Stardust

Matthew Vaughn’s film came out of a long wait. Neil Gaiman took the rights back once the option lapsed and refused later offers to keep control of the adaptation. Vaughn returned after pulling out of X-Men: The Last Stand, working with Jane Goldman, whom Gaiman had suggested. The departures are not small. The pirate captain gets one passing mention on the page; Captain Shakespeare, played by Robert De Niro, becomes a whole movement of the film. The last half hour parts company with the book, on an ending Gaiman proposed and prefers for cinema. The shoot ran mostly at Pinewood and in Scotland, at Wester Ross and on Skye; only one scene was captured in Iceland, since the budget and the trouble of sourcing horses ruled out more. Vaughn fought the studio over the campaign, refusing to have it sold as Lord of the Rings, offering The Princess Bride as the model and being told that film had flopped. Most of the money came from outside the United States, and it won the 2008 Hugo for long form ahead of Enchanted and The Golden Compass. A good fit if you are curious about an adaptation that rebuilds rather than obeys, turning a one line pirate into a major role. Not for anyone waiting for the ending of Gaiman’s novel.