Sturla Gunnarsson's film version of "Beowulf" will make its world premiere at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, celebrating its 30th year. Adapted by Andrew Rai Berzins from the Old English poem (dated approx. 1100 A.D.--so expect some changes purists!) and focusing on the first half of the epic tale (the dragon will appear in the sequel), "Beowulf And Grendel" (full title) stars Gerard Butler, Sarah Polley, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was shot last autumn on authentic Icelandic locations and offers a grittier, meditative approach to what could have been an orgy of CGI (that'll likely come with the rival Zemeckis production, adapted by Neil Gaiman, due next year). Now, if that sounds a bit too arty (read: "boring"), know that several major action sequences were storyboarded by yours truly and there'll be no shortage of monsters and mayhem to go with this unique take. Check out the official site. An expanded gallery of my storyboards will be posted here shortly.
