About Me
Labyrinth is a fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, produced by George Lucas, and designed through the art of Brian Froud. Henson, along with Dennis Lee and Terry Jones, helped with screenwriting. This was Jim Henson's last film before he died in 1990. Labyrinth was released June 27th, 1986. It was filmed in both Elstree, Hertfordshire, England, and Upper Nyack, New York. The original music score is by Trevor Jones, with David Bowie as vocals. It was nominated for the Saturn Award of 1987 for Best Costumes and Best Fantasy Film, for the BAFTA Film Award of 1987 for Best Special Visual Effects, and for the Hugo Award of 1987 for Best Dramatic Presentation. The film budget was $25,000,000, and sadly, the movie only made a little over $12,000,000 at the box office.
Summary
Sarah is practicing a play in the park on a rainy day. After realizing she is late, Sarah runs home as fast as she can, and is greeted by her grumpy step mother, complaining of her tardiness. Her step mother and father leave for the evening, while Sarah is left at home, having to babysit her half brother, Toby, who has been given Lancelot, Sarah's favorite stuffed bear. Sarah, furious at her step mother and her half brother, enters the bedroom to retrieve her bear. Upon entering, she sees Toby in his crib, crying because of the storm. She begins to tell him the story of Jareth, The Goblin King, and Goblin City. After finishing her story, she makes one last remark before leaving the room: "I wish the goblins would come and take you away. Right now." After leaving the room, Sarah realizes that he has stopped crying, and she reenters the room to check to see what happened. She removes his blanket to reveal nothing. An owl is tapping at her window, and goblins begin to sneak around the room. Before she knows what is going on, the owl enters the room, and Jareth stands before Sarah. Sarah, afraid for her brother, pleads that Jareth gives her Toby back, saying that she didn't mean what she said. Jareth explains that if she wants to get Toby back, she has to get through the Labyrinth and retrieve him from his castle within a 13 hour time limit. With that, he disappears and leaves Sarah to begin her journey. Throughout the maze, Sarah befriends many creatures, such as Hoggle, the Worm, Ludo, Sir Didymus, etc., who all help her find her way through the maze, while many puzzles and tricks, along with Jareth, stall Sarah's progress. Near the end of her time limit, Sarah finally reaches Goblin City, and requests that she is left alone to find Toby. Jareth, desperate to keep Toby as his own, and in love with Sarah, uses his final tricks to make Sarah give up. She finally reaches him, and he pleads that she "fear him, love him, do as he says, and he would be her slave." As a final defense, Sarah quotes the play she had been rehearsing earlier. Once she says the final line, "you have no power over me," she finally defeats the Goblin King, and finds herself back in her house, with her half brother sound asleep in his crib. Sarah comprehends all of the lessons she had learned while in the Labyrinth, and is finally at peace with her parents, her brother, and herself. She begins to miss all of the friends she had made, and cries out that she needs them. In a flash, they all appear in her room for one last party. Jareth, as an owl, flies away sadly into the unknown.
Interesting facts:
- David Bowie was one of the three choices for Jareth. The other two were Michael Jackson and Sting.
- David Bowie actually learned contact juggling for the crystal ball scene in the beginning, but for most of the crystal scenes, it is actually choreographer Michael Moschen who is doing most of the juggling (with David Bowie's hands behind his back)
- Terry Jones, a member of Monty Python, wrote one of the early versions of the script.
- You can find the original costume of Hoggle on display in Scottsboro, AL, in a store called "Unclaimed Baggage," a store that sells unclaimed baggage from airlines.
- Jake T. Forbes was inspired to write a trilogy of manga comics based off of the movie, Labyrinth, calling it Return to Labyrinth. The first of the three volumes is already out for sale, but the other two have yet to be released. The second one's anticipated release date is October of 2007. The trilogy is about the life after the movie, when Toby is all grown up.
- The beginning part of "Magic Dance" (You remind me of the babe...) is actually a dialogue from The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer of 1947.
- The upside-down room of stairs was inspired by a drawing entitled "Relativity" by M.C. Escher.
- Madonna's song, "Like A Prayer," was inspired by "Underground."
- The owl in the title was the first photo-realistic, computer generated animal character in a feature film.
Where Are They Now?
David Bowie's last appearances in film were in 2006, when he played the voice of Maltazard in Arthur and the Invisibles and when he played the character of Tesla in The Prestige. Also in 2006, Bowie was executive producer, and played himself for Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, a documentary about Scott Walker, an influential musician in rock history. He also played himself in the documentary, Glastonbury, and made special appearances on TV in Legends Ball and an episode of "Extras."
Jennifer Connelly's latest productions include: Blood Diamond of 2006, where she played the character of Maddy Bowen; and Little Children, also of 2006, where she played the character of Kathy Adamson. Her latest film, Reservation Road, where she plays the character of Grace Learner, has just been completed and is expected to be in theatres some time in 2007. At the moment, Jennifer is in production with the film 9, where she is doing the voice of an unknown character. 9 is set to come to theatres some time in 2008.
