales; Co-representation rights from CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group for North America.
The Hollywood journalist recently spoke with Krzykowski about Grendel's deeply conflicted worldview and why his story never gets old.
There are so many movies based on mythology, fantasy, and comic book-like worlds. It's strange that Grendel's story wasn't explored more in the film.
Totally. And I have a feeling it is [the] roots in mythology – you know, comics are kind of a modern myth – and then there's Beowulf who's a bit like the original hero of the comics, and Grendel is the definitive and original villain of English literature – so we're back to roots.
Who you live with Grendel for a long time. Tell me about your relationship with the book.
We were taught this in high school and I was fascinated by it because we read all kinds of books back then – To kill a thrush AND Catcher in the rye AND Death be not proud — and they all sparked conversation, but something about it Grendelthe whole class lit up. Everyone had something to do
say and everyone had their own theory, and it competed with their personal philosophies, their religious leanings, their political leanings. It was really cool to see young people engaging in this, and it sparked conversation, and that has always stuck with me.
From left: Brian Henson and Allan Trautman of the Jim Henson Co.
How familiar was the cast with the story of Grendel, especially Jeff Bridges, Bryan Cranston and T Bone Burnett?
T Bone was probably the most educated about this world and this philosophy. The philosopher [Jean-Paul] Sartre – T Bone was actually doing a piece on the Twyla Tharp movement in New York that was more or less about Sartre. And therefore, have Grendel approaching him at the same time, he really understood the kind of demolition of Sartre's philosophy that John Gardner was attempting – this truly ironic dig at [how] philosophers too much and too much, [and] you may lose the forest among the trees and fail to see a life worth living. So T Bone was really quick to figure it out, because he was already living in that zeitgeist. Jeff has a deep philosophy about how we should operate in the world, and I think so Grendel That's a really interesting caveat. [Jeff] he talked a lot about the yin and yang of each person and Grendel, he's really a conflicted character, and I think he found that really interesting. [Grendel] he ends up in a place where he can't save himself, and we all see that as an interesting warning when you're dealing with a monster. That's a great lens through which to see ourselves because you're not that critical of people, per se — you get this monster that becomes your proxy.
The Shaper is a unique character who wields almost magical powers through his music. How did you come to choose Burnett for this role?
Jeff and I talked about it and he wanted me to meet T Bone right away. He said, “I think you'll really like this,” because we were talking about musicians who would be a good fit for the Shaper. T Bone hopped on a Zoom with Jeff and me, and he has this wonderful, soft, whispery voice that sounded like you wanted him to read the novel to you. Then he started sharing poems that were inspiring, a couple of recent songs that he had written that were so incredibly in tune with what we were doing. When he read GrendelT Bone was like, “Everything in this is stuff that I'm thinking really hard about right now, so I'd really like to articulate that in the music of this movie.”
Is Burnett writing the score?
Joe Kraemer, who did it Mission Impossible: — Rogue Nation AND Jack Reach AND The man who killed Hitler and then Bigfootwill write the symphonic score for the film, and T Bone will write all the mead music and all the Shaper songs. So they kind of articulate different flavors of film.
Grendelthe book is written in the first person. Will Grendel narrate the film?
Grendel is, of course, an unreliable narrator and we see everything through his perspective. Then he talks to us, he tells us, we listen to his thoughts. He talks to other characters who don't necessarily listen to him and sometimes imagines the conversations they are having with him. …So instead of always having him looking out of a window in the mead room, there are times when he's just sitting at a table in the mead room where no one recognizes him, but he manages to be in the brightly lit room real and feel more part of the kingdom of Hrothgar and his people. So he brings a closeness to it, where now the actors are very close to him. It's a bit like: you're aware of every rule, you're breaking every rule, but you're very aware of what the audience will accept psychologically.
Rendering by Grendel by the Jim Henson Company
Tell me about the design of Grendel's face. It's very different from what many people grew up with on the cover of the novel.
This may sound funny, but we were constantly looking for the right shape and didn't want the face to be too flat and humanoid. We wanted him to be scary and that you would believe he would be able to take on all these warriors. So it seemed like he needed to go into mode: you want to create a classic movie monster, an unforgettable movie monster. One day, while I was drawing, I looked at the Pink Panther and the shape of his head. I loved the round top of the head and the snout, and I started thinking about the way Grendel teases Hrothgar, it reminds me a lot of the way the Pink Panther teases and mocks Inspector Clouseau. Then I started thinking, “It would be really cool for a creature performance, because now the actor's head is no longer down, it's not on his face. It's going to be above them, which is a real opportunity for puppets, animatronic puppets.” So there are people off screen controlling the eyes and the mouth, and then the person below is really focused on sort of moving like a dance that moves along with what Jeff Bridges does to Skywalker [Ranch] for his physical performance. So that was one of the thoughts. And I love the [Arthur Rankin Jr.-Jules Bass] 1977 Hobbits — I just think it has really lovely character designs. I love that design and have never seen one like it [design] in 3D. So those were some of the inspirations to try to bring it to life. Then we worked with Jordan Nieuwland and Nikita Lebedev, these two artists at Herne Hill [Media]interpreting my sketches and trying version after version until you saw what is now three-dimensional.
How much do you plan to shoot on stage with staged sets rather than in practical locations?
Probably about a quarter or a fifth of the film will be staged. Very, very handmade, very imagination-driven. I think of Ridley Scott Legend and some of the sneaky theater work there, and [Jim Henson Co.’s 1987 TV series] The narrator – pulls out every trick in the book to tell the story in a compelling way but also to constantly throw new artistic surprises at you. Grendel operates in a series of chapters, each very distinct. So they provide the opportunity to really move it from one chapter to the next. … And then I would like to use as many physical outdoor locations as possible, just because it will have the consistency of Terrence Malick [where] the camera is free and is with Grendel and is able to live with him. I think it's going to be really wonderful for the audience.
Grendel it's a bloody story with some intense gore. How much graph will you get with violence?
We all agreed on making a PG-13 movie, and that means, though, that we can't necessarily throw blood on the screen. But what we can do are some really bone-crushing action scenes. And so it'll be like there's Hong Kong-style wires and people spinning into rafters and crashing into tables and getting thrown into the fireplace.
Grendel grew up watching humans kill each other and destroy their environment. He desperately wants to believe in a better world, but is filled with anger and despair. Considering the state of the world today, it's hard not to identify with some of his feelings. Did you talk about it with the cast?
I think we're not all angry people, but we all needed an outlet and Grendel provided that outlet. He is an angry, cynical, deep thinker who tries to function in a world and can't figure out how. And I think we all ask ourselves the big questions, the big questions of life, and Grendel just asks them over and over and over again in about 20 different and really interesting ways. We just found it really fun to be able to talk about it with each other. It's therapeutic. So I think that's one of the gifts of the job, is that the more you think about it, the more you understand yourself, or you understand your flaws, or you understand the world. And because it's bold enough to ask those questions and trust that you won't answer them, that's real art and that's really smart writing. I think that's why it keeps revisiting people. Grendel it hasn't disappeared, and once again I feel like it could have been written today.