Жүректің Аңызы (Jүrektің Añızы)

1996 film by Rob Cohen
the 1996 film

Dragonheart (stylized as DragonHeart) is a 1996 fantasy adventure film directed by Rob Cohen and written by Charles Edward Pogue, based on a story created by him and Patrick Read Johnson. The film stars Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Dina Meyer, and Sean Connery as the voice of Draco. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and various other awards in 1996 and 1997. The film received mixed reviews, with critics praising the premise, visual effects, and character development but panning the script as confusing and clichéd. It was a box office success, earning $115 million worldwide. It was dedicated to the memory of Steve Price and Irwin Cohen.

In 984 A. D., Sir Bowen, an English knight of "the Old Code", mentors Saxon prince Einon in his ideals to make him a better king than his father Freyne. While suppressing a peasant rebellion, rebels ambush and kill Freyne. Then a young peasant girl named Kara accidentally wounds Einon's heart. Einon's Celtic mother Aislinn has Einon taken before a dragon and asks him to save the boy's life. The dragon makes Einon promise to be a just ruler with honor and replaces Einon's wounded heart with half his own. However, Einon proves more oppressive by enslaving the former rebels that killed his father and forcing them to rebuild a Roman castle. Einon also has Kara's father, who led the insurgents, blinded. Believing the dragon's heart has corrupted Einon, Bowen swears vengeance on him and all dragons by hunting them down. Twelve years later, Bowen has become a skilled dragonslayer. Meanwhile, Einon, having become a tyrant, has rebuilt his castle. Kara asks that he free her father after years of slavery; Einon agrees but kills him to "release" him. Monk and aspiring poet Brother Gilbert witnesses Bowen's prowess and follows him to record his exploits. Bowen stalks a dragon to its cave, not knowing it's the one who shared his heart with Einon. The confrontation ends in a stalemate, during which the dragon states that he's the last of his kind; they agree not to kill each other and instead form a partnership to defraud local villagers with staged dragon "slayings". Bowen later names the dragon after the Draco constellation, unaware of Draco and Einon's connection, through which they feel each other's pain. Kara, seeking revenge on Einon, is imprisoned after a failed assassination attempt. Realizing she is responsible for his near death, Einon tries seducing Kara and making her his queen. Despising what her son has become, Aislinn helps Kara escape the castle. Kara tries to rally her village against Einon, but they sacrifice her to Draco instead. After Draco takes Kara to his lair, Einon arrives to recapture her and fights Bowen. While fighting, Einon demoralizes Bowen by declaring he never believed in the code and only used Bowen to learn how to fight. He gains the upper hand and nearly kills Bowen, but Draco intervenes and reveals his half heart to Einon, making him flee in fear. Kara asks Bowen to help overthrow Einon, but the disillusioned knight refuses. Bowen reunites with Gilbert at another village while Kara tries exposing Bowen and Draco, appalled by their actions. The villagers don't believe her until after the staged slaying while Draco plays dead. He bolts when the villagers decide to carve him up for meat, revealing the scam. Then they surround Bowen, Kara, and Gilbert, wanting to eat them instead; Draco rescues the trio and takes them to Avalon, where they take shelter among the tombs of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Draco reveals the truth about himself and Einon: He hoped to change Einon's nature by saving him, reuniting the races of Man and Dragon, and earning a place in the constellation—the Dragon's Heaven. Draco fears his choice has cost him his soul, and his spirit is doomed to disappear upon death like he never existed. After hearing that Kara and even Gilbert intend to oppose Einon, Draco agrees to help. When a vision of King Arthur reminds him of his knightly honor, Bowen also agrees. Bowen, Kara, Gilbert, and Draco organize and train the villagers into a formidable army. They're nearly victorious against Einon's forces when Gilbert strikes Einon in the heart with an arrow; however, Draco, feeling Einon's pain, falls from the sky and is captured. Realizing he is immortal as long as Draco lives, Einon is determined to keep Draco safe. Knowing their connection, Aislinn attempts to kill Draco at his request, but Einon intercepts and kills her. The rebels invade Einon's castle to save Draco. Bowen and Einon duel through the halls, ending with Bowen throwing Einon from atop a tower. While he tries freeing Draco, the dragon begs Bowen to kill him and end Einon's reign. Einon rises and charges towards them, forcing a reluctant Bowen to throw an axe into Draco's exposed half heart, killing him and Einon; thus ending his reign of terror for good. Draco's body dissipates as his soul joins his fellow dragons to become a new star in the constellation. Gilbert concludes that Bowen and Kara went on to lead the kingdom into an era of justice and peace, with Draco's star shining brighter than ever in troubled times.

