It's been a while since we were last in Westeros, but tomorrow, we'll get a glimpse into another of George R.R. Martin's works: In The Lost Lands. This new movie adapts one of Martin's older short stories, and is helmed by director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Monster Hunter).
The original "In The Lost Lands" short story was published in 1982. It told the tale of Gray Alys, a witch from whom unwitting patrons could buy anything they desired — though it was better not to. Things rarely worked out the way Gray Alys' customers expected. When a queen petitions her to retrieve the power to transform into a werewolf from the ominous Lost Lands, Gray Alys enlists the help of a hunter named Boyce to take her out into the deadly wilderness.
In the movie, Gray Alys is played by Anderson's longtime creative partner and wife Milla Jovovich, while Dave Bautista plays the rugged hunter Boyce. We had a chance to speak with Anderson ahead of the film's release to discuss bringing this piece of George R.R. Martin's catalog to the big screen. Watch our full interview right here:
Milla Jovovich is a "massive fan" of George R.R. Martin's work
While Martin is a household name, "In The Lost Lands" is a fairly obscure work from the author's early days, long before he created Westeros. This led to an obvious question: how did Anderson, Jovovich, and the rest of the team behind this movie decide that they would be making the journey into the Lost Lands?
"The inception of the whole thing is really Milla, she's such a huge fantasy fan and a fan of George's," Anderson told us. "She'd read all of George's work, she's a massive consumer of fantasy literature, which is good because George has a lot of literature. So she was a massive fan of his. And about seven years ago she was approached by Constantin Werner, this writer-producer who had the rights to three of George's short stories. And that was very exciting, so Milla kind of clipped me over the back of the head and said...'get into this, this is exciting!'"
The fact that it was a work written by Martin, who Anderson says writes "the most fabulous characters," was a huge selling point for both him and Jovovich. Another selling point was the opportunity to work in one of Martin's worlds at all. "HBO, Max, has really tried to kind of tie up George and...monopolize the George R.R. Martin business. And we were very much excited at that, kind of having an opportunity to explore one of George's worlds, and extend the George R.R. Martin universe outside of Westeros."
Anderson also highlights the fact that In The Lost Lands was a fantasy story, something which was new to him, as many of his previous films were science fiction and action. "I've been on spaceships, I've been on ancient pyramids filled with Aliens and Predators...but something about a witch and a hunter looking for a werewolf, I'm like, 'that I haven't done!'"
"And also Milla, she's never played a fantasy character like that, so she was super excited about Gray Alys the witch. Because she's played a lot of manmade entities. You know, The Fifth Element, constructed inside of a machine. Resident Evil, Alice, kind of a product of cloning and the T-Virus. So to play a truly magical creature was something that she was very excited about, and I was very excited about bringing to the screen. "
How In The Lost Lands created its "fantastical landscapes" in studio
The conversation with Anderson is far-ranging; we spoke about working with Dave Bautista, some of Anderson's most memorable times on set, what drew him to the story and more. If you're interested in In The Lost Lands, obviously check out the video above for the full discussion.
But something else that I thought was extra fascinating was the nature of how this film was shot. Anderson discussed how Martin's original short story is essentially an "adult fairy tale," and the setting is very much a dark, brooding fantastical one. But Anderson didn't want to retread ground that viewers had already seen in other Martin adaptations. "I don't want to do Westeros again, I don't want to go to the wilds of Ireland and Iceland and shoot these landscapes, because I feel like that's already been done," he said.
Instead, Anderson and his team created the Lost Lands in a totally different way to any of the director's previous films, developing new blue screen technology to film with digital backgrounds. If you're into film, you might immediately think of the Volume — the circular digital soundstage Lucasfilm developed for The Mandalorian which allows backgrounds to be projected behind actors. While Anderson did consider using a Volume for In The Lost Lands, he ultimately utilized a different type of digital background that allowed for more flexibility while filming.
"We developed a technology where we could shoot against a blue screen in a studio, so we could create all these fantastical landscapes, but we had real-time compositing because we created all the landscapes first," Anderson explained. "Which meant that the actors and the crew could see the landscapes that we were creating. So it kind of immersed them in a real world instead of everyone standing in front of a blue screen saying 'oh what's it gonna look like? We'll know in six month's time.'"
"The problem with the Volume is you're very much locked into what you've already prepared, you know? You have to build all the camera moves ahead of time, and build the backgrounds to accommodate those camera moves, and that kind of really locks an actor into something, that they then can't feel free to create on set. And that's where the magic happens for me...you've got one idea of how a scene will go, but then Dave or Milla comes to you and says 'How about if I do it this way?' And you go, oh my god, that's why these guys are great movie stars because they come up with these ideas I could never come up with. But you've gotta give them the freedom and flexibility to do that, which I feel like the Volume robs you of a little bit."
In The Lost Lands has a "very striking ending" that's true to the short story
As of this writing, George R.R. Martin has only written one story about Gray Alys. But he's been open about the fact that he planned to write more; the second even had a tentative title, "The Withered Hand," as Martin revealed in his Dreamsongs anthology. If the movie is a success, would Anderson considering making more of them?
"We made it so that it's a very satisfying film, it's not like we end with 'To be continued,'" Anderson said. "We deliver a very striking ending, because George's short story had a very striking, surprising ending. As you would expect from George, it's these dark characters that have dark secrets. And the twist at the end of Lost Lands the story is amazing, it's one of the reasons why I fell in love with it. So it's a very satisfying, cinematic experience as a one-off."
"Would I like to spend more time with Gray Alys? Yeah," he added with a smile. "If George would like to, I would like to, that's for sure. So we'll leave it in his hands, but if he feels inspired that's definitely something that I would like to pursue."
In The Lost Lands is out in theaters on March 7; you can read our review of the film here. And if you'd like to read the original work it's based on, you can find George R.R. Martin's short story "In The Lost Lands" in Dreamsongs: Volume I.
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