Red Sonja Will Prioritize Practical Effects Over CGI

The long trek through development hell is ending for Red Sonja–at least, we’re pretty sure it is. The film got greenlit and is either in production or has wrapped; it’s a little unclear, though we don’t have a release date yet. We are starting to learn some things about the film, though, and a lot of that has come from a massive piece that The Hollywood Reporter released. In that piece, we learned that they would be changing the character’s origin story and talking a little bit about the script, but we also learned some things about the behind-the-scenes process. This film doesn’t have a massive budget, and because of that, the film is looking to rely a lot more on practical effects over expensive VFX or CGI whenever possible, according to production designer Chris Wallace.

“I’d rather do it for real whenever I can,” says production designer Clint Wallace, who was supervising art director on Top Gun: Maverick and worked on Marvel movies including Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Millennium’s approach, he says, represents a welcome change of pace. At Marvel, he had “this huge support system on almost every movie, and then coming here, it’s just me, and I couldn’t bring anybody. So it was just a real roll of the dice, but I was ready to shake it up and do something entirely different.”

The Elevator Pitch For Red Sonja’s Aesthetic Is Wild

In terms of an elevator pitch for what the movie looks like, Wallace says that “it’s Gladiator meets Lord of the Rings meets Spartacus,” which is quite something and goes on to say that “the aesthetic combines elements of steampunk, Mad Max and Frank Lloyd Wright.” So it sounds like they are going for a pretty unique look for this film which should be fun to watch. Regarding the practical effects, you don’t need to worry about star Matilda Lutz being unable to pull off this role since she reportedly put on thirteen pounds of muscle. If there was ever a character where you want her to look like she could break a man twice her size in half, it’s Red Sonja, so that’s good news. Director M.J. Bassett had nothing but good things to say about her leading lady: “she’s a beautiful, feisty, tough, committed young woman who people are going to want to watch,” Bassett says. As for Lutz, she described her character as a survivor.

“Every day, it’s either climbing or horseback riding or fighting.” As she understands her, Red Sonja is a “woman alone in the world, trying to survive in a very crazy environment.”

Red Sonja still doesn’t have a release date, but this piece and the fact that Millenium isn’t trying to bury the production indicates that this movie might finally see the light of day. With a modest budget, it sounds like this film does have one with being described as “in the mid-teens,” which also means Red Sonja doesn’t need to pull in Avatar numbers to get into the green. Now, this forever-in-development production just has to stick the landing–guess we’ll see what happens.

Red Sonja: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

Enslaved by an evil tyrant who wishes to destroy her people, barbarian huntress Red Sonja must unite a group of unlikely warriors to face off against Dragan The Magnificent and his deadly bride, Dark Annisia. Based on the best-selling comic series.

Red Sonja stars Matilda Lutz (Revenge) in the title role and also features Wallis Day (Sex/Life, Batwoman) as Annisia and Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy, Misfits) as Draygan. Additional cast includes Michael Bisping (xXx: Return of Xander Cage) as Hawk, Martyn Ford as General Karlak (F9: The Fast Saga, Final Score), Eliza Matengu (Thor: Love and Thunder) as Amarak, Manal El Feitury (Code Red) as Ayala, and Katrina Durden (Doctor Strange, Shadow and Bone) as Saevus. M.J. Bassett (Solomon Kane) is directing with the script written by Joey Soloway (Transparent) and Tasha Huo (Netflix’s Tomb Raider). It’s currently in production and doesn’t have a release date.