Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves taps into the chaos, comedy, fantasy, and action of Dungeons & Dragons when a crew of unlikely misfits sets out on an epic quest. Led by a charming thief with a personal stake in their missions, this group of adventurers, including a sorcerer, druid, and barbarian, hunts for a long-missing ancient relic. However, their quest becomes more complicated when the adventurers make dangerous enemies.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who also co-wrote the film with Michael Gilio. The movie stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Chloe Coleman, and Daisy Head. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings an original story and characters to life and taps into the beloved lore of Dungeons & Dragons.
Screen Rant spoke with Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez about Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Pine compares playing Dungeons & Dragons to acting and the movie's unique tone. Rodriguez praises the script, explaining how it balances comedy and heart.
Chris Pine & Michelle Rodriguez on Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Screen Rant: That's how you make a Dungeons & Dragons movie. I absolutely loved it! I can't wait to take my family. By the way, I think me and my friends got a D&D campaign going based on this movie now.
Michelle Rodriguez: Oh, that's awesome.
Chris Pine: That's cool. That's rad. What does that mean?
We just got our group together, and we're going to start playing. I've never played it before, but this movie's gotten me into it.
Chris Pine: Oh, radical. That's what I think is so cool about it. I keep telling people, I think people have this idea that Dungeons & Dragons is for kids, which I think it is, and it's fantastic, it's imaginative, all that. But there was a while [when] there were people who loved to play Werewolf and whatever the hell that game was called, but I was like, you just get a bunch of adults over and have a couple drinks and play this game, and I assure you, you're going to have a good time.
Regé was telling me that you guys played and it felt like an improv class to him.
Chris Pine: I think that's what I found playing it. I'm not a huge gamer, and I failed at playing things like Zelda when I was a kid. So I thought I was going to be miserable at this game. But really, what this game is about is acting. It's the same thing. What are the stakes? What's happening? What's the context? And then you just play pretend and I love it, I love it.
You guys captured that all in the film, and it's just so much fun. Chris, your character really anchors the team with the story. Can you talk about what motivates your character and how you approach the balance of comedy and tragedy with your character?
Chris Pine: This is all really credit due to John and Jonathan, and one of the big questions I had going into the film is tone. Tone is everything, and if you don't strike the right chord, there's a potential for it to miss. But I think they really had a line into exactly what I am interested in. The kind of films I like to watch and make are earnest and heartfelt films that don't feel jaded or cynical, and they're not making fun of the world; they're having fun with it, but they aren't too cool for school, so to speak.
I'm a painter, I come to set, I just start throwing shit around, and it's not my job to tell me what's good or not; it's the director's job to say a little bit less of that, a little bit more of that. So I just put myself in the hands of the boys, and essentially, like any great dramatic or comedic thing, you play it for real. You play the jokes; you don't play at the jokes; you play the circumstances and just let the chips fall where they may.
Michelle, you both really capture the energy of your characters being the bard and the barbarian. Did you do your own research on those D&D characters or is that purely from the script?
Michelle Rodriguez: It's all in the script, really. Just like Chris was saying, I think John and Jonathan did a really, really good job of just trying to say, "Hey, what would it be like if we got the most different types of humans and put them in this cool adventure?" And they really did a good job of rounding it off. It's really well balanced between humor and heartfelt, and you got a little bit of everything in there, and I just followed suit. Worked out a lot, tried to get the body there because she's obviously more physical. He's the one with the words.
About Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a long-lost relic, but their charming adventure goes dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
Check out our other Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves interviews here:
- SXSW Red Carpet Premiere
- Regé-Jean Page
- Sofia Lillis & Justice Smith
- John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein & Jeremy Latcham
