FILM 2258: HIGHLANDER (1986)

FILM 2258: HIGHLANDER (1986)

TRIVIA: The swords sparking while clashing was accomplished by attaching a wire to each sword that led down the arms of the actors to a car battery. One was connected to the positive terminal and the other to the negative terminal, so when the swords touched, there was an arc.

All of Sean Connery's scenes had to be filmed in a week, due to Connery's schedule. He had a bet with director Russell Mulcahy that they would not finish in seven days, but Mulcahy won the bet. Connery earned one million dollars for his weeks work.

Christopher Lambert had just barely learned to speak English when he took this role. The only other English-speaking movie he had been in at that point was Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), in which he spoke only a few words.

Queen originally intended to record only one song for this movie, but after viewing footage from the movie, they were inspired to write more. The band members each had a favorite scene and composed songs specifically for them. Brian May wrote "Who Wants to Live Forever" during the cab ride home after seeing the movie, and Roger Taylor used the line "It's a kind of magic" as the basis for the end title song.

In preparation for this movie, Christopher Lambert trained extensively with Sword Master and Canadian Olympic champion, Bob Anderson.

Kurt Russell was originally cast as Connor MacLeod, but he pulled out of the project at the insistence of his girlfriend Goldie Hawn. He instead starred in Big Trouble in Little China(1986).

"The quickening" is a term for when a baby in the womb shows its first sign of life, its first noticeable movement within the womb.

Many of the extras in the battle scenes were students from Glasgow University, who were recruited because of their long hair.

While filming in the Scottish Highlands, the production's medical team were kept busy in the afternoons. After a liquid lunch, many of the local Scottish extras got a bit too enthusiastic during the clan battles, with many minor injuries resulting.

Christopher Lambert spent six weeks working on his English and Russell Mulcahy felt this movie worked fine because of his line, "I come from so many places."

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