King Arthur, 2004, Clive Owen, Keira Knightley, Ioan Gruffudd
King Arthur is a film first released in the United States on June 28, 2004, dubbed as "The Untold True Story That Inspired The Legend" by Touchstone Pictures.
The makers of the film claim to present a historically accurate version of the Arthurian legends, supposedly inspired by new archaeological findings. The accuracy of these claims is subject to debate, but the film is unusual in representing Arthur as a Roman soldier rather than a medieval knight.
A historical approach to the Arthurian legends had already been showcased in film once - in Arthur of the Britons, a 1972-1973 British TV series, and King Arthur, The Young Warlord, a movie-length compilation of some of its episodes.
It would appear that the Arthur depicted in the film is based most closely upon Ambrosius Aurelianus, the Romano-Briton who fought against the Saxons in the 5th century, and was probably the leader of the Romano-British and Celts at the Battle of Mons Badonicus. However, Arthur's full name in the film is Artorius Castus, suggesting a connection to Lucius Artorius Castus, a historical Roman active in Britain in the 2nd century. It is specified he was given the ancestral name of a legendary leader. Also, the film is heavily based on the "Sarmatian connection" theory, which holds that the Arthurian legend is based on the activities and legends of Sarmatian heavy cavalry troops in Britain. Some historians such as Kemp Malone and Linda A. Malcor have proposed that Lucius Artorius Castus himself may have led Sarmatian troops and thus became the "original" historical Arthur; however, since this Artorius lived in the second century, the film's Artorius is probably meant to be his descendant.
The movie was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Antoine Fuqua; David Franzoni, the writer for Gladiator, wrote the screenplay. The historical consultant for the film was John Matthews, an author known for his books on esoteric Celtic spirituality, some of which he co-wrote with his wife Caitlin Matthews, and the research consultant was Linda A. Malcor, co-author of From Scythia to Camelot: A Radical Reinterpretation of the Legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the Holy Grail where the non-Celtic sources for the Arthur legend are explored.Wikipedia
