The mysterious "Legend of the Green Knight"

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

On August 26, 2021, the long-awaited fantasy "The Legend of the Green Knight" is released. The original plot takes place in Wales, but for various reasons, the creators decided to shoot the project in Ireland. There was everything that was needed - the landscape, the weather, and the castles. Almost all of the scenes you'll see in the film were filmed within 30 minutes of Dublin. Find out interesting facts about the filming, actors and heroes of the tape.

The plot of the adventure fantasy "The Legend of the Green Knight" is based on the epic of King Arthur and tells the story of the king's desperate and headstrong nephew, Sir Gawain (Dev Patel). He embarks on a dangerous journey to pay back a debt of honor to the mysterious Green Knight. Sir Gawain's campaign turns into a difficult test of his valor and moral principles. Director David Lowry presents an unusual interpretation of the classic legend of the Knights of the Round Table.

Writer and director David Lowry drew inspiration from the 14th century legend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Virgo Patel was invited to play the role of a young man at the court of King Arthur, who embarks on an unforgettable journey to self-discovery. He must keep his part of the pact: say goodbye to his head, having met with the mysterious knight, whom he decapitated a year ago in Camelot.

The legend of the Green Knight was translated by none other than John Ronald Ruel Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings novel. The story was filmed only twice. Using the name of the Green Knight in the title of the film, David Lowry focused his attention and the attention of the audience on Sir Gawain's dangerous and exciting journey into the unknown. On the way, the hero met marauding mountaineers and wandering giants, a seductive soothsayer and a ghostly maiden, a talking fox and a blind widow. At the same time, each of them, perhaps, has a clue to unraveling the secrets.

“I myself didn't fully understand how this legend stood the test of time until I started working on the film,” says Lowry. - Only then did I fully realize what I was getting myself into. The original text of the legend is so rich that it amazes the imagination with a variety of images and significance. A dozen films could be shot based on this plot, and still not tell the most important thing. The legend was written in the XIV century, and yet it seems modern enough. It has not lost its relevance for hundreds of years! In our film, we tried not only to film the text of the legend, but also to convey its hidden meaning to the viewer. It described not only universal, imperishable values, but also the meaning of these values, which has not lost its relevance in our culture."

Legend

The original alliterative poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" was written in the British Isles in the 14th century by an unknown author. For hundreds of years, an unusual, amazing tale of chivalry, magic, temptation, transformation and self-discovery has inspired numerous readers, scientists and artists.

There are many allegories, symbolism and mystery in the poem, so that readers can view the work in different ways. The legend stands out favorably against the background of all other legends about King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table with its ambiguity and moral and moral subtext that does not lose its relevance, not to mention mystical and mysterious details.

At the same time, the legend of Sir Gawaine is much less known than other legends about King Arthur, such as the stories of Lancelot and Guinevere, the wizard Merlin and the search for the Holy Grail. The poem was adapted for the general reader by Tolkien and published in 1925. The adaptation was warmly welcomed by the readers, which helped the legend to take pride of place in folklore, thereby defining its cinematic potential.

"At the heart of the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight lies an incredible, enchanting and inexplicable mystery," said historian Jim Knapp, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. "This story describes the Middle Ages in great detail, right down to horses and armor, but there are no clear messages to the reader."

Under the cover of the eccentricity and ambiguity of the legend, there is a metaphorical comparison with the battle of Christianity with paganism, the attempt of a civilization led by Arthur to overcome the remnants of the past.

"The plot is based on the dichotomy of nature and progress," says the folklorist Peggy Knappstudying this legend at Carnegie Mellon University. “Camelot represents civilization and the Green Knight represents nature. He appears in Camelot and Sir Gawain cuts off his head. We can say that this is a Christian legend with a moral background, but it is also a Celtic song about heroes of the past who live in harmony with nature, about people who are used to worship and idolize natural phenomena."

