Trailer
Plot summary
Ahmed ibn Fahdlan writes poetry at the court in Baghdad until an affair with a nobleman's wife costs him his place there. The caliph sends him north as an ambassador to the Volga Bulgars, and Melchisidek, a friend of his father, travels with him. Tatar raiders fall on their caravan, and Norsemen drive the attackers off. The two take refuge in the Norse settlement on the Volga, where Herger, who speaks Latin, translates for them. Prince Wulfgar arrives to beg help for his father, King Hrothgar, whose lands in the far north suffer attacks from an ancient evil. A wisewoman says the mission will succeed only if thirteen warriors ride, and the thirteenth cannot be a Norseman. Ahmed is recruited.
Cast
- Asbjørn 'Bear' Riisas Halga - Wise (as Asbjorn Riis)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The 13th Warrior (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Original novel author Michael Crichton took over as director himself because of the poor test audience reception, pushing the release date back over a year while the film was recut with a new ending and a new score.
- The outcome of the production disappointed Omar Sharif so much that he temporarily retired from film acting, not taking a role in another major film until 2003's Monsieur Ibrahim, saying he told himself to stop “this nonsense, these meal tickets that we do because it pays well”.
- Production and marketing costs reportedly ranged from $100 million to $160 million, but the film grossed $61 million worldwide, becoming the biggest box-office bomb of 1999 with losses of up to $129 million.
- McTiernan clashed with the studio because the producers wanted The 13th Warrior subtitled, when the whole point of the scene was to show that the main character did not understand anything the people around him were saying.
- John McTiernan has since defended the film, saying the finished product was not entirely different from what he shot, and that he had originally wanted to make it with Michael Keaton in mind for the lead role of Ahmed ibn Fahdlan.
