A Knight's Tale (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| A Knight's Tale | |
|---|---|
 A Knight's Tale Movie Poster |
|
| Directed by | Brian Helgeland |
| Produced by | Todd Black Brian Helgeland Tim Van Rellim |
| Written by | Brian Helgeland (screenplay) |
| Starring | Heath Ledger Rufus Sewell Shannyn Sossamon Paul Bettany |
| Music by | Carter Burwell |
| Cinematography | Richard Greatrex |
| Editing by | Kevin Stitt |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Entertainment Columbia TriStar |
| Release date(s) | May 18, 2001 |
| Running time | 132 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$ $41,000,000 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
A Knight's Tale (2001) is a film written and directed by Brian Helgeland; the title is taken from The Knight's Tale, one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
The film combines action, comedy, and romance, and is notable for its anachronistic use of classic rock songs, such as Queen's "We Will Rock You", War's "Lowrider" and David Bowie's "Golden Years", (and many others) in a film that takes place during the Middle Ages. The film was also the subject of controversy involving a fictitious movie critic, David Manning.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Set in late medieval Europe, the plot centers on a young peasant squire called William Thatcher, played by Heath Ledger, who, after the death of his knight, Sir Ector, joins the jousting circuit, an act forbidden to those not of noble birth. Thatcher travels around Europe under the pseudonym of Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein, along with two fellow squires, Wat and Roland (Alan Tudyk and Mark Addy); his well-spoken herald, Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany); and his armourer, Kate the Farrier (Laura Fraser). Along the way, he falls in love with a noble young lady, Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon), and develops a rivalry with Count Adhemar of Anjou (Rufus Sewell).
[edit] Setting
It can be assumed the movie is set sometime between 1368 and 1376; Chaucer mentions having already written The Book of the Duchess, which was written no earlier than 1368, while Edward, the Black Prince (who appears in the movie) died in 1376. There is also a reference to a French pope which could either be Pope Urban V or Pope Gregory XI who reigned during that period and were both French.
The time period can be further narrowed down to between 1369—when the Black Prince resumed his campaign in southern France—and 1371, when the campaign ended. (The Encyclopedia of World History); however, the Battle Of Poitiers is shown as occurring during the course of the film, despite taking place in 1356. Additionally, Edward is depicted as a fairly young man, closer to the 26 suggested by Poitiers than the 39 to 41 suggested by his campaign in southern France.
Even though the approximate setting of the film can be easily deduced, the costuming (especially the armour) is much more in late 15th century style than 14th.
[edit] Controversy
Despite receiving mixed critical reaction, one supporter of the film at the time of its release was supposed film critic David Manning who, among other things, labelled Ledger "the year's hottest new star". In late 2001, however, Manning was revealed to be fictitious, created by Sony to fake publicity for the film.
Newsweek revealed in June, 2001, that print ads for at least four movies released by Columbia Pictures, including A Knight's Tale and The Animal (2001), contained glowing comments from a film reviewer who did not exist. The fake critic, "David Manning," was created by a Columbia employee who worked in the advertising department. "Manning" was misrepresented as a reviewer for a newspaper in a small Connecticut town.
As of August 2005, Sony agreed to refund $5 to anyone who saw the film, as well as Hollow Man, The Animal, The Patriot or Vertical Limit, all in American theatres between August 3, 2000, and October 31, 2001.
[edit] Production
The entire movie was filmed in Prague, Czech Republic. Some of the extras were homeless people from that city.
The film includes a great deal of jousting footage. The initial scene of the two knights jousting is actually footage of Heath Ledger's stunt double in an accident. During filming of a later scene in the movie, the lance of the stunt double's opponent moved off target and hit him in the head. The double fell to the ground unconscious. In another incident, Heath Ledger knocked out one of director Brian Helgeland's front teeth with a broomstick when the two were demonstrating a jousting move. It was several months before Helgeland's mouth had healed enough to repair the damage.
Plenty of effort was expended creating lances that would splinter convincingly without injuring the stunt riders as well. The body of each lance was scored so it would break easily, and the tips were made of balsa wood. Each was also hollowed out, and the hole filled with balsa chips and uncooked linguini to make convincing splinters.
[edit] Trivia
- The younger version of William has different colored eyes but Ledger did not feel it would be fair to make the young actor wear contact lenses.
- A medieval version of The London Eye (a large observation wheel) can be seen in the aerial shot of London. The shot is not computer generated but is of a model which cost $500,000.
- Once again, the shot of the Mercury astronauts walking in slow motion in The Right Stuff (1983) makes an appearance, this time when Will and his team march out for the championship.
- After the credits there is an extra scene of William's friends farting.
- The video version of A Knight's Tale, released prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, was recalled because it contained a Spider-Man (2002) preview which included a shot of the World Trade Center.
- A Knight's Tale was the in-flight movie on United Airlines flight 93, which was hijacked and destroyed on September 11, 2001. It is not known if the movie had already started before the hijack.
- Olivia Williams made a brief appearance as Chaucer's wife, but her scenes were deleted. They can be seen on the special edition DVD.
- Two of the characters in the film, Peter The Pardoner and Simon The Summoner, are characters from the Geoffrey Chaucer's work, The Canterbury Tales.
- Paul Bettany (Geoffrey Chaucer) developed laryngitis because of all the yelling he had to do as William's herald.
- When Chaucer first introduces "Sir Ulrich" in his speech, the crowd does not react until prompted by Roland, because the Czech extras could not understand the speech and did not recognize their cue. This reaction, or lack of it, was left in.
- During the first award ceremony with William and Adhemar, Chaucer kisses Count Adhemar's herald twice. This was the response to a request from the director to "surprise him", though he never specified how.
- When the farrier fixes William's armor, she feels the need to have her own mark, and stamps the armor piece with Nike's swoosh.
- The phrase that Chaucer tells Will when they get to the first tournament, "I've got to go see a man about a dog," is an archaic reference for going to the bathroom. Although unlikely to have seen use in Chaucer's day, it was in use in the mid-1800s.
- Many events in William Marshal's life were incorporated into the film.
