Mythic City (2025 Film)

Mythic city is a 2019 released neo-noir fantasy film, directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Kathleen Kennedy, guillermo del toro, and George Lucas,and staring Elizabeth olsen, Josh Brolin, Sean bean, Julianne Moore, Patrick steward, Hailee Steinfeld, Eva green, Jeremy Irvine, and Ron Perlman. released was by Walt Disney studios, Lucasfilm, and Amblin Entertainment. It is considered the first film to connect the Lucasfilm universe

Plot
Sarah Anderson wakes up in a bed, wearing only her underwear, with no idea how she got there. after she gets dressed she gets a phone call from a mysterious Mister M. Soon she runs into a strange man in a black trench coat and fedora and asks some questions about her past to which she just wants to know where she is. Soon when she's nearing the subway she's attacked by an ape like beast. soon a Wolf-like creature springs upon it killing it. She runs into the tunnel where she finds a door and when she opens it finds a city. but then is knocked unconscious by the wolf.

When she comes to she meets a girl named dorothy. After a talk the Mayor of the city comes in. After a talk he confesses the city is a sanctuary for mythical creatures and characters from fairy tales, folklore, myth, and literature who kicked out by a mysterious Entity. He also reveals that he's actually king arthur and dorothy's really dorothy gale. after a talk she meets to wolf who savef her now a man named Bigba. She realizes that he's the big bad wolf. after a little convincing he tells her he's the sheriff of the city. Rumors are that dorothy is to be his partner. After sarah gets well she finds out she can't leave the city due to her being a mortal.

She's taken in by dorothy's family and friends consisting of her aunt and uncle as well as her friends from oz. One night dorothy comes home and reveals she got the job. after being glad she revelas that sarah has to come with her for safety reasons. That night bigba comes to the apartment. He explains that there have been a series of murders involving children. After he brings them to the scene of one such crime they conclude that it's the work of the scissor-man, a boogeyman who cuts off the thumbs of children. After a breif bit of detective work they find the scissor-man's hideout. after a brief fight, involving Bigba become a wolf like monster sarah and dorothy manage to overpower the scissor man.

After things die down they get a call involving a mysterious figure running around. soon the figure appears to the three revealing himself as the frankenstein monster. He tells them that he's been on the run since the events of the original novel. they agree to help him find a place to stay. soon they head to the home of Belle and Bete/the beast. the monster explains that he's being hunted by a man and woman descended from The Frankensteins. soon the monster, bigba and bete, find where they are hiding and raise some hell and threaten the man if he Hunts the creature down they'd have the city to deal with.

Soon it becomes the Day of Memory a holiday where the citizens of the city remember their pasts and hope for the defeat of the Entity. soon Sarah, dorothy, and bigba meet up in Bigba's office. after Getting her angry sarah snaps, making a remark of once being evil just because, Angrily bigba reveals his back story that he was once an innocent boy who one day became a werewolf and was rejected and eventually found out that his own sister was mudered and went insane turning into a wolf and taking revenge on all sentient creatures but realized the error of his ways because of an innocent girl freezing to death trying to hear herself with matches. that day he swore to undo what he had done and when the entity's forces set up a large prison camp he destroyed it freeing all of the prisoners. but still was scarred by his actions.

upon realizing this Sarah grows isolated over the next few days until the gale appartment is under seige from gangsters. soon sarah runs into The big boss of the city's crime, The Black Talon. he taunts her over her mistakes about being essentially no one with no past. suddenly bigba bursts through the window in wolf form. after a fight the black claw escapes with bigba in pursuit. eventually in front of City hall bigba is about to be killed when Sarah with dorothy, the monster, Tin man, lion, scarecrow, king arthur and a squad of cops. after a gunfight Black Claw's arrested.

After Recovery Sarah admits that she's getting used to living in the city. bigba also reveals that Sarah and the monster are joining his group. soon Sarah moves in with bigba in his appartment

in a mid credits scene a roar is heard from a cave underground with glowing dinosaurian eyes coming out of the darkness as the screen erupts in fire Implying that the sequel will have dragons.

