14 May, 2017
About 10 minutes into Guy Ritchie's "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword", after you have endured an incoherent battle involving a stonefaced Eric Bana and ugly fantasy creatures that would barely pass muster on "Game of Thrones", a disquieting revelation sets in: This movie will not make any sense, and it will continue on for approximately two more hours.
Hunnam said that Ritchie was initially anxious that he didn't have the right physique for the role.
"He (Ritchie) was very concerned about it and would bring it up a lot during the audition process", Hunnam tells The Graham Norton Show.
"It's all about balance of spectacle and substance and if there is balance I am happy to get my kit off", he said.
He added: "We said we wanted to do something the opposite of that; we wanted to make him a little bit of a motherf-er".
Hunnam is known for his work in the television series Sons of Anarchy as Jax Teller on FX.
Mostly, though, "Legend of the Sword" feels like a rather desperate attempt - in design, music, and even casting - to score some of that sweet, sweet "Game of Thrones" cash. There's lots of intense screaming, slow-motion cut-ins of swords swinging and blood splattering, headache-inducing facial close-ups with the camera attached to sprinting characters and hollow special effects that nearly single-handedly set back every bit of progress that's been made in CGI over these past years.
He said: "The guy that looked after them said I would probably get one presented to me at the wrap party".
Certainly, this is the first version of the King Arthur story to feature a character referred to as "Kung Fu George" or a David Beckham cameo, but let's just say Ritchie's take on Arthurian legend isn't going to surprise anyone who knows what's up at the multiplex these days. "The wrap party came and went and no sword arrived". This reimagining is made for the superhero generation, as Excalibur becomes a weapon of great power that allows Arthur to commit extraordinary feats.
