‘The Beastmaster’ is a sword and sorcery film that was released in 1982. Don Coscarelli directed the film and also co-wrote it with Paul Pepperman. It is based on a 1959 novel called ‘The Beast Master’ by Andre Norton’. The movie starred Marc Singer, Rip Torn, Tanya Roberts, and John Amos. It is about a witch stealing a baby from the womb of his mother and when the child, Dar, grows he can telepathically communicate with animals. He vows revenge on beasts who destroyed his village under the orders of a sorcerer called Maax. It is now 35 years since ‘The Beastmaster’ was released and here are ten things you might not know about this film to commemorate this anniversary.
1. There is an amazing scene in the movie of a hawk soaring. Unfortunately, the hawk chosen for the part would only soar when landing. To resolve this issue, the bird’s cage was attached to helium balloons and the cage door was triggered to open and release the bird when the cage was high enough. This allowed the crew to capture the hawk soaring.
2. The masks worn by the Death Guard did not have any eye sockets so the actor playing this part couldn’t see what was happening. You might notice the Death Guard running around in the movie waving his arms around as this stopped him from bumping into the props and scenery.
3. The Jun Horde temple was lit with torches and these created black smoke. For this reason, the crew was forced to wear breathing masks and the actors had to repeatedly have their nostrils cleaned by the makeup artists.
4. There were budget limitations and this impacted on how much it was possible to spend on actors. The budget set was $25 per day per person. For this reason, homeless people were hired for the scene where Singer meets his father. This scene was shot during the night at Simi Valley.
5. Tao and all his people wear green rings in the film as this allows them to connect to each other. They usually wear it on their left hand.
6. Ferrets are one type of creature that features in this film yet there are some anomalies when they appear in the movie. First, the sound effect given to them is incorrect and sounds more like mice. Second, both ferrets are supposedly male but one gives birth to kits at the end of the film.
7. When Coscarelli and Pepperman wrote the screenplay, they made such significant changes to the story that Andre Norton asked for his name removing from the credits.
8. During filming, Coscarelli feuded with the executive producer constantly regarding both casting and editing.
9. Originally, the role of Maax was written for Klaus Kinski. However, a salary dispute led to the role going to Rip Torn.
10. When casting for the role of Kiri, Coscarelli wanted Demi Moore to play the role. However, the executive producer overrode this decision. Instead, Tanya Roberts was cast in the role. Roberts also played Stacey Sutton in the 1985 Bond movie, ‘A View to a Kill’.
I remember enjoying the Beastmaster when it was available on television. As an avid fan of Andre Norton’s work, I thoroughly reviewed the credits for the author being noted. I realized the film had a storyline very different from the novel but the similarities of the main character’s relationship with the animals was too close to Andre’s book. I felt some affirmation of this was warranted. I, therefore, appreciate knowing that this was a decision that both parties agreed to. I need to point out that “Andre Norton” is the pen name for Alice Mary Norton. She wrote her initial books in a period when only men were getting Sc-Fi and Fantasy published. By the time I started reading her books this was no longer necessary. She became so popular that each year an author is recognized for the best book in young adult Fantasy/Sci-Fi with the Andre Norton Award.