Highlander trivia

I've always liked the Highlander film. And I really liked what Adrian did with the TV show spinoff. In many ways, I liked that better. The original film has rough parts and some problems, and Highlander II was, well, let's just not discuss it. Here are a few things that might explain some of the problems the original film had, from Highlander WorldWide:

• Clancy Brown nearly turned down the role of Kurgan, concerned that his allergy to makeup would prevent him from wearing the prosthetics required late in the film.
• Christopher Lambert spent time with a dialogue coach, developing an accent which sounded non-specifically foreign.
• Non-American versions of this film include a WWII flashback sequence showing MacLeod rescuing Rachel (pictured left), where he tells her "It's a kind of magic". The scene is included on the "Immortal" edition DVD.
• A number of scenes were lost in a fire. Footage includes a sequence with Kurgan fighting an immortal security guard named Yung Dol Kim in an office building. Kim, tiring of his immortal life, yields to Kurgan, who takes his head. CLICK HERE for images.
• The Complete Director's Cut is available on video in the US, featuring all footage from the European version plus some still photos from the scenes lost in the fire.
• Christopher Lambert had just barely learned to speak English when he took this role. The only other English-speaking film he had been in at that point was Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), in which he spoke only a few words.
• In the scenes following Connor taking the Kurgan's head, director Russell Mulcahy had originally envisioned an animated dragon with the Kurgan's skull battle helmet emerging from the Kurgan's decapitated body and challenging Connor again. Only after Connor had defeated this Ghost-Dragon would he have received the final quickening and subsequent Prize. This idea was eventually cut due to budget restraints
• The final fight scene that takes place at the Silvercup studios (the sign is used in a few shots) used to be a bakery for the Silvercup bread company that had gone out of business a few years earlier.
 
  
• During the final fight sequence between McLeod and Kurgan on the roof of the Silvercup Studios building, cables can be seen in the foreground pulling the studio's neon sign down. After filming had been completed, the production discovered that they had done so much damage to both the set and the actual roof of the Silvercup studios building as to make re-takes impossible.
• According to the computer screen where Brenda compares the signatures on MacLeod's various birth certificates, Connor's previous aliases were Adrien Montagu, Jacques Lefebert, Alfred Nicholson, and Rupert Wallingford.
• Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert got along so well during filming that they called each other by their characters' names even when they were not filming and it was at Lambert's insistence that Connery and his character returned for the sequel.

For this and more see Highlander WorldWide.