Dennis Quaid as Sir Bowen, a knight who becomes a dragonslayer and then allies with Draco. Director Rob Cohen was impressed with Quaid, telling producer Raffaella De Laurentiis "[Quaid] is a knight of the old code". Cohen called Quaid "obviously intelligent and fun to work with" and said that he "really [thought] he was Bowen". Quaid underwent rigorous training for the role, mostly practicing sword fighting. Quaid and Cohen both wanted Bowen's sword technique to have an "Eastern flavor", so Quaid trained with Japanese sword master Kiyoshi Yamasaki. Johnson's manager Melinda Jason also managed screenplay writer Charles Edward Pogue, who previously wrote for David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly and was working on adapting A Princess of Mars for Disney. When meeting for drinks in Bora Bora, Johnson pitched the idea for Dragonheart to Pogue, and he agreed to work on the film. Johnson already had the story's beginning and end in mind but not much of the middle, so he and Pogue collaborated on the script, developing the characters and the Old Code while working the Arthurian myth into the story.

During his time location scouting in Spain, Johnson created the character of Draco. He and Pogue shaped it for Sean Connery, a client of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) at the time, who was Johnson's only choice in mind to voice Draco. Johnson wanted to "animalize" Connery's voice by giving it "deep resounding rumbles, and make the vocabulary such that it didn't sound quite human". Instead of how it's heard in the final film, "it wasn't just gonna be Sean Connery's voice coming out of the dragon". After completing location scouting, CAA sent numerous English and Irish actors to meet with Johnson for the Bowen role, including Gabriel Byrne, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan. English actresses sent for the part of Kara included Elizabeth Hurley and Patsy Kensit. Johnson then met the then up and coming Liam Neeson, and the two hit it off, with Johnson noting how Neeson could be both brooding and funny. However, much to Johnson's chagrin, the studio refused to believe Neeson could pull off the action hero role since he had just completed Darkman. Wanting a big name lead actor for the film, Universal sent the script to actors like Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as potential Bowen candidates. Other actors considered to replace Neeson included Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, and Patrick Swayze, Cohen's first choice for Bowen before Dennis Quaid accepted the role. With the castings of Quaid as Bowen and Meyer as Kara, Johnson said:

Blockquote| I love Dennis Quaid; I love everything he's done. I just didn't think he should be in 10th century England, any more than Kevin Costner should be in Sherwood Forest. Not that they weren't enjoyable in their roles. Frankly, I think Dennis Quaid saved the movie, as much as it could have been saved Dennis Quaid just wasn't the right man for the role; Liam Neeson was the right man for the role And Dina Meyer again 10th century England?! Beverly Hills 10 A. D.? Bless her heart, she tried. It didn't help that they stuck her in that funny red wig that was constantly changing shape and size. The whole thing just flabbergasted me. As the Creature Shop did tests for Draco, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) did CGI tests for Jurassic Park. Universal believed waiting would be better as the CGI technology could benefit Dragonheart. Additionally, according to Johnson, Universal saw the Creature Shop test footage as the pretext for the final film's quality. The studio went behind his back, trying to remove him from the project and give it to an A list director since Johnson only had one film to his name at the time. Raffaella De Laurentiis tried to negotiate the budget to one the studio would accept at around $21 million. Still, Universal wouldn't take an amount lower than $23 million and would ironically end up spending roughly triple the amount on the film. When Universal ended his contract, Johnson was only paid and given credit for writing the story and acting as executive producer. For his desired direction for the film, Johnson said:

Blockquote| I wanted this to be a more noble film than it ended up being. I still wanted it to be fun, and I wanted it to be charming and clever. I wanted it to have a more European feeling. Like something Terry Gilliam might do.

