Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Guy Ritchie discuss their roles in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Ritchie has been tinkering with his Arthurian script for a decade, and even after filming has recut the movie drastically, but as he’s planning a six-part franchise, he’s got plenty of time to tell the story the way he wants
From Robert Bresson’s Lancelot du Lac to John Boorman’s Excalibur, the legend of King Arthur has long fascinated filmmakers. Actors from Sean Connery (First Knight) to Clive Owen (King Arthur) have played the fifth-century British leader whose adventures have become enshrined in folklore. But for this past decade, Hollywood hasn’t revisited the myth – until now.
Arriving amid the usual cluster of summer superhero movies comes Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. It’s been something of a pet project for the 48-year-old British filmmaker, who began his career with 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
“I’ve been messing around with the King Arthur story for a decade,” explains Ritchie, who originally worked with Trainspotting screenwriter John Hodge on a version of the story – just as Bryan Singer was looking to remake Excalibur – only to see it flounder when David Dobkin’s script Arthur & Lancelot stole a march on both.
Eventually, Dobkin’s project collapsed and in came Ritchie again, now on a high after his two Sherlock Holmes movies jointly grossed more than US$1 billion. “The stars aligned to make this one happen,” says Ritchie, relieved that his beloved Arthur script has finally escaped development hell. Even then, there were issues with Ritchie recutting the film drastically.
“I’ve seen two versions of it,” admits Charlie Hunnam, who plays Arthur, “and they were very, very different … I would say, less than half of what we shot is on the screen.”