Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Daniel Bernhardt, Deathstalker, SHOUT! Studios, steven kostanski

Deathstalker Director Steven Kostanski on Fantasy Franchise Revival

Director Steven Kostanski (Psycho Goreman) spoke to us about bring back '80s sword and sorcery franchise Deathstalker back to the big screen.

Writer-director Steven Kostanski understands the frustrations of fans whenever any film doesn't deliver as promised what is advertised. He sought to deliver on point when he took the reins of the Deathstalker franchise, part of the string of sword and sorcery films of the 1980s popularized by the Conan the Barbarian films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the case of Deathstalker, it was part of the filmmaking partnership between the US and Argentine production companies to make B-movies funded in part by indie legend Roger Corman, spawning four films.

The fifth Deathstalker film stars Daniel Bernhardt as the title character in the Kingdom of Abraxeon, when it finds itself under siege by the Dreadites, heralds of the long-dead sorcerer Nekromemnon. When Deathstalker recovers a cursed amulet from a corpse-strewn battlefield, he's marked by dark magic and hunted by monstrous assassins. To survive, he must break the curse and face the rising evil. Death is just the beginning… of great adventure. The Psycho Goreman director spoke to Bleeding Cool about what drew him to the Deathstalker franchise, how legendary guitarist Slash of Guns N' Roses got involved, how he consciously avoided the franchise's infamous misogynistic debauchery, and assembling his cast.

Deathstalker Director Steven Kostanski on Delivering the Franchise's Gritty Sword and Sorcery

What inspired you to revisit 'Deathstalker?' How did Slash get involved, and how do you feel it compares to the other sword and sorcery franchises?

I've been a fan of the Deathstalker movies for a long time, especially Deathstalker 2 (1987), specifically. My filmmaking career has been me jumping from one subgenre to another within the genre space, and I've always wanted to make a fantasy movie. I was presented with a list of Roger Corman properties that were up for being rebooted, and I saw Deathstalker on the list, and I thought, "Oh, this is a fun sandbox for me to play in, being a low budget. Conan rip-off franchise seemed like a fun place for me to let my imagination run wild in the way that the other filmmakers in the franchise did their own thing. To go back to Deathstalker 2, I love that it's very much a Jim Wynorski movie, so I thought, "I can make a Steve Kostanski Deathstalker movie and fill it with monsters, action, mayhem, and deliver on what the Boris Vallejo posters promised.

As far as Slash is concerned, he's been involved with Raven Banner [Entertainment] for a long time now, and they were producers in this movie. He's a big genre fan and was excited to be involved with this. He contributed some music to the film, aside from being a producer on it. He also made a theme song with [composer] Bear McCreary and brought back Chuck Cirino, who composed the original Deathstalker 2 score.

So what made Daniel perfect for the title character?

I had this idea right from the beginning of wanting to do a Deathstalker that's older, a little more weary, more battle-hardened, and I happened to be watching Bloodsport: The Dark Kumite (1999) when this idea for this movie was formulating. I've been a fan of Daniel for years, loved him in Mortal Kombat: Conquest and the Bloodsport sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (2003), John Wick (2014), all that. I've known him as a cool action guy. I thought, "This guy's had a full, rich career, lots of interesting projects, and a very cool skill set." The fact that he's also a fight choreographer and stuntman made it seem like an interesting choice, like casting somebody who's so physical, he would enhance the spectacle of the movie, which is something I wanted from the beginning, and make something that's very action-heavy. He seemed like the perfect action man for the job, so he was my first and only choice for the character.

Obviously, from the time that the original films were made, compared to now, the culture has changed. The original films had a lot more debauchery. Were there any creative issues you sought to resolve early on that you considered bringing back, or was it always the intent just to retain the gore and the story?

My goal from the beginning was to deliver on the other half of the Boris Vallejo poster. I feel like the 80s movies had no problem delivering on the titillating side of the poster, like Boris is well known for having busty, scantily clad ladies, but he also does cool monsters, which are never featured in the movie. I thought that it's a little bit more my style is monsters, so why don't I just lean into that instead? We've got four movies, full of nudity. How about one movie that delivers on the fantasy monster action for once? That was my intention going into it, and as a filmmaker, I don't give a shit about nudity, really, like it's not an interesting or exciting thing to me. So I wanted to lean into the monsters and the action, because that's what excites me.

How did the rest of the casting come about with Christina [Orjalo], Paul [Lazenby], Tanya [Saari], and the concepts of doing Doodad? Was it always just Laurie [Field] in the costume and Patton [Oswalt] doing the voice? Did you play around with the idea of having Patton in costume?

All the characters evolved. The way I envisioned them on the page is not how they ended up on the screen, because as the movie came together, as we decided on casting, and as I found people that I liked, their personalities informed what the characters became. Doodad, specifically, though originally…I wrote this back in 2022, which was my first draft of the script. Originally, the idea was that he was going to be a puppet. When I made Frankie Freako (2024), I had such a hard time doing a puppet movie that I was like, "Maybe it should be an actor in makeup, and it will make my life a little easier on this one." I switched back to this idea of doing prosthetics, and Patton wasn't locked in until post-production. We didn't know who was going to voice the characters, so I cast Laurie, knowing full well her voice would be replaced, similar to my past projects like Psycho Goreman (2020) where Matt Ninaber plays Psycho Gorman physically, but Steve Vlahos does the voice. That's something I've done on all my movies. It enhances the Saturday morning cartoon vibe of when your monster creatures have a bit of a disembodied voice. It's an aesthetic I like. That character definitely evolved over the process of production, and once we locked Patton in, I discussed the character with him. We locked in what the voice was going to be. That's how the character came to life.

Deathstalker, which also stars Nicholas Rice and Nina Bergman, is in theaters.

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