The author of the legend purposefully exacerbates the confrontation between Christianity and paganism. It is not for nothing that the giant mysterious figure of the Green Knight appears in Camelot in the clouds of fog on Christmas Day, throwing down a terrible but insurmountable challenge to those present - he invites anyone to try to chop off his head with an ax. The daredevil, who will be called, in turn, undertakes to appear at the Green Chapel exactly one year later so that the Green Knight can strike back.

Young Sir Gawaine, eager to earn his reputation as a hero in the court of King Arthur, accepts the challenge. Now he has to wait a whole year to make an epic journey and fulfill his side of the bargain. On the eve of the next Christmas, Gawain sets out on the road, meeting unusual characters along the way: some are alive, others are dead, others are cheerful, some pretend to be what they are not, and others are not people at all. All of them, in one way or another, will help Gawain understand himself.

“It seems to me that the story is based on the concept of chivalry, viewed through the prism of a young man's attempts to understand himself,” says David Lowry. - This theme is revealed in the original text of the legend, and it is she who makes the plot relevant to this day. Gawain has an amazing journey to realize his own life principles."

Reaching Lord Bertilak's castle, Gawain faces new challenges. He must maintain his piety, ignoring the temptation to bond with the wife of an aristocrat, before facing the Green Knight in the forest.

“The protagonist of the legend is completely different from modern heroes such as, say, James Bond,” says Peggy Knapp. - This young man is immune to various temptations, but at the same time, like many modern young people, he wants to be perfect, strives for perfection and does everything in his power to achieve perfection. He longs to be seen as a great warrior, therefore, in battles and hunting, he tries not to be inferior to the noble knights."

“Gawain is embarking on a dangerous journey and is now being talked about not only in the court of King Arthur, but also on the streets,” adds Jim Knapp. “There are many trials awaiting him on the road, which will make him really strong and show whether he is worthy to wear his armor.”

Journey to the origins

Director David Lowry first read the legend when he was in college - a lecture in English literature about epic poems in Western folklore. The Legend of the Green Knight was the last on the program, after months of studying The Iliad and The Odyssey. “The story made a lasting impression on me,” says Lowry.- I liked the story about a young man who takes such an unusual challenge. It didn’t fit in my head that someone might decide to enter the game, knowing that the winner would lose his life."

The plot of the legend haunted the director for twenty years. His career, meanwhile, went uphill. In 2013, he made his full-length debut with On the Run, and three years later directed the Disney remake of Pete and His Dragon and the mesmerizing, hypnotic melodrama The Ghost Story.

In March 2018, Lowry took a break from work, and he was able to look at the medieval legend through the eyes of a more experienced person. Inspired by the battle scenes from Willow, Ron Howard's classic 1988 fantasy, Lowry began writing his own fantasy adventure. “I then remembered the Legend of the Green Knight again and almost involuntarily decided to adapt it,” Lowry recalls. - I began to rewrite the poem, and at the same time I figured out how to shoot this or that scene. The script was ready in three weeks."

At first, Lowry reread the legend several times from beginning to end, taking into account the symbolism encountered in the text. For the most part, analogies were drawn with the confrontation between Christianity and paganism. At the same time, Lowry did not lose hope of finding a way to make the history of the 14th century relevant and interesting for the modern viewer. “Well, how can the story of beheading be understood by today's audience? - Lowry wondered, working on the script. - The principles of honor and chivalry for our viewers have long ceased to have the same meaning as they had in the Middle Ages, even despite the popularity of Game of Thrones.

Lowry studied the legend with scholars of various degrees, and studied literary theories, essays and critical essays. “There is an incredible number of interpretations and discrepancies in this story, especially if you read it carefully,” says the director. “I doubt that the author, whoever he was, could have imagined that in hundreds of years his work would generate so many ideas and theories.”

Lowry's particular attention was drawn to the role of the secondary heroine Morgana Le Fay, who appears only in the last pages of the legend. However, in the film adaptation, he decided to give her a more impressive role. In the legends of King Arthur Morgan, a feminist role is assigned, it is opposed to the dominant men in folklore. She appears as a mysterious blind woman in Lord Bertilak's castle. It may seem like it is managing events, but it is impossible to assert with certainty. In fact, Morgana is Gawain's aunt, but Lowry decided to correct the protagonist's pedigree, making Le Fay his mother. This is just one of the many changes and variations he brought to the original story, adapting the legend for the modern viewer.

