Guy Ritchie talks King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and shares new photos

Since first being announced three years ago, Guy Ritchie's KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD has had its share of delays, but, at long last, we're just a few short months away from seeing what Ritchie has done with the world of Camelot and King Arthur himself. Played by Charlie Hunnam, KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD will focus on a streetwise young Arthur who is unaware of the life he was born for until he grasps hold of the sword Excalibur. From then on, Arthur throws in with the Resistance as well as a young woman named Guinevere in order to master the sword, face his demons and unite the people to defeat the tyrant Vortigern, the man who stole his crown and murdered his parents..

Guy Ritchie recently chatted with Entertainment Weekly about the delays KING ARTHUR faced, his inspiration for wanting to tackle this genre as well as his hopes for more installments of the franchise.

On the benefits of the release date being delayed several times:

The date kept shifting, I think, simply because of competition. We could have wrapped up a year, but since we didn’t have to wrap up a year ago, you keep this visual effects things going on so that you can get the best out of them. But it’s such a crowded market out there, trying to find a weekend that you stand half a chance in is tough. That’s the only reason. I quite like taking some more time because I can see the trouble people find themselves in by forcing a visual effect, which really does need more time. We’ve had the luxury of sitting back. If we did not have that luxury, your visual effects aren’t going to be there. We’ve had a year, haven’t we? We’ve have a year to improve them, and today is the last visual effects meeting. It’s a year’s extra work.

Guy Ritchie revealed that he quite enjoys John Boorman’s EXCALIBUR, and some of the elements of that film made Ritchie want to try his hand at bringing Arthurian legend to life once more. "He did a pretty good job at some aspects of it," said Ritchie. "It’s a genre that’s hard to tackle, and I wanted to tackle it." Despite being the hero of KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD, Ritchie says that Arthur will not be a "conventional good guy," but rather more like a "a squirrel trying to get a nut in the environment that he’s brought up in, so he must be judged in the environment he’s brought up in. So much of what a character is to me is whether he’s charming. Do you like that character? It’s amazing what you can get away with when someone is charming." Beyond being charming, what else is there to like about Arthur?

His intelligent humanity, I’d say. He knows how to straddle the line between being hungry without being corrupted by that hunger. At the same time, there’s no version of him being squeaky clean. He has to get on with it. You have to move forward. As momentum takes you forward, he picks up the least amount of dirt, as elegantly as one could hope to do in his ascension. So really it’s a question of, you’re going to get dirty, but can you elegantly negotiate with that filth? Life is a dirty business. Can you remain dignified during the process of life?

When KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD was first announced, it was said to be the first of a planned six-film franchise. Little has been said about subsequent installments of the series since then, but Guy Ritchie seems game on returning depending on the success of this film.

Going back into this would be great fun. I like the world. I like Charlie. I liked everyone I worked with. It’s just a world that I’d like to stay within for a while. It’s not like there aren’t enough stories to be told within the mythology of Arthur and all of the characters within it with Merlin, with the sword, with Guinevere, with Lancelot. There are lots of untapped narrative still to be dealt with.

KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD is set for a May 12, 2017 release.