Coronation Street

Taking nods from Lord Of The Rings, Gladiator and Braveheart, Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur is a blustering, sword-swishing, quasi-historical romp improbably shot in the murkier parts of Co Wicklow. Happily, Fuqua and screenwriter David Franzoni (a man well qualified to deal with chain-mail and the history of the Roman Empire, having previously penned Gladiator) have dispensed with the Malory and the medieval chivalry, so the film is pleasantly hokum-free – Merlin is merely a mouldy old mountain-man, there’s no Camelot and Excalibur is just a sword proudly ‘Made In Britain’.

In lieu of hobgoblins and the like, King Arthur offers a meticulously researched account of Lucius Artorius Castus (Clive Owen), a Romano-British military commander heading up a crack-troop of Sarmatian psychopaths (including Ray Winstone’s earthy Bors and Ioan Gruffudd’s Hans Solo-ish Lancelot) around Hadrian’s Wall in 500AD. Thankfully, the crew all get ample opportunity to exercise their homicidal impulses – what with the rampaging Picts, Celts and Saxons all itching to capitalise on Rome’s imminent withdrawal.
Things climax with a magnificent Alexander Nevsky-inspired battle on the ice, followed by a stand-off that curtseys before Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch as indeed all movies with horse-riding outlaws ought to. MovieHouse caught up with assorted cast and crew members just as King Arthur premiered in London to discuss horses, England and, er, oboes of one kind or another.

CLIVE OWEN – KING ARTHUR
King Arthur’s eponymous hero essayed by brooding British actor Clive Owen may not be as musical as Richard Harris’ petulant crooner, or as much fun as Graham Chapman’s coconut-riding monarch, but gosh, does he ever look fine on horse-back.
This regal adventure may be Clive’s first $100 million production, but it’s far from his first big career break. In 1990 his cheeky Stephen Crane character in the TV show Chancer caused ripples, particularly among the ladies who constituted 70% of the nine million viewers. Then, having spent a decade alternating between the stage and unassuming Brit-flicks, he exploded into the US as the enigmatic, poker-playing protagonist of Mike Hodges’ wholly unexpected smash Croupier. Not bad for a guy who once spent two years on the dole, hanging around dingy pool-halls in his native Coventry.
“It was very thrilling to be asked to play the lead in a movie this size,” says Clive, “I mean Beyond Borders was a pretty big production, but this was really exciting. I’ve really been very lucky the last few years. Since Croupier I’ve had chances to work with some fantastic actors and directors, so I’m hugely fortunate.”
This morning, post-premiere, he’s more than a little subdued – (“If I’m being entirely honest”, rasps the 40-year old actor, “I think we’re all really suffering today.”) Not that he’s a verbose interviewee at the best of times. Married to actress Sarah-Jane Fenton for sixteen years (they met playing the title roles in Romeo & Juliet – how romantic is that?), he’s intensely protective of his missus and their two daughters. He does admit though, that his offspring were thrilled that daddy landed a part with a pony attached. “They loved that I had my own horse”, he explains, “and they made it their business to arrive on set to take turns riding.”
He’s also surprisingly open about previous female co-stars, including Julia Roberts whom he describes as “absolutely fantastic” and Madonna, who he says is “remarkably good fun.”
For the domestically-orientated Mr. Owen, though, the best part of the Wicklow shoot was not kingship, but being able to commute between the mucky Irish landscape and his London home. “What was brilliant”, he says, sparking into life, “was that we shot during the summer holidays, so my family and I all got to hang out in Ireland. If I could do that with all jobs, my life would be perfect.” Awww…

IOAN GRIFFUDD – LANCELOT

Maybe it’s all the little winks and nods he gives the ladies around the table, but I can’t help but think that either Ioan Gruffudd is a very naughty boy, or he’s doing a mean impression of Colin Farrell. Having made girls swoon with the briefest of appearances in Titanic (he’s the one who rescues the lovely Kate, so that her jewel will go on), heaven knows what effects an entire two hours of Ioan as brave, moody Lancelot will have.
“It’s funny,” he says in an accent that sounds like it just crawled up from a coalmine with a rugby ball in hand, “but I’m a complete coward. I’d run away from any battle. I try and talk myself out of all fights. I’d never be one to wade in. And I’m absolutely terrible at archery, so I wouldn’t have survived a day. Though I would have enjoyed the drinking and whoring aspects of the times.”
The son of Welsh language educators, his first role was in a Welsh-language soap-opera, the delightfully named People Of The Valley, and he more recently exercised his native dialect in the Oscar nominated Solomon and Gaenor. But he bears no grudges over King Arthur being shot here, rather than among the incredible castles of his homeland, because he appreciated our notoriously bravado drinking culture (sigh).
When not swishing about in period dramas like Hornblower, or putting his dashing looks to use in romantic roles (102 Dalmations is sadly among them), Mr. Griffudd is an accomplished oboe player. I wonder if he still finds time to play now Hollywood beckons? “Oh, I haven’t had a chance in ages”, he lilts, “but I’d love to get back to it. I drew immense pleasure from playing, not just as a soloist, but more from being part of an orchestra. Although I do play what my friends like to call the pink oboe.”
Now, how did I not see that one coming?

