Sean Astin is playing a Dungeon Master in the new movie Matter of Time

The production team behind the upcoming sci-fi dramedy Matter of Time built a massive, physically practical tabletop set for the film's Dungeons & Dragons sequences. The setup includes a five-headed dragon miniature and custom terrain. Actor Sean Astin, who plays the Dungeon Master, detailed the intricate props in a new behind-the-scenes clip ahead of the movie's February 27 theatrical release.

Matter of Time is a narrative feature from Mediajuice Studios. It was directed by Jeremy Snead, who previously directed the Playing With Power: The Nintendo Story documentary. The film follows Charlie Fleck, a 29-year-old video game designer who discovers a device that stops time. Because the movie is so heavily rooted in gaming culture, the crew apparently decided to go all-in on the tabletop aesthetics rather than faking it with digital effects or generic props. I am honestly pretty excited to check this one out when it hits theaters.

A familiar fantasy

Astin leans heavily into the fantasy tropes for the role. He wears a velvet wizard hood and wields a wooden staff to introduce the party to the "Onyx Guild." He also takes a moment to acknowledge his own history with the genre during the shoot.

During one of the tabletop shots, he points his staff at the board and asks, "Wait, is that a cave troll?" It is a quick nod to his time as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings. The joke fits the casual vibe the production seems to be aiming for with these scenes.

Hollywood has a long history of getting tabletop gaming completely wrong. Movies and television shows usually treat the hobby as a cheap punchline with nonsensical dice rolls and impossible character actions. Shows like Stranger Things and the recent Honor Among Thieves film have raised the bar for how D&D is depicted on screen. Audiences now expect a certain level of accuracy when a twenty-sided die hits the table.

Mediajuice Studios comes from a documentary background, and that research-first approach seems to have bled over into their narrative work. Seeing a production actually bother to paint the miniatures and hire an expert to watch the table gives this project a lot of credibility. It proves they care about the details, even if the actors occasionally need to be reminded how the game actually works.