Poet Simon Armitage traces the evolution of the Arthurian legend through the literature of the medieval age and reveals that King Arthur is not the great national hero he is usually considered to be. He's a fickle and transitory character who was appropriated by the Normans to justify their conquest, he was cuckolded when French writers began adapting the story and it took Thomas Malory's masterpiece of English literature, Le Mort d'Arthur, to restore dignity and reclaim him as the national hero we know today.
08-24-2004
24 min
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Production:
BBC Four, Picture Production Company
Key Crew
Producer:
Simon Banner
Producer:
David Willing
Locations and Languages
Country:
GB
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Keira Knightley
Keira Christina Knightley (born March 26, 1985) is an English actress. She has starred in both independent films and big-budget blockbusters, and is particularly noted for her roles in period dramas. Her accolades include two Empire Awards and nominations for two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award and one Laurence Olivier Award. Knightley was appointed an OBE in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.
Born in London to actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald, Knightley obtained an agent at age six, and initially worked commercials and television films. She appeared as Sabé, Padmé Amidala's handmaiden, in science fiction blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). Knightley had a break-through role portraying a tomboy footballer in the sports film Bend It Like Beckham (2002). She achieved global stardom with her portrayal of Elizabeth Swann in fantasy swashbuckler series Pirates of the Caribbean. In the same year, she appeared in the Christmas romantic comedy Love Actually (2003) and was labelled a promising teen star.
For her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet in the period romance Pride & Prejudice (2005), Knightley was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. At age 20, she became the third-youngest Best Actress nominee at the time. Knightley starred in a series of further period pieces, portraying a complex love interest in Atonement (2007), tastemaker Georgiana Cavendish in The Duchess (2008), and the titular socialite in Anna Karenina (2012). She then forayed into contemporary dramas, appearing as an aspiring musician in Begin Again (2013) and a medical student in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014). Knightley returned to historical films by playing cryptoanalyst Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game (2014), earning her a second round of Academy Award and BAFTA nominations, and starred as the eponymous belle époque writer in Colette (2018) to critical acclaim.
On stage, Knightley has appeared in two West End productions: The Misanthrope in 2009, which earned her an Olivier Award nomination, and The Children's Hour in 2011. She also starred as the eponymous heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Thérèse Raquin. Knightley is known for her outspoken stance on social issues, and has worked extensively with Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Comic Relief. She is married to musician James Righton, with whom she has two daughters.
Fuqua began his career directing music videos for popular artists such as Toni Braxton, Coolio, Stevie Wonder, and Prince. From 1998 onwards, he began directing feature films, although he has worked on a few music videos since then. In a tribute article for TIME magazine, Fuqua expressed his early respect for Kurosawa as a filmmaker and how Kurosawa influenced his own perspective on filmmaking stating: "(screenwriter Hashimoto's) … working with Akira Kurosawa and Hideo Oguni, was so beautiful and poetic and powerful and heartbreaking. It was all about justice, it was all about sacrifice, and it made me want to be one of those guys".
His first feature film was the John Woo-produced action film The Replacement Killers (1998), starring Chow Yun Fat. He then directed the crime thriller Training Day (2001), for which star Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for Best Actor. His next films were the action war drama Tears of the Sun (2003), the Arthurian legend film King Arthur (2004), the conspiracy action thriller Shooter (2007), the crime film Brooklyn's Finest (2009), and the action thrillers Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and The Equalizer (2014), the latter of which again pairs Fuqua with Denzel Washington.
He co-created the comic-book miniseries After Dark with Wesley Snipes, which was written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by Jeff Nentrup. Fuqua was scheduled to direct Prisoners, based on a storybook from Aaron Guzikowski, but left the project. He was slated to direct Tupac Shakur's official biopic. The project was postponed to allow Fuqua to direct rapper Eminem's second feature film, Southpaw. However, Eminem put Southpaw on hold to focus on music and was replaced with Jake Gyllenhaal. In 2010, CBS Films hired Fuqua to direct a new movie based on a Vince Flynn novel, Consent to Kill. In May 2014, 20th Century Fox set Fuqua to direct a drug-smuggling thriller film Narco Sub, which is scripted by David Guggenheim.
