Jack the Giant Slayer

''Jack the Giant Slayer'' (previously titled ''Jack the Giant Killer'') is a 2013 American fantasy adventure film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Darren Lemke, Christopher McQuarrie and Dan Studney, from a story by Lemke and David Dobkin. The film, based on the British fairy tales " Jack the Giant Killer" and "Jack and the Beanstalk", stars Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Bill Nighy, and Ewan McGregor. The film tells the story of Jack, a young farmhand who must rescue a princess from a race of giants after inadvertently opening a gateway to their land in the sky.

Development of ''Jack the Giant Slayer'' began in 2005, when Lemke first pitched the idea. D. J. Caruso was hired to direct the film in January 2009, but in September of that year, Caruso was replaced by Singer, who hired McQuarrie and Studney to rework the script. The main characters were cast between February and March 2011, and principal photography began in April 2011 in England with locations in Somerset, Gloucestershire and Norfolk. Release of the film was moved back in post-production to allow more time for special effects and marketing.

''Jack the Giant Slayer'' premiered on February 26, 2013, in Hollywood. It was released theatrically in the United States on March 1, 2013, receiving mixed reviews from critics and was a box office flop.

Plot

In the Kingdom of Cloister, Jack, a young farm boy, is fascinated by the legend of Erik, an ancient king who defeated an army of invading giants from a realm in the sky by controlling them with a magical crown. At the same time, Princess Isabelle becomes fascinated with the same legend.

Ten years later, Jack goes into town to sell his horse to support his uncle's farm. There, Jack spots Isabelle and becomes enamored with her after defending her honor from a group of hooligans. Meanwhile, Lord Roderick returns to his study, only to find that a monk has robbed him. The monk offers Jack some magic beans he stole from Roderick as collateral for Jack's horse. Back at the castle, Isabelle quarrels with her father King Brahmwell as she wants to explore the kingdom, but he wants her to stay and marry Roderick. Likewise, Jack's uncle scolds him for being foolish before throwing the beans on the floor and leaving the house.

Determined to be free, Isabelle sneaks out of the castle and seeks shelter from the rain in Jack's house. As it rains, one of the beans takes root and grows into a massive beanstalk that carries the house and Isabelle into the sky as Jack falls to the ground.

Jack, Roderick, and Roderick's attendant Wicke volunteer to join the king's knights, led by Elmont and his second-in-command, Crawe, and climb the beanstalk in search of Isabelle. As they climb, a lightning storm during the night knocks five knights from the beanstalk, and Roderick and Wicke cut the safety rope, intentionally sending them to fall to their deaths - the two claim the rope snapped. At the top, they discover the giants' realm and decide to split into two groups: one with Jack, Elmont, and Crawe, and the other including Roderick, Wicke, and one of the surviving knights, but not before Roderick hangs back and forcibly takes the remaining beans from Jack, issuing death threats to the boy if he ever tells anybody about the incident (although Jack manages to save one for himself).

Jack's group is trapped by a giant, who takes Elmont and Crawe prisoner while Jack, his scent hidden because he has gone underwater, escapes. Meanwhile, Roderick tricks the last knight close to the ledge and pushes him to his death, but then immediately encounters two other giants; one eats Wicke, but before the other can do the same to Roderick, Roderick dons the magical crown.

Jack follows the giant to their stronghold, where the two-headed giant leader, Fallon, has devoured Crawe for his defiance. Jack finds Isabelle and Elmont imprisoned there. As the giants prepare to kill their remaining prisoners, Roderick walks in and enslaves the giants with the crown. He tells the giants they will attack Cloister at dawn, also giving them permission to eat Isabelle and Elmont. One of the giants prepares to cook Elmont as a pig-in-a-blanket and is about to chop Isabelle up when Jack, who is above him, impales his neck with a kitchen knife. The trio makes for the beanstalk, where Jack causes the giant sent to guard the beanstalk to fall off the realm's edge with wild honeybees. Seeing the giant's body, Brahmwell orders the beanstalk cut down to avoid an invasion by the giants, putting the safety of the Earth ahead of the possibility of Isabelle returning home.

Jack and Isabelle head down the beanstalk, during which they admit their growing feelings for each other, while Elmont stays to confront Roderick. Elmont kills Roderick, but Fallon takes the crown before Elmont can claim it, and Elmont is forced to escape down the falling beanstalk or be trapped in the giant's realm. Jack, Isabelle, and Elmont all survive the fall after the beanstalk is cut down. As everyone returns home, Jack warns that the giants are using Roderick's beans to create beanstalks to descend down to Earth and attack Cloister.

