‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’ Featurette Goes Inside George Miller’s Fantastical World

While fans are counting days to see George Miller’s high-fantasy flick Three Thousand Years of Longing which features powerhouse performers Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, MGM has released a new featurette that takes us behind the scenes with the cast and the celebrated director. The two-and-a-half-minute-long video visually recounts the plot of the movie which follows a lonely yet proud Alithea Binnie, (Swinton) a scholar of story and mythology.

On a professional trip to Istanbul, she finds a vial that she becomes instantly drawn to. However, she soon finds there’s a Djinn (Elba) inside who is willing to grant her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Miller further elaborates on the themes of the movie in the featurette, saying, “this is the story about the mystery and paradoxes of life.” Being a scholar Alithea knows better, Miller explains, “there’s no story about wishing that’s not a cautionary tale.” The behind-the-scenes footage in the clip shows us the wild and wonderful combination of history, nostalgia, and research that went into the making of this feature.

While the title of the movie speaks volumes about the longing of the Djinn to be free, for Swinton the “journey of the film is about human evolution” which is encapsulated in a question: “What are your three wishes?” The trippy visual effect and great CGI of the movie are going to take the audience on a fantastical ride and would certainly leave them with the introspection of their own desires. Miller makes his intentions clear that he wanted to “enchant the audience then transform them into his world and characters.”

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Based on the short story The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt the movie has already enchanted the Cannes audience with its world premiere earlier this year. With this new featurette, I think we can say the film is certainly set to be the kind of thrilling epic that Miller is known for. Three Thousand Years of Longing is directed by Miller with a script he co-wrote with Augusta Gore. Producing alongside Miller is Doug Mitchell while Dean Hood, Craig McMahon, and Kevin Sun executive produce.

The movie debuts on August 26. Meanwhile, check out the synopsis and new featurette below:

While attending a conference in Istanbul, Dr. Alithea Binnie happens to encounter a djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems: first, she doubts that he’s real, and second, because she’s a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually, she’s beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.