A new clip from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves clearly illustrates the difficulties of obtaining information through the "Speak With the Dead" spell.
Shared online by IGN, the scene from the upcoming movie is an abbreviated version of the one shown at San Diego Comic-Con to attendees of the Honor Among Thieves panel in Hall H. It involves the adventuring party in a cemetery, raising corpses so that they can be interrogated on how to find the helmet of Mordenkainen's Disjunction. They encounter various issues with the spell, as the animated dead play closely by the rules of how many questions they're allowed to answer before they return to lifelessness.
Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein also provided some commentary on the clip, which will come up around the midpoint of the movie. "Simon, our sorcerer, has a cleric’s token that allows him to speak to the dead," explained Daley. “They realize they could interrogate corpses to find out what happened to this helmet over the course of this battle.”
Navigating the Rules of Dungeons & Dragons
Some players of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game that inspired the movie may find the dialogue in the clip familiar. As one of the characters points out, it "seems arbitrary" for the spell to limit their conversation with the corpse to five questions and answers. The directors noted that this was "a fun device to mine for comedy."
Another behind-the-scenes secret was about the use of practical effects in the footage, which came from Legacy Effects, known for creating The Mandalorian's adorable Grogu puppet. The withered, decaying corpse in Honor Among Thieves isn't CGI, but a lean actor in costume. Goldstein said that the use of practical effects was meant to "harken back to the movies we love from the ‘80s where they didn't have the ability to rely on CG the way we do now."
Starring Hugh Grant, Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Regé-Jean Page and Sophia Lillis, Honor Among Thieves is a fresh take on the classic tabletop fantasy game. Daley called the movie "a great opportunity to capture the spirit of playing a campaign without at all alienating people who are not privy to the game or the mechanics of the game." Goldstein added, "People will be surprised by what the movie is," he said, "because people come to a film like this with expectations of what a fantasy adventure movie is."
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits theaters on March 31, 2023.
Source: IGN