The film that ended the career of its director and (almost) Sean Connery: “It was a nightmare. I’m tired of dealing with idiots”

Stephen Norrington had a solid career in the field of special effects. He had participated in great productions such as Aliens, the return (1986) and Alien³ (1991), but wanted to occupy another position behind the cameras. In 1995 she wrote, produced and directed her first feature film, lethal machinea low-budget film that allowed him to direct Blade A few years later.

It seemed that Norrington’s career was moving forward. In just a few years he was able to go from being in charge of special effects to directing large productions and, after his experience with Wesley Snipes as the famous vampire hunter, Norrington took the helm of another comic book adaptation. On this occasion, he was going to move to the big screen The League of Extraordinary Gentlemenby Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, which belongs to the steampunk genre and brings together various characters from nineteenth-century fantasy literature.

Stephen Norrington wanted to stay true to the original work, but the production company, 20th Century Fox, and Sean Connery, the film’s star and executive producer, disagreed. Executives opposed the director’s vision, resulting in 20 different versions of the script and a very tense relationship on the set. Then came budget cuts and financial losses. They even had to deal with a flood that destroyed the sets and, with a budget of 17 million dollars, they had little room to act. All this did not help to improve the atmosphere. Stephen Norrington resigned from his position, but faced with the threat of being sued, he had to return.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen It premiered the same weekend as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. A battle where he had everything to lose. It managed to raise 23 million dollars in its first weekend -half that of its competitor-, but the worst part was taken by the critics. The press trashed the feature film.

“A great premise ruined by poor execution” It was the most heard complaint. The project had everything to destroy. It started from a good story, with great characters and an adventure ready to be developed, but it did not bear fruit. The tape has a 17% in Rotten Tomatoes and 30% in metacritic and all those who participated in it prefer to forget it.

The director abandoned his career and Sean Connery raised it

The tensions between the leading actor and the director were notable. According to The ScotsmanDisputes could arise over the smallest details, like a prop gun. Apparently, the director stopped production for an entire day because one of the guns “didn’t look right,” something that irritated Connery. Once the film was over, each one went his own way and neither of them wanted to continue dedicating themselves to cinema.

Sean Connery, who was 73 at the time, seriously considered giving up acting. “It was a nightmare”he assured in an interview with The Times“The experience had a lot of influence on me, it made me reflect on the industry. I’m sick of dealing with idiots“In fact, he had no qualms about pointing out that Stephen Norrington was ‘crazy’. The director decided not to appear at the Las Vegas screening of the film and, when asked by the press about where he was, Connery simply said: ” Take a look at the local mental hospital.”

As for Stephen Norrington, he has not released a feature film again. after finishing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen assured that he would never direct a movie again, although he has evaluated some offers that have been arriving and has left other projects unfinished. He has written some scripts and has been interested in some productions, such as the ‘reboot’ of The Ravenbut nothing has finished curdling.

If you’re curious to see it, it’s available on Disney+.

If you want to be up to date and receive the premieres in your email, sign up for our Newsletter