Cast
Josh Brolin as Bigba wolf

Elizabeth Olsen as Sarah Anderson

Hailee Steinfeld as Dorothy Gale

Ron Perlman as Frankenstein's monster

Sean bean as Arthur Pendragon

Julianne Moore as Guinevere Pendragon

Dianna Agron as Belle

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Bête (the beast)

tom cruise as the scarecrow

alan cumming as the tin-man

will ferrell as the cowardly lion

sissy spacek as aunt em

jeff bridges as uncle henry

doug jones as the scissor man/the stranger

Alfred Molina as the black talon

Production
In an interview, George Lucas said that the idea for mythic city came about in almost the same way as Indiana jones, with a talk with Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, being a fan of classic Disney movies made a remark about what fairy tales would be like in the real world and according to Spielberg "the idea grew from there." Spielberg then meet with guillermo del toro and agreed to let him in on the project due to him being impressed with his work on the hellboy films and pan's labyrinth.

two of the things that set Mythic city apart from other blockbusters at the time was both the effects and the production design. the effects were done practically except when something involving complex magic was involved in which CGI was used.

​​​Casting
many members of the cast actually were made up of friends of steven's from previous movies like tom cruise, Julianne moore, among other. others took a bit of time. "Sissy spacek and Jeff Bridges were the first and only choice for aunt Em and uncle henry." the casting director said. in an interview with Variety Sissy said "it's real easy for me because in a way i lived that life once." Jeff bridges said "it's honestly kind of like life for me since i have pretty much the same personality as Henry so it's not to hard"

as for dorothy a number of actresses auditioned like Chloe moretz, elle fanning, and dove cameron, it was jeff bridges who suggested Haliee steinfeld after the two worked togeth on true grit. She said in an interview "it's an honor to Play a character that's as iconic and as universally loved as dorothy but it's also a challegne seeing how Judy Garland was so good in the original, i was always thinking about how much of Judy should i use or not."

for the black talon the idea was to go for either Clive owen,and Even Robert De niro, Eventually alfred Molina was chosen making this his second appearance in a Spielberg film after Raiders of the lost ark. "at least i don't have to deal with spiders this time." he said in an interview for equire magazine.

for arthur it was important he remaind English "because he was the king of England and should stay english." eventually Sean bean was cast due to the role of ned stark on game of thrones.

The one role that was debated was Ron perlman as the monster. Steven thought against it while del toro was for it due to their collabortaions, eventually steven agreed to have him read for the monster, and surprised with his skills admited del toro was right.

for the role of Bigba people like edward norton, jake gylllenhall, and jeffery D morgan were considered before Josh Brolin was chosen. "I Guess i have that noirish face, only now i'm a wolf." he said in an interview for nerdrage.com

The most vital role was that of Sarah the "point of view" character. Dozens were considered like Emma watson, Anna kendrick, and even Zooey Deschanel, eventually Elizabeth olsen was chosen Because of the raw honesty she showed during the audition. "I think she's the Alice character to the city's wonderland. The character we go with on this adventure."

Design
The production design was extremely unique in that it used both classical architecture for the temples, Gothic architecture when it comes to the town hall, and an art deco style befitting the classic 1930s and 40s style.

Many of the creatures of the film varied wildly from being more realistic to more fantastical but ultimatly a design was chosen that blended the two making it seem amazing but not unlikely to exist.

The designs for the scarecrow and the tinman were varied at first being similar to the original 1939 film but later changed into more like the book's original illustrations. The lion was and always stayed a normal lion.

The idea for bigba's werewolf form varied drastically from being a wolf humanoid creature to being like the wolfman from the universal movies. it was decided to use a design that was equel part wolf and ape fitting the beast within idea.

The character that went through the most designs was frankenstein's monster, the original idea was similar to the boris karloff film, but designs veered more towards the book's descriptions

​Promotion
The viral ad campaign was remarkably simple, being very similar to the dark knight in that it focuses on the urban legend aspect of the city being a mystery and not really explaining it until the trailer was released.

​Soundtrack
Also the soundtrack and three songs: original sin, Sway, and the night has a thousand eyes among several. all done in a swing 1930s/1940s style. Haliee steinfeld's cover of the night has a thousand eyes was even on the billboards at number 17.

1 Sway

2 Blind Pig

3 whose afrid of the Big Bad Wolf

4 snip snip

5 careless whisper

6 Welcome to the jungle

7 Original sin

8 sitting on top of the world

9 Every step you take

10 The Night has a thousand eyes



Reception
when the film was released it received critical and commercial success, receiving a 75% fresh on rotten tomatoes, and 8/10 by imdb. the film was nominated for 5 academy awards, and received 2 for best visual effects, and production design.

Sequels
The film was followed one year later by Mythic city 2: The Dragon's Fire. And then the following year by Mythic city 3: the shadows over the city and the Mythic city comic series by marvel. eventually came Mythic City/Star Wars :The Collision of worlds