Paste Magazine
Michael Dunaway
You’d think it would be a bit easier. True, when actor Daniel Gillies set out to write and direct his first film, he hadn’t yet landed the role that, today, most fans know him for best, in The Vampire Diaires. But it’s not like he was a nobody. He had appeared in major hits like Spiderman 2 and Into the West. And his wife, and co-star of the film, was Rachael Leigh Cook, for goodness’ sake.
Armed with a mysterious, enigmatic, moving script, an incredibly modest budget, and a great deal of passion and enthusiasm, Gillies went out in search of funding, figuring it would be a one to two year project. Seven and a half years later of hard and at times agonizing labor later, Gillies releases Broken Kingdom this week at a red carpet Hollywood premiere presented by Paste. The gala will also feature a screening of Kingdom Come, the documentary that tells the inside story of the ordeal Gillies went through making Broken Kingdom. It’s the Burden of Dreams to Gillies’ Fitzcarraldo, for you Werner Herzog fans.