Cinema
Henry Cavill Has Started Training for New ‘Highlander’ From ‘John Wick’ Director
Henry Cavill is generating buzz for the new ‘Highlander’ directed by Chad Stahelski (‘John Wick’) and says he’s already started training with swords.
The reboot of the ‘Highlander’ saga is well underway, and Henry Cavill, star of the new film from Chad Stahelski (‘John Wick’), confirms that he has already begun training with swords for the elaborate choreography of the saga’s signature stabbing duels. Cavill himself, in a nod to his previous role as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ series, opened with a line that has raised expectations: “If you think you’ve seen me do sword work before, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
Henry Cavill will play Connor MacLeod in Chad Stahelski’s ‘Highlander,’ and he’s already started training with swords
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter at CinemaCon, Henry Cavill confirmed that he has already begun training with swords for the many sword fighting sequences in Chad Stahelski’s new ‘Highlander’, a movie that has yet to be released. The British actor commented: “I am a lover of the original movies, for better or worse. It’s one of those things where reading the script, I wasn’t quite sure where they were going to go.” Cavill mentioned that he discovered that Stahelski and the team are “going deep into the meaning of these characters, their trials and tribulations.”
The project was announced in May 2021, and Cavill himself shared a press clipping of the news on his Instagram account, claiming that he was very excited to be involved in the feature film.
In addition to his impressive physique, another of Henry Cavill’s most recognizable traits is the passion he brings to the projects he is involved with. This was precisely the reason he decided to leave Netflix’s The Witcher after its third season, citing creative differences with the showrunners and a lack of fidelity to Andrzej Sapkowski’s books.
‘Highlander’: a franchise full of highs and lows
‘Highlander’ is a saga of fantasy and adventure films and television series that chronicles the centuries-long struggle of several immortal warriors who can only die by decapitation. Christopher Lambert gained worldwide recognition thanks to this saga with his role as Connor MacLeod, a 16th-century Scotsman who arrives in the present using different identities and living in different places to avoid suspicion of his immortality. In the present, he encounters other immortal warriors like himself, whom he must kill to prevent them from doing the same to him, since it is said that the last immortal will receive “the prize,” the “content” of which varies from movie to movie and can include becoming mortal again or gaining all the knowledge of mankind.
The original 1986 film was a box office flop but well-received enough to spawn a franchise. Following the original film, there have been several direct sequels starring Christopher Lambert, a TV series starring Adrian Paul, a crossover movie of the films and the series, and even an OVA. Unfortunately, the continuity of the saga is badly broken, with key events and concepts such as “The Prize” having contradictory meanings from one work to the next, and poor quality in films such as ‘Highlander: The Source” (2007).
The reboot of the saga with Henry Cavill in the lead and Chad Stahelski directing is a new opportunity to get things right in the saga, as so far it is little more than a hodgepodge of contradictory concepts between films.