KING ARTHUR
 Q&A with producer Jerry Bruckheimer		 Search all of phase9.tv






As one of Hollywood’s busiest and most successful producers, Jerry Bruckheimer has been responsible for some of the most spectacular and action-packed films ever to hit the big screen, whether they be set on land (DAYS OF THUNDER), air (TOP GUN), sea (CRIMSON TIDE) – or even space (ARMAGEDDON). Now barely a year after dazzling audiences with the phenomenally successful PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, Bruckheimer is back with another rollicking period adventure – KING ARTHUR. The film is a fresh and imaginative look at the legendary story of the Knights of the Round Table, featuring a cast which includes Clive Owen as Arthur, Pirates alum Keira Knightley as Guinevere, Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot, and Hugh Dancy as Galahad. “This isn’t your parents’ KING ARTHUR,” says Bruckheimer, who picked TRAINING DAY’s Antoine Fuqua to direct the film. After 30-plus years in the film business, the producer has learned a thing or two about what audiences like, and he shared some of his insights during a recent interview.

What was it about this story that made you want to make this film?

I’d never seen this particular story told before. I never knew Arthur was half Roman and the guys around him were Russians and they were all sent on this mission by the emperor of Rome. It was great stuff. I wanted to see the special forces of the 5th century, but it required a lot of research by the historians we recruited to work on the film. Unfortunately, there’s a reason why that period in history is called the Dark Ages – there’s not a lot of documentation from that time. So you glom onto whatever historical writings you can find. Lucky for us, historians are studying Arthur all the time, so those were the people we turned to.

How did you arrive at this particular cast for KING ARTHUR?

Clive Owen is somebody we’ve been tracking for a long time, ever since we saw CROUPIER. He was somebody we wanted to put in the movie and Antoine and I talked about him. We saw some footage on a film he’d been working on and we liked him and gave him the role. I was working with Keira Knightley on PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and told her about KING ARTHUR and she said she’d be interested in reading it. I showed Antoine a couple of her scenes from PIRATES because it hadn’t been released yet, and he fell in love with her. Fortunately, Keira liked the screenplay, met with Antoine and they got along, so we offered her the role. As for the rest of the actors, I worked with Hugh Dancy on BLACK HAWK DOWN, so I knew his work. I also worked with Ioan Gruffudd on BLACK HAWK and thought he was an extraordinary actor. I loved Ray Winstone in SEXY BEAST, so we pursued him. Ray Stevenson came in on a casting call and Til Schweiger had done a movie with Antoine previously.

Clive Owen is not a very familiar face to American audiences, is he?

Most Americans have never seen CROUPIER so it’s interesting to introduce a new actor to them and hopefully he’ll become a big movie star. I don’t think audiences for a film like KING ARTHUR necessarily want to know an actor’s previous work.

Does it make it harder to sell a movie without a big star?

Yes. But you know what? It comes down to the movie. You can have the biggest star in the world, but if the movie isn’t good or the public doesn’t perceive it as being good, they’re not going to show up. In the case of KING ARTHUR, we have a very unique filmmaker in Antoine Fuqua, and when you look at the trailer or commercials for this film, you’re going to say, “I haven’t seen this before … this looks interesting” – even if you don’t recognize any of the people in it.

Having cast Keira Knightley in both PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and KING ARTHUR, you’re obviously very fond of her as an actress. In your opinion, what gives an actress staying power?

It comes down to choices – the choices they make and the material they decide to do and the directors and producers they decide to work with. It comes down to doing good work. You do good work and you’re going to be around forever. In Keira’s case, she certainly has the ability.

Did the fact that Antoine Fuqua had never directed a period film before concern you at all?

No. In fact, that’s one of the things I liked about him. I didn’t want somebody who had done it before. I wanted somebody who was going to give this film a fresh look. He did a terrific job on TRAINING DAY – it had real edge and I wanted this movie to have edge. And he’s a very visual director. Those battle scenes are amazing. So he delivered what we’d hoped for and even went beyond that.

The ice battle is quite spectacular. Talk about the challenge of creating that sequence.

It was in the original script and Antoine had a vision of it. First he did storyboards and then he sat with the digital house and worked out all of the shots. It’s a very complicated sequence to get done and it was only partially finished about a month before the movie opened in the United States, so we couldn’t preview the movie because you can’t watch the movie without that sequence being complete – it’s too difficult to watch all the green screen and it doesn’t make any sense. So when we got it, we previewed it and then started making alterations. But we didn’t have a lot of time to make a lot of changes.

Continued on page 2


© 2012 PHASE9 ENTERTAINMENT

    Subscribe to the free PHASE9 Entertainment newsletter

 
PHASE9 ENTERTAINMENT  -  HOME
MOVIES  MUSIC  DVD  GAMES  COMPETITIONS  HOT PHOTOS  VIDEO STREAMS