scene is basically in the movie." According to William Panzer, producer of Highlander: The Series: "And that's where everything fell into place — the idea that there are Immortals and they were in conflict with each other, leading secret lives that the rest of us are unaware of." Widen decided to make the immortal protagonist MacLeod relatable by depicting him as someone who experiences emotional loss and loneliness due to his power, falling in love with people and forging friendships but knowing he will eventually outlast and lose them all. He was also an underdog in the story, one who wasn't as old, experienced, powerful, or physically intimidating as the enemy he would have to face in the story's climax. Widen's instructor advised him to send in the class project script to an agent. It became the first draft of what would eventually be the screenplay for the 1986 film Highlander. In a 2006 interview with The Action Elite, Gregory Widen remarked: "I’ve always been amazed that a project I wrote as a UCLA student has had this kind of life. I think its appeal is the uniqueness of how the story was told and the fact it had a heart and a point of view about immortality." As the film readied for production, Kurt Russell was desired for the role but a deal could not be reached. Russell Mulcahy, director of Highlander, became interested in actor Christopher Lambert after seeing a photograph of the 28-year-old actor in his portrayal of Tarzan in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. At the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in 2015, Mulcahy said he saw the photo in a magazine and showed the production staff: "I said, 'Who's this?' They had no idea. He couldn't speak English. But he had the perfect look. And he learned English very fast." Mulcahy met with Christopher Lambert and decided to cast him. In preparation to play Connor MacLeod, Lambert spent months working with a dialect coach (four hours each morning) and sword-training with Bob Anderson (four hours each afternoon) who had been a Darth Vader stunt double in the Star Wars franchise. During an interview regarding the characters he played in Highlander, Fortress and Greystoke, Lambert remarked that these heroes "all have one thing in common: that is that they will never give up. If they have to die for a cause, they