In 1984, The Neverending Story became one of the most influential fantasy films from Germany. Director Wolfgang Petersen’s film adaptation of Michael Ende’s novel * about Bastian, the dragon Fuchur and co. was also an international success, even if he traumatized generations of children with sad horse deaths. However, the filming was hardly less traumatic, as Atreyu actor Noah Hathaway revealed.
Fantasy star Noah Hathaway almost broke his neck in The Neverending Story
For the 40th anniversary of The Neverending Story, Noah Hathway remembered his time as Atreyu. In his fantasy world, the young warrior is commissioned by the Child Empress to find a cure for her illness and sets off on a dangerous journey with his horse Artax. As a 12-year-old actor, Hathaway also had to endure a lot on set, and the now 52-year-old revealed in an interview with Indiewire:
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The Neverending Story: Atreyu on horse Artax
I always joke that they tried to kill me the whole time on this movie. But a few times, they came close. […] Before filming, I trained with a horse. It got shy, ran away and jumped over a fence. I did a somersault and the horse landed on me and broke my back.I spent two months in a German hospital in a splint before we even shot a single take. It was hard, but I got back up and then we filmed for almost a year.Unthinkable today: children’s stunts for The Neverending Story
As Espinof points out, The Neverending Story director Wolfgang Peterson insisted that the stars perform their own stuntsA practice that would be unthinkable 40 years later. This also applied, for example, to the famous fantasy scene in the “Swamps of Sadness”, as Noah Hathaway tells:
I was in the mud and under the dry ice [für den Nebel] there was no oxygen. I was unconscious under the mud. They took the goo out of my mouth. It was completely crazy. It would be impossible to get away with something like that these days.
Hathaway’s health continued to suffer into adulthood. In 2017, he launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay his medical bills. Despite occasional film appearances in internationally unknown B-movies, he largely withdrew from the film business and instead became Tattoo artist, motorcyclist and martial arts masterThis is what the Atreyu actor looks like today:
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The latest plans of a Fantasy remake of The Neverending Story will certainly not go to such dangerous limits again during filming.
You can currently stream Wolfgang Peterson’s fantasy film with Noah Hathaway as the young Atreyu via subscription at WOW and rent it for money from all other popular streaming services.
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