Ladyhawke (1985) Hello, I am Randy Andrews and today I’ve got Darrin and Ruth Sutherland from Trekker Talk, Xenozoic Xenophiles, and Warlord Worlds. We will be discussing Ladyhawke. We will talk about the cast, the background, the technical aspects and of course the wonderful soundtrack all today on Soundtrack Alley! Play Soundtrack Alley Intro Hello, I’m Randy Andrews, I’m here with Darrin and Ruth Sutherland, how are you both today? Allow for opening comments. So lets get into the movie about Ladyhawke. Darrin and Ruth what was your first experience with Ladyhawke and how did you come to love the movie? In one scene, Navarre tells Philippe to ride his horse to Imperius' castle and slaps the horse's rear to make it ride. However, the first time the scene was filmed, Rutger Hauer(Navarre) slapped the horse too hard and it took off over the hill and off into the horizon. The horse was too powerful for Matthew Broderick to stop, so all everyone could do was sit and wait for him to come back. Richard Donner originally wanted to cast Rutger Hauer as the evil captain of the guard while casting a younger actor, Kurt Russell, as Navarre. Hauer wasn't interested in that role, but expressed interest in playing Navarre. When Russell dropped out a few days before principal photography began, the part was handed to Hauer. Matthew Broderick and John Wood worked together before, in the movie WarGames(1983). The film was released the same year as another medieval film starring Rutger Hauer, Flesh + Blood (1985). Richard Donner once said that he had considered Mick Jagger for the Bishop. When Richard Donner was considering Dustin Hoffman for the Matthew Broderick role, he had Sean Connery in mind for the Rutger Hauer part. All three actors would appear in Family Business (1989). Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer both went on to feature in Batman films. Michelle portrayed Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992) and Rutger portrayed Chairman Earle in Batman Begins (2005). The name of Captain Etienne Navarre (Rutger Hauer)'s horse was "Goliath". John Wood plays a corrupt Catholic bishop. In Lady Jane (1986), he plays John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Dudley schemed to place his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey, on the English throne for 9 days in an effort to keep Mary I - a devout Catholic - from ruling the country. Rutger Hauer doesn't appear until 15 minutes into the film. The nickname of Phillipe Gaston (Matthew Broderick) was "The Mouse". Alfred Molina appears in 2 films from Richard Donner which are this film and Maverick. He plays the bad guy in both films and gets killed by Mel Gibson and Michelle pfeiffer. Let’s get into a little bit of the technical aspects on the film… Three of the castles used for the film were owned by Italian film director Luchino Viscontiand his family. The breed of horse that Navarre rides is a Friesian stallion that originated in the Netherlands, Rutger Hauer's native country. The breed was popular among medieval knights. The most prominently used horse was a 19 year old stallion called Othello. The hawk featured in the movie went under the name Spike II and worked in the Universal Bird Show until 2000 when she was transfered to the National Audubon society and became an Audubon Ambassador until she died in May 2007. Several different hawks were used. One to sit on Rutger Hauer's arm and another for the flying scenes. A third proved to be mostly unusable, as it enjoyed Hauers company so much that it would ruffle it feathers when seated on his arm, making it look more like a chicken than a stately hawk. Four Siberian wolves were imported from California to portray the lupine alter-ego persona of Captain Etienne Nava