As if this story hasn’t been done over and over: Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Roundtable are coming to the big screen once again – this time in the hands of filmmaker Bryan Singer, who is negotiating to remake the 1981 John Boorman film Excalibur. I’m sure more than a few feel this is sacrilegious, messing with a classic like this, but I’d be interested in seeing what Singer does with it. Or not. He did try to re-envision Superman and look where that got him. Hmmm…
But there’s no doubt the original Excalibur is probably the best Arthurian film ever – covering Arthur’s conception, Merlin, the sword in the stone, the Lady of the Lake, Guenevere’s betrayal with Lancelot and a bit of the quest for the Holy Grail. It starred British actors Nigel Terry as Arthur, Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere and Nicol Williamson as Merlin. It also featured early performances from Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart and Gabriel Byrne, as well as a co-starring performance by Helen Mirren as Arthur’s evil half-sister Morgana. Here’s a clip from Excalibur, just to remind you how good it is:
While in college, I attended an evening with Patrick Stewart. It was right before his gig as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He talked about Shakespeare, doing theater – and about a moment he had while making Excalibur. He was filming a battle scene in full knightly armor, and his horse sort of took off. He ended up riding out of the forest into a random field, where he ran into a farmer; the fellow was completely unaffected by seeing Stewart riding out in such grandeur, his expression never changed. According to Stewart, he merely nodded and went on his way. Stewart said he thought that perhaps that farmer had seen more than a few odds things coming out of that forest. Love that story.
In other movie news: They are considering a sequel to Hancock. Ugh. Personally, the first one sort of summed it all up, but of course since it made a ton of money, they’d think about revisiting. According to Variety, plot details are being kept under wraps, though star Will Smith and director Peter Berg are both back onboard and the plan is to build on the world hinted at in the first movie. You know, the one in which Smith’ Hancock and Charlize Theron’s Mary are the last in a line of immortal beings, who lose their powers when they are close to one another. The one that seems kind of far-fetched. Yeah, doesn’t sound necessary to me, either.