‘THE ART AND MAKING OF HIGHLANDER…’ HITS SHELVES…
In the year of Highlander‘s 40th anniversary, it’s ironic that a film that was once written off as a box-office failure (before becoming a beloved cult film classic) really has no shortage of coverage, bandwidth and printed page devoted to its long life.
The latest is The Art and Making of Highlander by Jonathan Melville, a writer no stranger to the Highlander fandom. The book acts like a combination of a brisk tour guide and love letter through the story’s beginnings – starting with young writer Gregory Widen’s trip to Scotland, his visit to the Tower of London and the first musings of a story linking a timeless warrior and the tribulations he faced… through to the way the film eventually moved from the page to the script and then from the screen to a piece of history that was destined to win a different sort of ‘Prize’.
Jonathan’s previous book, A Kind of Magic, covered parallel territory and was a traditional text-driven tome going into detail about the evolution of the original film. This latest release is bigger and bolder and very much a counterbalance, an edition from Titan Books that is unapologetically visually-led, with a mixture of familiar promotional material and rarer images that haven’t been seen widely before.
As has become something of a tradition with the franchise, there are several versions of Highlander movies (and the tv show) that had different or extra scenes as part of ‘European’ releases. Here, there are a large number of pages highlighting some of the deleted scenes from the film that American audiences will not have seen unless they had access to other territories. There’s also a few that have rarely been seen anywhere outside of studio access and test screenings. One of those key entries of interest is the look at one of the most infamously deleted scenes from the film which was never included in the final version and for which the footage no longer exists. (Legends have been made about what actually happened to it!)The Kurgan’s battle with an Immortal named Yung Dol Kim now only exists as a series of still photographs and for many years there was some confusion about who had played the role. Jonathan managed to track the actor and stunt-choreographer down and Alex King gives his account of the exorcised exercise.
The hardback, coffee-table book is produced in the ‘oversized’ format of 10” x 13”, so will likely dominate your bookshelf. The 192 pages are full-colour and many contain photos and images blown up to fill entire pages and even double-spreads. Titan has produced a library-worth of ‘Making of…’ books, often for more recent fare. Here some of the quality of the images aren’t as pixel-perfect. crystal clear in the hi-definition way of modern movies. However, in many cases, this is the largest they have ever been represented in print and so there’s a chance to catch more details.
There are a variety of Highlander tomes out there chronicling different parts of the franchise: Melville’s companion piece A Kind of Magic, Maureen Russell’s Watchers’ Guide detailing aspects of the television series and John Mosby’s expansive Fearful Symmetry giving an overview of it all. – all of which work together to give a devoted fan a fuller picture. The Art and Making of Highlander represents another valid and valued angle and should complement any die-hard fan’s collection!
The Art and Making of Highlander is published by Titan Books and is out from 1st September…