250 workers and almost 5 months to build a kilometer-long wall: it was not enough to save this film from a big failure

Film adaptations of the famous legend of King Arthur are not so rare. From the Knights of the Round Table, a classic evocation of the myth, through the wizard Merlin, the musical Camelot, the fabled Excalibur, or even the aged Arthur played by Sean Connery, who must meet Prince Melangant in Lancelot, The First Knight. No more variations on this indestructible myth.

Some even broke their teeth there. Like Guy Ritchie with King Arthur: The Legend of Excalibur. His 2017 film was such a painful failure that five sequels (!) that were considered were all canceled.

In 2004, it was Antoine Fuqua who tried his luck. A strong training day director signed King Arthur. The filmmaker was armed with an unwavering belief in his subject. “King Arthur as Training Day is downright realistic: you can really feel, touch the violence and the death. You feel the cold and the despair. It’s apocalyptic. Arthur represents hope, the real thing. C “It’s exciting to discover that. This hero we all grew up with actually existed!”

Guaranteed to be a hit with the audience, or almost anyone who finds it “A real man. They discover the man behind the legend, the man who sacrificed himself to be a leader and earn the title of king. Arthur has a sense of justice, a sense of responsibility, that’s what drives him to go forward and try to make the world a fairer place.”. So many confessions of faith.

With a budget of 120 million dollars, a team of 250 workers spent almost five months building the 950 m long and in some places 10 m high wall, which is supposed to represent part of the famous emperor Roman Hadrian’s Wall. The setting, which was made in a field in County Kildare, Ireland, is the largest in the country’s history.

Driven by the most realistic approach possible, Antoine Fuqua surrounded himself with period specialists, and the script was entrusted to David Franzoni, who wrote Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.

But everything went off the rails. Part of the wall, the centerpiece of the film, collapsed. “The wall had to be real. At the end I had a fight scene and I wanted people to fight on the walls.” Fuqua commented.

which also indicated the interference in the production of the Disney company. “I started making the movie I wanted before Disney put in their two cents. They said don’t show too much blood. But when you want a realistic, raw, dark film that depicts the dark years of history when men fight and bleed to death. It explodes, it’s difficult.”

The film will earn more than 200 million dollars at the international box office. Therefore, the real sanction. But the work is not without interest. It is also available on the Disney+ platform.