Since Jurassic Park was released and Universal Studios sought to have Draco made with CGI like the dinosaurs, there had to be script alterations per Draco's allowed screen time based on the film's budget. As a result, Draco would appear less often than in the original script, which included a sequence with Bowen flying around on Draco's back. According to Pogue, the film production became troublesome after Rob Cohen's hiring; Pogue felt Cohen "had neither the poetry in his soul nor the panache to bring Dragonheart to the screen". One of Cohen's first changes to the film was setting it during the 10th century Dark Ages rather than the sophisticated "Robin Hood era" 12th century Middle Ages. He felt the possibility of dragons existing during the mostly unrecorded period would be more believable and appropriate for his grittier vision. While streamlining the script with Pogue, they removed one of Bowen and Draco's scams as Cohen felt that doing three would be too expensive and reduced the number of battles. Other changes to the script under Cohen's direction include:

Reducing Queen Aislinn to "a glorified bit player". Changing the unseen old scarred dragon from male to female. Cutting a scene between Gilbert and Bowen by a riverbank where they discuss their goals and motivations. Also removed were scenes showing the developing love story between Bowen and Kara, which the final film only alludes to without proper resolution. For example, Kara and Bowen declare their love for each other, during which Bowen asks Kara for her "lady's favor". Kara reveals Einon raped her and therefore has nothing to give Bowen, so Bowen kneels and gives her a chaste kiss on the hand. Cohen reportedly removed the scene because he felt Kara should be more of an action oriented character swinging axes around and didn't believe she would make "sappy speeches". However, according to Pogue, Cohen cut the scene because he couldn't get the desired performance, which involved having Kara and Bowen in an intimate embrace instead of the hand kiss, and conflicted with Dina Meyer. This issue also made Cohen cut a scene with the peasant army gifting Bowen a suit of armor they make for him, overwhelming Bowen with emotion, which Pogue considered Dennis Quaid's best scene. Then Cohen's desire to showcase Draco as the film's main attraction caused the deletion of vital "connective tissue" scenes, making the film feel inconsistent and rushed. Pogue also said the film suffered because Universal aimed to turn Dragonheart into a kids' movie as the dark and weighty elements were either removed or dumbed down. As Johnson said: "They messed with the script and started adding things like, 'Ready or not here I come! It's Draco!' I mean, we never had that stuff in our script! All this cheesy crap that just juvenilized the picture". To stay within the budget Universal was willing to shell out with Johnson directing, the developers approached Jim Henson's Creature Shop to create the Draco through traditional means. The dragon model was done within eight weeks, including a quarter scale puppet and a full size head that could speak with real time lip sync through camera speed manipulation. MCA Records released the film's soundtrack album on May 28, 1996, containing 15 music tracks.

Released on May 31, 1996, Dragonheart collected $15 million during its opening weekend, ranking in third place at the box office behind Twister and Mission: Impossible. The film grossed $115 million against the budget of $57 million. The film was later released on HD DVD on May 29, 2007. Dragonheart was released on Blu ray Disc on March 27, 2012. On February 28, 2023, Shout! Factory released the film in 4K on Blu ray.

The film's first official trailer featured Enya's song "Pax Deorum" from her album The Memory of Trees. Kenner released a toy line based on the main characters and additional dragons that weren't shown or mentioned in the film. Revell (under their Promodeler line) produced and released only 5000 units of a limited edition vinyl model kit of Draco and Bowen, sculpted by John Dennett. In 1996, Topps released trading cards for the film, and the comics division published a two issue comic adaptation.

Charles Edward Pogue wrote a 262 page novelization, Dragonheart, published by The Berkley Publishing Group in June 1996. The first edition shows Pogue as the sole author, but the book is frequently listed with Johnson as co author. Based on his original screenplay, with "several new inspirations that weren't in any of the various drafts", it is faithful to his vision of Dragonheart as the transcendent film it should have been. It was released in several languages and five editions in the U. S. to widespread critical acclaim. Readers praised Pogue's writing and how the book develops the story, setting, and characters more than the film, noting its darker and more serious tone than the film's. In 1999, Adriana Gabriel adapted the movie into a junior novelization.