American film and television producer Jerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Bruckheimer started producing films in the 1970s, after leaving his job in advertising, with director Dick Richards. They had worked together on the films The Culpepper Cattle Company, Farewell, My Lovely, and March or Die. Bruckheimer then worked with Paul Schrader on two movies, American Gigolo and Cat People, which began to give him notice in Hollywood.
His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The Amazing Race, and Dark Blue. His best known movies include Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, The Rock, Con Air, Coyote Ugly, Crimson Tide, Armageddon, Enemy of the State, Gone in 60 Seconds, Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean, G-Force, King Arthur, Prince of Persia and the National Treasure franchise.
Many of his films were produced by Paramount and Disney, while many of his television series were co-produced by Warner Bros. As of 2010, Bruckheimer has produced over 40 feature films, and is regarded in the industry as one of the most successful movie producers of all time.
Bruckheimer has been married twice. His first wife was Bonnie Bruckheimer. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his second wife, novelist Linda Bruckheimer. He also has one stepdaughter, Alexandra. The couple also owns a farm in Bloomfield, Kentucky, as well as another in Ojai, south of Santa Barbara
Clive Owen (born October 3, 1964) is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991. He then garnered critical acclaim for his work in the film Close My Eyes (1991) before getting international notice for his performance as a struggling writer in Croupier (1998). In 2005, Owen won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his appearance in the drama Closer (2004). He has since played leading as well as supporting roles in films such as Sin City (2005), Inside Man (2006), Children of Men (2006), and The International (2009).
Description above from the Wikipedia article Clive Owen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Hugh Michael Horace Dancy (born 19 June 1975) is an English actor who rose to prominence for his role as the title character in the television film adaptation of David Copperfield (2000) as well as for roles in feature films as Kurt Schmid in Black Hawk Down (2001) and Prince Charmont in Ella Enchanted (2004). Other film roles include Joe Conner in Shooting Dogs (2005), Grigg Harris in The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), Luke Brandon in Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), Adam Raki in Adam (2009) and Ted in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011). On television, he portrayed criminal profiler Will Graham in the NBC television series Hannibal (2013–2015), Cal Roberts in the Hulu original series The Path (2016–2018) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in the Channel 4 miniseries Elizabeth I (2005); the latter role earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Dancy currently portrays Senior Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price on NBC's revival of the original Law & Order (2022–present).
Description above from the Wikipedia article Hugh Dancy, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Ioan Gruffudd (Welsh: [ˈjɔan ˈɡrɪfɪð]; /ˈjoʊɑːn ˈɡrɪfɪθ/; born 6 October 1973) is a Welsh-American actor. He is known for his roles in film and television series in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.
He first was noted for his portrayal of Harold Lowe in Titanic (1997) and for his portrayal of Horatio Hornblower in the Hornblower series of television films (1998–2003). Subsequent roles have included Lancelot in King Arthur (2004), Reed Richards/MMister Fantastic in Fantastic Four (2005) and its 2007 sequel, William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace (2006), Tony Blair in W. (2008), and Adam Lockwood in Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024).
Description above from the Wikipedia article Ioan Gruffudd, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Stellan Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. He also portrays Dr. Erik Selvig in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He has appeared as the character in Thor (2011), The Avengers (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
Skarsgård is particularly associated with director Lars von Trier and has appeared in six of the Danish auteur's features: The Kingdom, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, Melancholia, and Nymphomaniac.
Raymond Andrew Winstone (born February 19, 1957) is an English television, stage, film, and voice-over actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, he is perhaps best known for his "tough guy" roles (usually delivered in his distinctive London accent), beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum, and Will Scarlet in the cult TV adventure series Robin of Sherwood.
His film résumé includes Fool's Gold, Cold Mountain, King Arthur, The Proposition, The Departed, Beowulf, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Edge of Darkness. He is known for starring in very profane and violent films such as Nil By Mouth, Sexy Beast and 44 Inch Chest. He has also branched out into film production. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ray Winstone, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Tilman Valentin "Til" Schweiger (born December 19, 1963) is a German actor, director, and producer. He is one of Germany’s most successful filmmakers. Since 1968, when the FFA started counting, no other German actor drew more people to the cinemas. He runs his own production company Barefoot Films in Berlin.