“I didn't want to use overly obvious analogies,” explains Lowry. - The abode of King Arthur seems to me Christianity, and the heroine who played Sarita Choudhry (in the film - Gawain's mother) - Earth-worshiping paganism. In the opening scene of the film, Arthur makes a speech on a religious theme, and when Gawain arrives at the Green Chapel, he notices a crumbling cross. I will leave it to the viewer to judge what role nature plays in the development of the plot."

In its ambiguity, The Legend of the Green Knight (2020) rivals the original of the 14th century. However, in the skillful hands of Lowry, the events of the picture develop consistently and naturally. The film finale reveals one of the most important themes - disagreement with fate, even if it was predetermined by nature itself.

Creation of a man

In The Legend of the Green Knight, Gawain is not without flaws, but he is attractive nonetheless. At the beginning of the film, he is shown as a teenage rake, who enjoys a carefree youth, and in the scene at the Round Table he shows his heroism and with his characteristic bravado cuts off the head of the Green Knight.

This is not the knight you expect to see the hero of an epic poem. “My Gawaine is by no means a pathetic geek of an eminent family, but he is still very far from being perfect,” explains Lowry. "In general, I like heroes who recognize and accept their flaws."

The director also wanted the character to reflect a modern understanding of masculinity. "The term 'masculinity' is a stumbling block in a lot of modern discussions," Lowry said. - We are too picky about appearance and are lost in conjectures - when we lost the main component of masculinity, at what point we turned the wrong way.

After watching the samples of a good dozen applicants for the main role, Lowry opted for Virgo Patele … Charm, restlessness and cheerfulness in him were combined with modesty, which is extremely rare. In early versions of the script, Lowry described the protagonist as almost flawless. On the one hand, Patel was impressed by this approach to the adaptation of medieval classics. However, he proposed to complicate the role by directing his character along the path of becoming.

“Dev made some very interesting suggestions and tweaks to the script that I was happy to approve,” says Lowry. “Gawaina can be called a spoiled child,” adds Patel. “Even before the contract was signed, I said that since I was going to go on an exciting adventure in this image, then, in contrast to the frivolous remarks and questionable behavior in Gawain, there must be something that would allow the audience to sympathize with him.”

Having approved Patel for the main role, Lowry understood that the actor would be able to show all of Gawain's flaws, without losing either the heroism inherent in his character, or the desire to embark on the path of growing up. “I would not want Gawain to appear in front of the audience in an unpleasant light, the audience should not have hated him,” explains Lowry. "I had no doubt that Virgo's character would help him strike this paradoxical balance as Gawaine."

Patel began discussing his role and the very concept of the film with Lowry while filming The Story of David Copperfield in London.

Patel's Gawain is King Arthur's young nephew who lives a comfortable life in Camelot, devoid of the slightest inconvenience. “He never got his hands dirty and worried about earning his place in the world and in society,” says Patel. “He was offered a seat at the Round Table so that he could take part in meetings on a par with the legendary knights, although he himself cannot be called legendary. I believe that this is a story about a young man who goes on a journey to find his purpose in life, to write his page in the history book."

Preparing for the role, Patel had to undergo an intensive training course, since the actor had never sat on a horse before. First, the riding instructor put him on a Shetland pony named Sparkles, with whom the actor immediately got along. Alas, Patel is too tall for such a breed and looked comical in the frame. Patel had to change to a horse named Albani, which turned out to be with a temper, his trust had to first be earned. To do this, Patel went for a trick - every day before filming, he brought apples to his future horse. By the end of the winter shoot in Ireland, the rider and his horse were inseparable.

Read interesting facts about The Legend of the Green Knight, which premieres on August 26, 2021!