Back in 2007, Neil Gaiman adaptations weren't so prolific as they are today, which means that fans of the author had to take what they could get and hope that their favorite story wouldn't be destroyed on the big screen. Fortunately, this was not the case with Stardust, a romantic fantasy movie directed by Matthew Vaughn before he took on huge franchises like X-Men and Kingsman. This month, you will be able to revisit (or discover) the movie as Paramount+ includes it in its catalog.
Stardust follows Tristan (Charlie Cox), a man who lives in the border of a magical kingdom which he enters to collect a fallen star that he intends to give to a beloved woman. He is baffled when he discovers that the stars is actually a woman herself, and that she's being hunted by a band of voracious witches. The star-studded cast also features Claire Danes (Homeland), Sienna Miller (Horizon: An American Saga), Ben Barnes (Shadow and Bone), Mark Strong (Dune: Prophecy), Ricky Gervais (The Office), Rupert Everett (Napoleon), Henry Cavill (Argylle), Michelle Pfeiffer (The First Lady), Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon) and the late Peter O'Toole (Troy), as well as Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings saga) as the narrator.
On Rotten Tomatoes, Stardust has a 77% approval rate, with critics praising the movie's acid humor. Many compared it to The Princess Bride, but they diverged on the elements that make the movie work — or not. Roger Ebert wrote that Stardust has a "narrative flow that makes you want to be swept along," but "it’s a film you enjoy in pieces." On the other hand, audiences were far more enthusiastic about it, with fan score taking the movie all the way to an 86% approval rate on the platform.
How Involved Was Neil Gaiman with the 'Stardust' Adaptation?
Even though in recent projects like The Sandman Neil Gaiman is closely involved, in Stardust he trusted director Matthew Vaughn's vision enough to let the filmmaker handle his novel's adaptation without much interference. During an interview with IndieLondon, the author explained exactly how much he participated in the movie:
"It was very apparent that Matthew had a vision for how he wanted to make the film and I felt very comfortable with that. He was certainly willing for me to chip in if I wanted to but I elected not to. What I did, which I think was probably very fortunate, was I found him his co-writer. I knew just from talking to Matthew that the areas he felt uncomfortable with tended to be the more romantic parts of the script and I thought it would be good for him to work with a woman on this. But it had to be a woman who understood fantasy, who was also funny and sharp, and who could cope with the extra stuff. So, I found Jane Goldman, who I thought would be really good, who loved the book and they hit it off and it worked. I obviously gave comments on the initial script. Once they got to the second draft I flew in and Jane, Matthew and I sat in Matthew’s office at home and we actually acted the script out. Matthew didn’t – he just watched. But we did the whole thing and made lots of little changes and sorted little niggles while we did that. It was enormously fun."
Image Via Paramount
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