Dungeons & Dragons directors are “fine” with Honor Among Thieves subtitle, ok?

Dungeons & Dragons gets a flashy subtitle all its own. In the opinion of its directors, it could've been much worse

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  March 2, 2023 | 12:31am
Aux News Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons directors are “fine” with Honor Among Thieves subtitle, ok?
Hugh
Grant, Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, Michelle
Rodriguez, Chris Pine, and crew on the set of Dungeons & Dragons:
Honor Among Thieves
Photo: Paramount Pictures

There comes a time in every filmmaker’s life when the studio demands a subtitle. Whether it’s some clunky shorthand to remind audiences of the first movie (A Knives Out Mystery) or confuse them with word salad (Dawn Of Justice), subtitles help franchise installments differentiate from each other. We assume that with something like Dungeons & Dragons, it’s to remind people that they aren’t buying a ticket to a board game.

Things could’ve been worse for Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, the co-directors of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, at least from their perspective. In a new interview with Variety, the directors admit they probably preferred calling the movie “Dungeons & Dragons.”

“If we were running things, we probably would have just called it ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’” said Goldstein. “There’s so much that goes on in the Dungeons and Dragons world that they were reluctant to just let it have that broad title with no subtitle. I think [the studio] also liked the idea of it being a potential franchise.”

“For the record, we’re fine with it!” Daley said.

That’s not to say that they sound incredibly pleased with the situation. As per Daly’s ringing endorsement: “We don’t think it’ll do any damage to the film.” Admittedly, the subtitle feels like the weight albatross of yet another cinematic universe, but Daly says the pair “totally understand where [the studio was] coming from.” Still, it could’ve been worse. Goldstein said they were “braced for really terrible subtitles.”

“We were ready to fight,” said Daley. “So when they presented that subtitle to us, we were like, all right!”

Honor Among Thieves doesn’t have much significance now, considering the movie’s not out, and we don’t know what it means. It does, however, sound like the name of a D&D campaign, which fits into another interesting tidbit from the interview. As Daley and Goldstein put it, their approach to the movie is to make the film feel like playing the game, with characters standing in for types of players.

“Each character represents a different player and how they go about playing the game,” said Daley. “Xenk, played by Regé-Jean Page, is very much the nerdy player that doesn’t make jokes and adheres strictly to the rulebook. Whereas Edgin, Chris Pine’s character, is the more casual player. He doesn’t bother to learn about the Bardic spells and would prefer to just hit people over the head with his lute.”

Goldstein describes the movie as “almost like a dungeon master.”

“The plot twists that we throw at our characters are what a DM would do at the table, just to screw with you and make it more fun,” he said. “It was our way of capturing what goes on when you’re playing D&D, without breaking the fourth wall or becoming meta with it.”

We’ll roll the dice and see if this movie can do the same on March 31 when Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves hits theaters.

 
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