WTF Happened to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)?

WTF Happened To This Movie? – The JoBlo series that looks at troubled productions, curious creative decisions, box-office failures, surprising successes, and cult favorites!

Plenty of movies have challenging productions, but not many can claim they ended the career of both the star and director. But such is the case with the 2003 “literary superhero” movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which presented so many problems that actor Sean Connery called it quits and director Stephen Norrington left Hollywood behind for good. Grab your elephant gun and find out “WTF Happened to LXG – LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN!” 

The genesis of this film comes from the fact that Connery, infamously, turned down the role of Morpheus in The Matrix and Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. Admitting that he didn’t really understand the sci-fi genre, when presented with the opportunity to front the big-budget adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel, Connery opted to throw caution to the wind and accept the role of H. Rider Haggard’s classic hero, Alan Quatermain. It would mark a rare detour into genre for the actor, with it one of the few such films in his career, ranking alongside the “you have to see it to believe it” Zardoz, former Best Movie You Never Saw, Outland, and Highlander.  The result would be a box office misfire that left Connery so fed up with moviemaking that he retired for good, refusing appeals by folks such as Steven Spielberg to return. It would also mark the end of promising director Stephen Norrington’s career, with him so scarred by the experience he opted to leave Hollywood, despite being in high demand following Blade. 

What do you think of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Let us know in the talkbacks!

WTF Happened to this Movie is produced and narrated by Dave Davis. Berge Garabedian is the executive producer. This episode is edited by Jeremy Hamley, and written by Brad Hamerly. Watch previous episodes below!