The ambitious historical production that failed to save itself from failure.

the 2006 historical drama Tristan and Isolde was intended to portray English colonization in Ireland in reverse, but it struggled with audiences. The strange choice of James Franco for the lead role certainly didn’t help and, perhaps, the fact that no one yet knew his co-star Henry Cavill couldn’t prevent the film from causing the bankruptcy of his production company, Franchise Pictures .
Without being as famous as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which shares the idea of ​​doomed lovers on opposite sides of a conflict, the story of Tristan and Isolde could date back to the 6th century. The basic story is simple enough: in post-Roman England, the Cornish knight Tristan transports the Irish princess Isolt to marry his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, but the couple ingests a love potion and begins an illicit affair which leads them to exile and, subsequently, to death.

As is often the case with these types of legends, there are countless versions with all sorts of details changed and reinterpreted, but the basic structure is retained in most stories. The earliest known versions of the story are the 12th-century romances of Thomas of Brittany and Béroul, while the prose Tristan is a more extensive retelling of the story surrounding the Arthurian legend. Richard Wagner’s musical drama breathed new life into the Tristan and Isolde myth, while Kevin Reynolds’ 2006 film certainly has a more modern feel .

The film has turned the Irish into a brutal colonizing force, and Isolt’s marriage to King Mark is a way to negotiate peace, making the unification of England with a single ruler seem epic, ignoring the centuries of English subjugation in Ireland since times of King Henry II. Perhaps it was this aspect above all that made Tristan and Isolde a flop in theaters, coming in eighth place in its opening weekend with only $6.5 million (on a budget of around $31 million).

It wasn’t the historical distortion that wrecked the production company, but it was undoubtedly the straw that broke the camel’s back for Franchise Pictures, which was still suffering from the failure of Battle for Earth (2000) and which was in debt for 100 million dollars. Despite the subsequent release of The Wendell Baker Story (2007), the production company was already doomed by the latest failure which, at least, introduced the whole world to a future star named Henry Cavill ( soon to be a dad ).