A Knight's Tale (2001)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IoOnZrzwLQ

Cast:

• Brian Helgeland, Writer/Director

• Richard Greatrex, Cinematography

• Kevin Stitt, Editing

• Carter Burwell, Music

• Heath Ledger as William Thatcher/Ulrich von Liechtenstein

• Mark Addy as Roland

• Rufus Sewell as Count Adhemar of Anjou

• Paul Bettany as Geoffrey Chaucer

• Shannyn Sossamon as Jocelyn

• Alan Tudyk as Wat

• Laura Fraser as Kate

• Christopher Cazenove as John Thatcher

• Bérénice Bejo as Christiana

• James Purefoy as Thomas Colville/Edward the Black Prince

Background:

• Based on a Knight's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer, A Knight's Tale was released on May 11, 2001.

• On a budget of $65 million, the film would gross $117 million worldwide to finish at #19 for 2001.

• The film was critically panned by most critics at the time, and was only nominated for MTV movie awards in 2002.

• A Knight's Tale currently holds a 59% among critics on RT, a 56 score on Metacritic, and a 3.6/5 on Letterboxd.

Plot Summary: A Knight's Tale follows a poor squire who risks everything to change his fate. After his master dies, William Thatcher (Heath Ledger) pretends to be a noble knight and enters high-stakes jousting tournaments. With help from his loyal friends, he trains, competes, and rises in status, even catching the attention of a noblewoman, Jocelyn (Shannon Sossamon). But his secret threatens to ruin everything as rivals grow suspicious.

Did You Know:

• When Chaucer first introduces "Sir Ulrich" in his speech, the crowd doesn't react at first because the Czech extras didn't understand it. Mark Addy's loud prompt tipped them off to start cheering. The awkward moment was left in because it made the scene funnier.

• Plenty of effort was expended creating lances that would splinter convincingly without taking out 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 linguine to make convincing splinters.

• Director Brian Helgeland once said in an interview that he used modern music in the movie to show modern audiences what people then felt about their music. When true Renaissance music is used in modern movies, it fails to convey the emotional response that people back then had to such music.

• Some of the extras were homeless people from Prague.

• Heath Ledger was cast on the strength of his performance in the rushes that Brian Helgeland had seen of him in The Patriot (2000) which was filming at the time.

• For the scene when William follows Jocelyn into the cathedral, the sounds of his horse's hooves were produced using coconuts on Charles Maynes' garage floor.

• 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. He says it was the only jousting injury during filming.

Best Performance: Heath Ledger (William)

Best Secondary Performance: Alan Tudyk (Wat)/Rufus Sewell (Adhemar)

Most Charismatic Award: Paul Bettany (Chaucer)/Laura Fraser (Kate)

Best Scene:

• First Adhemar Joust

• Dance of Gelderland

• Cheapside

• Edward Knights William

• Final Joust

Favorite Scene: Cheapside

Most Indelible Moment: Final Joust

In Memorium:

• David Kendall, 68, American television writer and producer (Boy Meets World, Growing Pains) and film director (Dirty Deeds).

• Gwen Farrell, 94, American actress (M*A*S*H) and boxing referee.

• Gary Lydon, 61, Irish actor (The Banshees of Inisherin, The Clinic, War Horse)

• David Allan Coe, 86, American country singer ("You Never Even Called Me By My Name", "The Ride") and songwriter ("Take This Job and Shove It")

• Steve Maslow, 81, American sound engineer (The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Speed), Oscar winner (1981, 1982, 1995)

• Dion Anderson, 87, American actor (The Shawshank Redemption, Days of Our Lives, Townies)

• Ted Turner, 87, American TV developer (CNN, TNT, TBS, TCM)

Best Lines/Funniest Lines:

Prince Edward: [sighs] What a pair we make, huh? Both trying to hide who we are, both unable to do so. Your men love you. If I knew nothing else about you, that would be enough. But you also tilt when you should withdraw... and that is knightly, too.

Wat: [in a letter] I miss you like the sun misses the flower. Like the sun misses the flower in the depths of winter. Instead of beauty to direct its light to the heart hardens like the frozen world your absence has banished me to.

Chaucer: For you are all equally blessed. For I have the pride, the privilege, nay, the pleasure of introducing to you to a knight, sired by knights. A knight who can trace his lineage back beyond Charlemagne. I first met him atop a mountain near Jerusalem, praying to God, asking his forgiveness for the Saracen blood spilt by his sword. Next, he amazed me still further in Italy when he saved a fatherless beauty from the would-be ravishing of her dreadful Turkish uncle. [crowd, boo] In Greece he spent a year in silence just to better understand the sound of a whisper. And so without further gilding the lily and with no more ado, I give to you, the seeker of serenity, the protector of Italian virginity, the enforcer of our Lord God, the one, the only, Sir Ulllrrrich von Lichtenstein!

Chaucer: I will eviscerate you in fiction. Every pimple, every character flaw. I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity.

Adhemar: You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting. In what world could you possibly beat me?

Wat: Uh, betray us, and I will fong you, until your insides are out, your outsides are in, your entrails will become your extrails I will w-rip... all the p... ung. Pain, lots of pain.

Wat: What do you mean, dead?

Roland: The spark of his life is smothered in shite. His spirit is gone but his stench remains. Does that answer your question?

John Thatcher: Change your stars and live a better life than I have.

Young William Thacher: Can it be done father? Can a man change the stars?

John Thatcher: Yes William. If he believes enough, a man can do anything.

Chaucer: There she is, William. The embodiment of love. Your Venus.

William: And how I hate her.

William: Father, I am afraid, I won't know the way back home.

John Thatcher: Don't be foolish, William, you just follow your feet.

Chaucer: It's a small target Will, but aim for his heart.

The Stanley Rubric:

Legacy: 4.25

Impact/Significance: 5.25

Novelty: 6

Classic-ness: 6

Rewatchability: 6.5

Audience Score: 8.05 (82% Google, 79% RT)

Total: 36.05

Remaining Questions:

• How would you know simply from observation that Ulrich was not of nobility?

• Wouldn't you be disqualified for cheating if you tipped your lance?

• If Ulrich keeps knocking knights off their horses, where are all his other horses?

• How does Ulrich win a tournament that he only draws against Colville after one lance if everyone else withdraws?

• If Roland is there when William becomes a squire 12 years ago, but he's been back to England 5 years ago and William hasn't; how did that happen if they are still the same squires for the same master?

• If Edward was going to release William, why wait around til he's in the stocks to release and knight him?

• If William starts late behind Adhemar, how does he get enough momentum to knock him off his horse?

• If William's shoulder is so weak, how does he jump the fence with ease at the end?