In a regular game of Dungeons and Dragons, it’s up to the player’s imagination or the use of mini-figures to bring the world’s mythical creatures to life. When it comes to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, it’s going to take more than make-believe to bring these fictional characters to the big screen.
Honor Among Thieves director, John Francis Daley shared a video on Twitter of how the movie’s puppeteers were able to control the non-human characters, days after the film’s initial release. According to him, puppeteers used motion-capture technology to help control the facial and mouth movements of creatures like the film’s Dragonborn. Based on the video, it doesn’t seem like any of the high fantasy characters were using crafted fur suits for these creatures.
It seems like the film was doing everything it can to ensure that these creatures feel real rather than just adding CGI which may have perhaps made them look artificial on screen. And the end result, the creatures, or in this case the Dragonborn, look more realistic and feels like they’re in the same room as our cast.
It’s not just this Dragonborn that received this treatment during the film’s production. Honor Among Thieves showcased a handful of characters from different races, where some required the use of motion-capture puppeteering to bring creatures from various D&D player handbooks to the big screen. It’s not just Honor Among Thieves that used high-tech puppeteering to bring fictional characters to life. It was revealed recently that in The Mandalorian, five people were in charge of controlling Grogu.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has earned over $38.5 million in its domestic opening and received around $71.5 million worldwide. This fantasy film received high praise from critics and audiences alike, currently sitting with an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 90 and 93 percent. If you want to see the final product of this behind-the-scenes puppeteering, the film is now showing in theaters.