In Pacific Rim, Charlie Hunnam showed us that he sure knows how to swing a sword. But that was a giant freaking chain-sword and he was only co-piloting the 40-foot tall kaiju-smashing robot that wielded it. For Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur though, he’ll be keeping his swordmanship a lot more traditional though. Just don’t expect him to be traditional though, as this is a Guy Ritchie movie after all.
Ritchie, the man behind such classics as Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrels and Snatch, as well as much more recent fan-favourite fare like the Sherlock Holmes films with Robert Downey Jr., has shown off the first proper look at Hunnam’s King Arthur courtesy of EW:
The director also described what makes this version of the mythological British king so different to what came before:
“I think where the pitfall has often been is trying to make King Arthur bland and nice, and nice and bland. The two qualities make rather compatible bed companions. Unfortunately, they’re not interesting to watch. Luke Skywalker was always the most uninteresting character in Star Wars because he’s the good guy. Good guys are boring.”
Hunnam himself echoed that sentiment as he described this Arthur who has been “orphaned as an infant and raised by three prostitutes in the 5th century version of London”.
“He’s a little bit rough around the edges, but he’s basically a survivor. He’s a hustler. He’s a street kid. There’s definitely a harder edge to him than people would imagine. It’s sort of classic Guy Ritchie stuff.”
To be fair though, it’s not quite “classic Guy Ritchie stuff”, because while the director’s previous films have been very much stuck in the real world – or at least a heightened, hyper-stylized version of the real world – and the current trend in Hollywood is to Nolan-ize literary characters, making them all gritty and real, Ritchie will be leaning fully into the fantastical elements of the King Arthur mythology. And also making some mythology of his own apparently, as he brings in “giant snakes, massive war elephants, and a monstrous viking-like creature known as The Nemesis”.
“Hopefully, loyalists won’t be too offended by what we’ve done.”
Well, if they are, not too worry, because Disney is doing a live-action remake of The Sword In the Stone soon, which should satisfy their needs, am I right? Right?… Guys? Anyway, here are the rest of the pics from EW’s spread which admittedly end up look like what would happen if Calvin Klein ran an ad campaign for a new cologne in the 6th century.
Based on a compilation of English and French tales, most prominently Thomas Mallory’s 15th century text “Le Morte d’Arthur,” Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur is a reimagining of the Arthurian legend, portraying him as a 6th century king who defended Britain against Saxon invaders, and has been ambitiously planned to potentially kick off a six-film franchise. The movie also stars Astrid Berges-Frisbey (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Jude Law (Spy, Sherlock Holmes), Eric Bana (Hulk, Troy), and Djimon Honsou (Amistad, Blood Diamond) and is scheduled for release on July 22, 2016.
Last Updated: July 24, 2015
James Francis
July 27, 2015 at 15:05
Hmmm, looks more like a fashion shoot with a sword…
Still, could be interesting. After all, the King Arthur story is almost always told around the same elements. It would be nice to have a movie that doesn’t feel like either another Excalibur or a dull attempt to celebrate whatever scant historical connections there are to the myth.