New York Comic-Con 2010: David Gordon Green’s Your Highness And The Sitter Gets Sam Rockwell

Talk about a Criterion fan’s dream.

Prior to the panel for the upcoming Universal release, Your Highness, at this year’s New York Comic-Con, your friendly neighborhood writers Rudie, James and I were anxiously awaiting the announcement that director David Gordon Green, director of films like the stunning George Washington, was going to be in attendence, no more than 50 feet in front of us.

Well, not only was he in attendence for the rather hilarious panel, but what he had in hand was some of the best and most hilarious footage I’ve seen in a very long time.

Best described as an R-rated, red band teaser trailer/sizzle reel, we were the first people to lay eyes on footage from the director’s upcoming Pineapple Express follow up, Your Highness, which is best described as a fantasy film involving knights, “wizard weed” and some of the filthiest and crudest jokes one could get away with.

The footage didn’t give us much context as to just what to expect narrative wise, but the film basically follows two knights who go on a quest to rescue a kidnapped maiden, who is taken hostage by an evil wizard, played by Justin Theroux.   Theroux’s Gary Oldman inspired wizard stole every scene he was a part of, and while this did seem to give away a lot of the jokes the film would have for us, but at the rate they were firing them off, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.

Also, the film apparently used Severin Studios for their effects, which many may know as the company that soon to be Criterion director Guillermo Del Toro has made famous.   The film appears to have a large number of in camera effects, and while the footage’s use of CGI looked a bit rough (particularly one shot of a shockingly random, yet poorly crafted dragon), the subsequent use of puppets, man in suit, and rumored stop motion has me more than excited.

Now, the footage itself is absolutely hilarious, but it’s also tough to describe without making this post look like a transcript out of Goodfellas (lets just say it’s a bit, colorful).   That said, I can say that while it may not make its way into the Criterion Collection, if you dig David Gordon Green, James Franco and Danny McBride, and/or were a fan of Green’s Pineapple Express, then this will be one of your most anticipated projects, once the footage hits the web.

In other David Gordon Green news, his next film after Your Highness, The Sitter, just beefed up its cast, tossing in Sam Rockwell into the group that currently includes Jonah Hill and will hit on July 15, 2011, which means that Gordon Green will have two films hitting within three months of each other, as Your Highness makes its way into theaters on April 8, of the same year.

If you are a fan of David Gordon Green, you have one hell of a year to look forward to.

Source: The Wrap