RAY WINSTONE – BORS

Now that this Dark Ages epic has been shot on location in Wicklow, it will surely provide an opportunity for the kind of flag-waving morons eager to stake a claim on Pierce Brosnan and his ilk to henceforth refer to the mythical monarch as ‘our very own King Arthur.’ They can take it up with Ray Winstone. As a chirpy patriot he’s ever so glad to be part of an English epic, and in his fervour, he can’t resist turning to the German journalists at the table to remind them of the time his beloved West Ham won the World Cup. They look back with feigned puzzlement. Yeah, right…
He’s naturally ecstatic that the Arthurian legend has been dusted down for contemporary audiences. “You see we got a terrible thing in this country that if you’re proud of being English, then people get jumpy about it,” says the former East End boxer, “I was in Paris last week, and there’s French flags flying everywhere. And I think that’s lovely. I’m not someone who salutes my flag every morning. I don’t like my government – I think they’re a bunch of wankers. But I was at a St. George’s Day banquet, and when I went down the mall after, there wasn’t one cross of St. George between here and Buckingham Palace. Now I know that no-one likes us and we taught the world to torture and all that, but we are English. We shouldn’t be ashamed of being English. And as well, Arthur is someone who brought all the tribes of the island together. And that works for me as a story.”
I enquire if his experiences in this film and his recent turn as Henry VIII have enabled him to become a killer equestrian?
“Oh yeah, I’m alright on a gee-gee. I got a good horse as well. His name is George and all!” he laughs. “But I call him Robert De Niro ‘cos he’s a fantastic actor. When you say ‘turn over’, his ears prick up and his eyelashes curl up. He’s lovely, but he’a right poser.”
Of course, there’s one other quasi-historical figure Ray would love to see on the big screen. “No-one’s ever made a film about St. George”, he murmurs wistfully, “and they’ve made them about Joan Of Arc and that. It’d be interesting – really interesting. And I’m signing up for the dragon.”

ANTOINE FUQUA – THE DIRECTOR

Antoine Fuqua is not a happy man. Indeed, he’s decidedly downcast for a director whose film premiered in London with much fan-fare on the previous evening. The reason for his glum disposition quickly becomes apparent as he begins to field questions about King Arthur. He envisaged the film as a period gore-fest with enough axe-wielding mania to make Braveheart look like a Barbie doll picnic, while the studio had other ideas. “I shot an R-rated movie”, he explains, “the tone was different and the violence was more brutal, but the studio found that a lot of younger people wanted to see the movie. Meanwhile, guys start getting their heads cut off on CNN, so that took a toll. I’m pissed off about it, having spent so long in the cold and wet and rain (there’s a slogan for the Wicklow Tourist Association), but as an artist you win some battles and you lose some.”
Having scored hits with Chow Yun Fat’s US introduction letter The Replacement Killers and the Oscar winning Training Day, Fuqua admits that King Arthur was both a massive departure from his characteristically urban milieu, and a step up to the big leagues.
“It was a huge shift for me” he says, while fiddling with his terrifically bling timepiece. “Just to get my mind around the scale and all the historical aspects and all the research that entailed. But you just do your best to personalise it, because whether you’re making a small film or a big film, it’s the same sort of journey.”
It was also a baptism of fire into the crazy world of filming animals, a quantum leap into the unknown for someone used to working with the likes of Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. And say what you like about cars and thongs, but at least they don’t gallop off over the horizon. “You’re getting great stuff in the can”, he smiles, “and then suddenly the horses don’t feel like it. So they run off, and they’re bigger and better than you, and you just have to sit for forty-five minutes until they decide to come back. And then it rains and rains.”
Something tells me Antoine Fuqua won’t be returning to these shores for the weather.