Trailer
Plot summary
Isabeau of Anjou turns down the Bishop of Aquila, and the Bishop answers with a curse. She and Etienne of Navarre, once captain of the guard, are married, and from then on she flies as a hawk in daylight while he runs as a wolf at night. The Bishop's men hunt the pair of them. Phillipe Gaston, a thief known as the Mouse, gets out of the Bishop's dungeon, and Navarre saves him from the guards at an inn and asks for his help reaching the Bishop.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ladyhawke (1985)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Kurt Russell was originally cast as the male lead alongside Michelle Pfeiffer, but pulled out during rehearsals and was replaced by Rutger Hauer; the role of the pickpocket was offered to Sean Penn and then Dustin Hoffman before Donner decided to go with Matthew Broderick.
- Writer Edward Khmara said the story of two lovers kept apart by taking human form only at opposite times of day was an inspiration that occurred to him while jogging on the roof of the Hollywood YMCA.
- Khmara said the studio's contention that Ladyhawke is based on an old legend is a violation of Writers Guild rules, since it denies him full rights of authorship; the Guild took action against Warner Bros. and a small amount of money was paid as compensation.
- Andrew Powell's synthesizer-laden score has been placed at the top of a list of worst movie soundscores, with one reviewer calling it the "cream of the crop when it comes to atrocious scores" and another saying it sounded like an exercise video played over a low budget '80s sitcom.
- The inspiration for the character of Phillipe the Mouse was Francois Villon, whose 'Testament' recounts his imprisonment by Bishop Thibault d'Aussigny in the dungeons of Meung; the Dauphin, soon to be Louis XI of France, freed the prisoners, including Villon, when he passed through on his way to the coronation.
- Powell answered the poor reception, explaining that he did not in fact use a lot of rock music and that the criticism was not warranted because even a "classical" soundtrack would still be anachronistic; he has not worked on many film soundtracks since.
