The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) - 6 questions

Question: When Grey stabs Mina in the stomach her hair is curly, then when he takes the sword out of her stomach it's straight. Is there some specific reason for that, or is it just a continuity mistake?

Answer: It's a continuity mistake.

Question: Do the creators ever plan on making a sequel? The ending is such a good cliff-hanger that I assumed it would return, although it has been over six years since the film's release that it looks doubtful.

Answer: The film was critically panned and a commercial failure. While the possibility of a franchise would obviously have been considered, the poor box office returns would have put paid to any studio interest in a sequel.

Question: I've just watched this movie, but I'm a bit puzzled by what happens with Dorian Grey...what's the thing with the painting and why does he decompose at the end? I'm not up on the novels these characters come from.

Answer: In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian has a painting that reflects himself. But while the painting grows older, Dorian remains young - the opposite of real life. In the movie, another benefit of this was that Dorian remained impervious to harm while the painting was preserved. When he finally looks at it, the pattern reverses and his body finally reflects the reality depicted by the painting, causing him to age past his own death very quickly. The other characters are from Dracula (Mina Harker), King Solomon's Mines (Allan Quatermain), The Invisible Man (Skinner, in concept if not in person), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Captain Nemo), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Tom Sawyer), and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Jekyll/Hyde). Some other characters also reflect classic literature, but these are the primaries.

Question: I know that some aspects of the movie were altered from the source materials because of copyright issues and various other reasons (i.e. having Skinner as the Invisible Man instead of Griffith.) Were there any such reasons given for changing the nature of Dorian's portrait from Wilde's novel, or was that just altered to make his death scene more "dramatic?"

Answer: I haven't read this book of Wilde, but I think alterations were prompted not by copyright issues but because this conveniences the "league" storyline.

Question: I don't get what happens at the end. Does Sean Connery come back to life? Someone please explain.

Answer: After his funeral, we see a man chanting something over his grave and it begins to shake. I read soemwhere that the man is chanting "wake up". This is supposed to make room for a sequel.

Question: I know all the characters were taken from Victorian novels (e.g.. Mina Harker from Dracula) but which novel did Allan Quatermain come from? (sorry if I spelled it wrong)

Answer: Allan Quatermain appeared in 14 books by H. Ryder Haggard, starting with 'King Solomon's Mines' in 1885, and ending with 'Allan and the Ice Gods', published in 1927 (two years after the author died). See http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/H_Rider_Haggard.htm and http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/haggard.htm.