Antoine Fuqua Interview 4 by Martyn Palmer Previous Q And there's a huge audience for that big cinema spectacle today.. A Yeah there is. And that's the dream. It's nice to be able to escape and it's romantic too. It's seems like the world was more innocent then, you could see every star in the sky, there wasn't smog and planes flying around. You could still dream a little bit. Q And this is a really interesting take on the King Arthur legend. It's like the last job for these guys before they can go home... A Exactly. It's the last mission, which they didn't even expect to get. They thought they were going to get their papers and be free. And then that changes and they have to go out on this mission and it turns out to be a very difficult mission. It's a fantastic take on it, just the fact that we are saying that most of the knights were Sarmation which I'd never heard before. Q Does it stand up historically? A Well, it's interesting when I visited Hadrian's Wall there in England, I found some fascinating things about knights - the fact that they were mean and gritty and tough, the chivalry thing came later, you know 1300 AD. But this was 400 AD and these guys were the baddest asses walking the earth. And whether they were all Sarmation or from other parts of the world, they were the best men on horseback. The Romans formed them into their legion which is what they did and they used the best from what ever culture they conquered. The logic of it makes sense. Q Can we talk about the cast. I'm playing devil's advocate, but why those guys - Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Ray Winstone, Keira Knightley and the rest? A Well, for a start imagine King Arthur with all American actors. It just doesn't work, man. With accents and all, it just doesn't work. I think first you have to really go to the heart of it and cast people from that part of the world. It is their story more than ours, you know we adopted it, but King Arthur is British and half Roman according to our movie. And Clive is a strong actor. I wanted a guy that could really deliver and guys that were, quite frankly, happy to be there, happy to do the work. Clive's character is very internal, as you know in our film he is half Roman and half British and he is split between the two and making the decision on where he really belongs and it's a big deal and that is something that has to be played obviously outwardly, so the audience understands, but obviously internally there has to be a lot going on, intellectually as well, and Clive brings that. And Ray man, Ray, what can you say about Ray Winstone! (laughs) The guy is like lightning in a bottle. I mean, like I couldn't wait to see him every day because he is such a big presence. And Keira is amazing. I can't say enough about her. Q It's a great role for Keira... A It sure is. She is just incredible all the way round, I mean she is a great actress and she is only 18 which I can't believe. She is focused, you know I've never met anyone more focused than her. She did  all of her stunt scenes, she wouldn't let the stunt girl do it and not in a negative way, she just wanted to do it . She was in the gym every day man, even on the days she wasn't supposed to be working, she would show up and be in the gym, training shooting bows, or fighting with knives and swords and she never complained once.   Next		Home Interviews Antoine Fuqua Interview King Arthur Interview Arv Grewal Interview Asia Argento Interview Behind the Scenes of "War of the Worlds" Bernie Goldmann Interview Clive Owen Interview Dakota Fanning Interview Dennis Hopper Interview George A Romero Interview Greg Nicotero Interview The Hulk Press Conference Ang Lee Press Conference Ioan Gruffudd Interview John Leguizamo Interview Kathleen Kennedy Interview Keira Knightley Interview