OK. I’m going to finish my look back at my favourite movie soundtracks with this beauty…
Highlander
Marillion were offered the chance to work on the soundtrack for Russell Mulcahy’s cult classic in 1985. They had scheduling conflicts due to their World tour, so fate stepped in and brought Queen to the film. The result of their work with composer Michael Kamen is one of my favourite soundtracks of all time. All the band members looked at the material and went away to write their own interpretations and arrangements.
Interestingly, the first draft of the screenplay was written by Gregory Widen when he was an undergraduate in the screenwriting program at UCLA. It was his class project,. which was inspired by a trip to Scotland and by Ridley Scott’s The Duellists. The original title was, get this, The Dark Knight.
I couldn’t find the original music video for Princes of the Universe. As I recall, it features Christopher Lambert swordfighting with Freddie Mercury.
I’ve also included a link to this great interview with the members of Queen about their work on the film. They weren’t interested in doing it at first, as they needed a break, but a 20 minute cut of the film convinced them that it was their kind of thing. The video also features some footage of the Lambert/Mercury swordfight!
Highlander is one of my favourite films. I saw it as an impressionable young teenager and it’s got everything I love about films: a tragic love story, swordfights, trenchcoats and a great villain.
“You talk funny Nash, where you from?”
Thanks for reading. If you fancy some more random bits of music, click the links below. Otherwise, have a good week.
Thanks
Richard
The Ardenna Crossing 
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