10 Things You Didn’t Know About A Knight’s Tale
2001’s A Knight’s Tale is kind of like the Lucha Underground of medieval movies. I say this because much like the way Lucha Underground introduced elements that had never been seen on a professional wrestling show before, A Knight’s Tale did the same for medieval movies.
The most notable “outside the box” element were the musical choices that A Knight’s Tale made… while they would make sense in the 1970s, really didn’t fit in the 1370s… then there’s the Nike origin story… and taking advantage of the gray area in the life of Geoffrey Chaucer.
It had been many years since I viewed A Knight’s Tale. When I realized my DVD copy featured a behind the scenes commentary track with Director/Writer Brian Helgeland and Paul Bettany, who played Geoffrey Chaucer in the movie, I knew I had a 10 Things You Didn’t Know About A Knight’s Tale on my hands…
1. The knight that gets knocked off his horse in the joust scene during the movie’s open was played by stunt man Thomas DuPont. DuPont was legitimately knocked out from that lance shot… which made for some spectacular footage.
2. Some actors became wary of working with the second unit director with some saying “he’s trying to kill us” and Paul Bettany even calling him a “mad man”. That second unit director was none other than Allan Graf, who was no stranger to the physicality of making movies having been a longtime stunt performer. When I think of Graf, I always think of his appearances in Universal Soldier, RoboCop and Over the Top.
3. The lances used in the film were preloaded with balsa wood splinters and uncooked linguini noodles to ensure visually spectacular hits. The sound of the lances hitting was actually the sound of a slowed down howitzer.
4. The sword fight practice scene with William (Heath Ledger) and Roland (Mark Addy) was a oner.
5. Rufus Sewell, who played the movie’s protagonist Count Adhemar, would throw crazy parties at the flat he was staying in while they were filming in Prague. How crazy?!? Live sex and Russian mobsters on the guest list crazy! Bettany quipped that Sewell likely spent most of his per diem on bribing the police to not shut the parties down.
6. The cat meat vendor that appeared at one of the jousting events was played by key grip, Dai Hopkins. This ended up being an uncredited acting role for Dai, despite Helgeland’s best efforts.
7. One actor that Helgeland did get an acting credit for was Christopher Cazenove, who played William’s father John Thatcher. Helgeland told a story of his first directing gig on an episode of Tales from the Crypt, in which Cazenove starred. Helgeland credited Cazenove for helping him immensely as a first time director, so getting him in A Knight’s Tale was a way to show his appreciation.
8. The dance scene at the banquet with William and Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossaman) was shot on a set built on top of an ice rink. The original song selected for this scene was K.C. and the Sunshine’s Band “Get Down Tonight”, but it was actually Heath Ledger who pitched the idea of David Bowie’s “Golden Years”. Bowie not only allowed them to use the song, but allowed them to split the track.
9. “Get Down Tonight” was repurposed for a riot scene that was filmed but was ultimately cut from the film. That scene was in the deleted scenes section of the DVD, but without the music. That was not the only song cut from the film, “Son of a Preacher Man” met a similar fate.
10. Brian Helgeland got the line “You have been weighed, measured and found wanting” directly from The Bible.
