A FUN-FILLED family adventure film is coming to our screens next month – and it's written by a Newport man.
Dragon Rider follows the epic journey of Firedrake and his companions, as they travel across the world in search of a legendary refuge in which all dragons can live safely and peacefully.
With a stellar voice cast including Sir Patrick Stewart and Rogue One's Felicity Jones, Dragon Rider premieres in the UK on Sky Cinema on February 12.
Writer Johnny Smith is the man behind the screenplay, following on from his success with previous animated films like Gnomeo and Juliet and The Queen's Corgi.
Mr Smith, who grew up in Ringland, said Dragon Rider had been five years in the making.
He was asked by production company Constantin Film to adapt German author Cornelia Funke's best-selling children's novel.
"It's about a colony of dragons living in Scotland, whose home is under threat from humans," Mr Smith told the Argus.
But one dragon – Firedrake – hears rumours of a faraway land called the Rim of Heaven, and with an unlikely group of companions he sets off to find it, all the while stalked by an evil monster.
You can watch the trailer here:
"It's an epic quest," said Mr Smith, adding that the film has comedy, action, and plenty of heartfelt moments.
The film stars Thomas Brodie Sangster (The Queen's Gambit; Game of Thrones) as the voice of Firedrake, and the voice cast also includes Freddie Highmore, Meera Syal, and Sanjeev Bhaskar.
"They're absolutely brilliant – they've done a great job with the script," Mr Smith said of the Dragon Rider cast.
The film premiered in Germany last October and was always meant to be shown on UK television as a Sky Original, but Mr Smith said the end of the "devastating" pandemic couldn't come soon enough for the struggling movie industry.
"The film business is all about distribution," he said. "Films cost a tremendous amount of money. You don't get to pay that back until you get bums on [cinema] seats."
Mr Smith is also writing for several TV projects in development with a production company that has interest from Netflix, as well as a speculative screenplay – set in Ringland – that loosely adapts Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, one of his favourite books.
"I wanted to write about the estate I've come from, as well as the steelworks and the people," he said. "It'll be about opportunities and aspirations in life."
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