Joe Manganiello has been very open about his love for all things Dungeons & Dragons, but apparently he has deeper ambitions than we previously suspected. Manganiello not only wants to star in a new D&D movie, he’s already written a draft and taken steps to turn his dream project into a reality.
Via MTV News, Manganiello briefly spoke about his Dungeons & Dragons script during an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast. The Magic Mike star revealed that he co-wrote a draft with “playwright friend from Carnegie Mellon,†in addition to taking creative meetings with D&D publisher, Wizards of the Coast. It’s far from official, but Manganiello seems to be genuinely passionate about his vision for the big screen.
While Manganiello was light on details about his D&D project, he did seem to have a good idea about focusing on the human aspect of it to make the fantasy side easier to accept. “It’s got to be about something,” said Manganiello. “We root for those characters in Game of Thrones. Fellowship of the Ring was about friendship, this undying love for your friends. That’s something everyone can identify with. When a movie is about something human and real emotionally people are going to want to see. Then you get some dragons breathing fire, and hey, I’m in.”
Manganiello was recently the first guest on our Alpha original series, CelebriD&D, so we’ve seen his passion firsthand. However, there may be some obstacles in the way of making this happen. For starters, Warner Bros. controls the rights for the D&D film, with Rob Letterman attached as the director and Ansel Elgort as the potential star. But in this age of cinematic universes and multiple sequels, D&D is one of the few franchises that could easily foster several stand-alone films. Hopefully that means we’ll get to see Manganiello’s dream come true.
Are you excited about the prospect of Manganiello writing and starring in a Dungeons & Dragons movie? Roll for initiative and share your thoughts below!
Image: HBO
