SPOILER WARNING
The dungeon masters
A FRESH LOOK AT HOME ENTERTAINMENT
CRACKERJACK COMEDY DUO JOHN FRANCIS DALEY AND JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN TALK US THROUGH THEIR JOURNEY TO DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOUR AMONG THIEVES...
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT
SEPTEMBER 2023
EDITED BY CHRIS HEWITT
ALONG WITH PHIL Lord and Chris Miller, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have become Hollywood’s go-to guys for making the impossible possible. As a writing team who got together when they met on the short-lived sitcom The Geena Davis Show (Goldstein was a writer, Daley an actor), they found a way into bringing Spider-Man back into the MCU and making him relatable. As directors, they started off with the underrated legacy sequel/reboot Vacation, before turning the inspired Game Night into arguably Hollywood’s last great original comedy. Now, they’ve taken their same knack for well-drawn characters, great one-liners and a visual flair that most comedy directors don’t even attempt into the excellent Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. We sat down with them to ask how they manage to make it work.
Have you been happy with the reaction to Dungeons & Dragons so far?
Daley: You never really know what to expect when you unleash a film on the masses. But I think I can speak for both of us in saying that we are very happy.
Goldstein: We always joke that one of the things we do is cushion ourselves for the possibility of bad reviews. We’ll make up headlines for the negative reviews, just to get ahead of it. But in this case, they never really came, for the most part.
What were some of the headlines you had written for yourself ?
Daley: Oh, you know. Funny, funny stuff like “Critical Fail”, “Rolls Zero”. You know, your usual shitty headline fare.
Goldstein: We also had them for Game Night. “What’s more fun than Game Night? Having a real game night.”
Daley:
Although I think a critic did say that.
Above:
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves’ Simon (Justice Smith), Edgin (Chris Pine), Doric (Sophia Lillis) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez). Left: Hugh Grant, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein on set with Rodriguez and Pine.