The giants chase Jack, Isabelle, and Brahmwell into the castle, where Elmont fills the moat with oil and sets it on fire. Fallon falls into the moat and breaks into the throne room from below. As the siege continues and both sides struggle for control of the drawbridge, Fallon captures Jack and Isabelle, but Jack throws the final bean down Fallon's throat before the giant can eat him, causing a beanstalk to rip apart his body. Jack takes the crown and just as the giants break into the courtyard, he takes control of them and sends the giants back to their realm to cut down the beanstalks themselves.

After Brahmwell abolishes the law that the princess can't be with a commoner, Jack and Isabelle marry and tell the story of the giants to their children. As time passes, the magic crown is crafted into St Edward's Crown and is secured in the Tower of London while the giants' realm is shown to still exist above London in the modern day.

Cast

Production

Development

Screenwriter Darren Lemke first proposed the idea of contemporizing the "Jack and the Beanstalk" fairy tale with CGI in 2005 before the release of other contemporary films based on fairy tales such as '' Alice in Wonderland'' (2010), ''Red Riding Hood'' (2011) and ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' (2012). Lemke described the script as "a male-oriented story of a boy becoming a man" and drew a parallel between Jack and Luke Skywalker of ''Star Wars''. In January 2009, New Line Cinema hired D. J. Caruso to direct the script, which was subsequently rewritten by Mark Bomback. By August 2009, it was reported that Bryan Singer might be replacing Caruso; this became official in September 2009.

In April 2010, Singer re-teamed with screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie to rework the screenplay. Singer and McQuarrie had previously collaborated on '' Public Access'', ''The Usual Suspects'', ''Apt Pupil'', and ''Valkyrie''. Singer stated, "Chris McQuarrie did a significant re-write for me. He brought a different structure. It was very much a page-one situation; a different storyline. It involved the same characters, but some we juggled around and switched around. He just brought a very different perspective". McQuarrie's re-write included a deeper back story for the giants and explanation of their relationship with the humans, which Singer considered a "vast improvement"; it also upped the budget. To get the budget back in line, Singer brought in television writer Dan Studney to work on the project.

In May 2010, ''ReelzChannel'' reported that production of the film would be delayed until February 2011. The report cited Singer's interest in being able to pre-visualize scenes with the digital giants in-camera with the live-action actors (''a la'' James Cameron's ''Avatar'') and the need for more time to work out the complex process as reasons for the delay.

Pre-production

In October 2010, New Line gave Bryan Singer the green-light to begin pre-production work on ''Jack the Giant Killer'', with production scheduled to begin the following spring. In November 2010, Singer began screen-testing for the male and female leads. Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Hoult, and Aneurin Barnard were considered for the role of the young farmhand, and Adelaide Kane, Lily Collins, and Juno Temple tested for the princess role.

In December 2010, Singer said, "I'm very much looking forward to using the EPIC Red for my next movie ''Jack the Giant Killer'' which will be shot in, what else, 3D. The camera's incredibly compact size and extraordinary resolution are ideal for the 3D format. But more importantly ''Jack the Giant Killer'' is my first movie set in a time before electricity. The EPIC's extraordinary exposure latitude will allow me to more effectively explore the use of natural light".

In February 2011, ''The Hollywood Reporter'' reported that Stanley Tucci had been cast as the antagonist, the king's advisor who plans on taking over the kingdom, and Bill Nighy and John Kassir were cast as Fallon, the two-headed leader of the giants; Nighy would play the big head and Kassir would play the smaller head. Also in February, Nicholas Hoult was offered the lead role. Singer said he had liked him since '' Skins'' and was very supportive of his casting in '' X-Men: First Class''. Later that month, Ewan McGregor joined the cast as the leader of the king's elite guard, who helps fight giants.

In March 2011, Eleanor Tomlinson was cast opposite Nicholas Hoult as the princess and Ian McShane was cast to play her father, King Brahmwell. Two days later, New Line and Warner Bros. announced a release date of June 15, 2012.

Filming

Principal photography began on April 12, 2011, in the British countryside. In May 2011, production moved to Somerset, England for two weeks with filming scheduled in Wells, Cheddar and secret locations in the county including scenes filmed at Wells Cathedral. Also in May, scenes were shot at Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean near Coleford, Gloucestershire. Puzzlewood, which features unusual tree and rock formations, has previously been used for filming of the BBC
...