After its release, Dragonheart spawned a spin off 2D hack and slash game for the PlayStation, Saturn, PC, and Game Boy called DragonHeart: Fire & Steel, made by Acclaim Entertainment.

Based on reviews from 30 critics compiled retrospectively, Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 50% with an average rating of 5.7 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Dragonheart gives us medieval action, a splendidly mulleted Dennis Quaid, and Sean Connery as a talking dragon and, unfortunately, a story that largely fails to engage". On Metacritic — which assigns a weighted mean score — the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars: "While no reasonable person over the age of 12 would presumably be able to take it seriously, it nevertheless has a lighthearted joy, a cheerfulness, an insouciance, that recalls the days when movies were content to be fun. Add that to the impressive technical achievement that went into creating the dragon, and you have something to acknowledge here. It isn't great cinema, but I'm glad I saw it". Jami Bernard of The New York Daily News described the film as "a movie for people young enough to keep dragons in the menageries of their imaginations". He went on to say that "the dragon is the most believable part of the whole movie". Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave the movie a positive review. Still, he criticized the fact that Sean Connery provided Draco's voice, saying that "if only Sean Connery didn't have such a wonderfully distinctive voice, Draco might live and breathe as his own creature". Despite the lukewarm reception, Rob Cohen is very fond of the film: "Dragonheart pointed the way. There would be no Lord of the Rings without Dragonheart. We were the first to do a full CG acting character. But it's been very interesting. There's a great love for that film among a certain audience. And I get a lot of reactions from very unexpected quarters to that film, with people who saw it when they were young, or kids or teenagers, or women who are now of an advanced age that love it, and New Age people who found the spirituality in it very moving. I'm very proud of it".

Award Category Recipients ResultAcademy AwardsBest Effects, Visual EffectsScott Squires, Phil Tippett, James Straus, and Kit West Saturn AwardsBest Fantasy FilmUniversal Pictures Best CostumesThomas Casterline and Anna B. Sheppard Best MusicRandy Edelman Best Special EffectsScott Squires, Phil Tippett, James Straus, and Kit West Hollywood Film AwardsHollywood Digital AwardScott Squires Satellite AwardsOutstanding Visual EffectsScott Squires Sitges Film FestivalBest FilmRob Cohen Online Film & Television AssociationBest Voice Over PerformanceSean Connery Best Sci Fi/Fantasy/Horror PictureRaffaella De Laurentiis Best Visual EffectsScott Squires, Phil Tippett, James Straus, Kit West Annie AwardsBest Individual Achievement: Voice ActingSean Connery Best Individual Achievement: AnimationRob Coleman

In the years following its release and strong home media sales, Dragonheart gained a following and is considered a cult classic. The character of Draco also gained popularity, often being ranked as one of cinema's most memorable dragons, with fans noting him as ILM's best work on the heels of Jurassic Park and praising Sean Connery's vocal performance. In 2006, Draco was ranked no. 6 on a Top 10 list of movie dragons by Karl Heitmueller for MTV News.

On various days throughout the year in Toronto, the AMC Yonge & Dundas 24 theater screens a fully restored "20th anniversary edition" of Dragonheart with never before seen footage, enhanced visual effects, and a digitally remastered soundtrack. On May 31, 2016, celebrating the film's 20th anniversary, a retrospective article was published on the making of Dragonheart featuring Scott Squires and Phil Tippett, among others who worked on the film.

A direct to video sequel to the film, Dragonheart: A New Beginning, was released in 2000, followed by three prequels: Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse in 2015, Dragonheart: Battle for the Heartfire in 2017, and Dragonheart: Vengeance in 2020.

In a 2013 MTV interview about his then upcoming film 5 25 77, Dragonheart creator Patrick Read Johnson expressed a desire to remake the film with Sean Connery and Liam Neeson, his original choice for Bowen, before Universal fired Johnson from the project. In April 2016, Matthew Feitshans, screenwriter of the Dragonheart prequels, said that Universal wanted to use the prequels to keep the film series' momentum up, mentioning the possibility and hopes of them leading to a big budget remake of the original film. In 2018, Patrick Read Johnson reiterated that he was still interested in the project.