We Will Rock You - An A Knight's Tale Video Essay

spoiler alert for a Knight's Tale and the original Canterbury Tales I guess if it's possible to spoil something that is 600 years old and content warning for uh just nudity I guess you're gonna see Paul Bettany's but several times and here's the usual warning these videos are just my opinions and artists subjective now then what do you think of when you think of a Knight's Tale do you think of the music or how cute Heath Ledger was or the cool action sequences or do you think of this well I guess it's time to talk about a Knight's Tale [Music] let me take you all back to the distant era of 2001 a year after y2k didn't happen the first year of george w bush's presidency 9/11 would happened that September and there was an economic recession that lasted from March until November in music Missy Elliott released get your freak on that year NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys were in the peak of their popularity Beyonce was still a part of Destiny's Child and there was a band called the 18s that largely covered hits by the band ABBA in the world of film it was the tail end of the indie film boom that started in the 90s with the rise of popular independent filmmakers like Danny Boyle Robert Rodriguez David Fincher Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith among many others filmmakers made these smaller budget films that exploded onto the landscape movies like Pulp Fiction made for 8.5 million grossed over two hundred and thirteen million dollars at the box office David Fincher 7 was ironically the seventh highest-grossing film in 1995 with a budget of 33 million and a box office gross of 327 million dollars many of these films would go on to become cult classics that remain in the cultural consciousness to this day whether he wanted them to or not this boom would largely die out with a few notable exceptions by the mid-2000s making way for the big-budget spectacles aided by the move away from shooting on physical film stock to the less expensive digital and the rise of more sophisticated special effects as well as that post 9/11 tilt away from the more and starry-eyed genre films towards gritty cynical realism also there was the why a novel film adaptation trend that began in the 2000s the Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring came out that December and the first Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released the month before also those movies were hugely successful franchises and Studios are trying to recapture that particular magic to this day there were also movies like Shrek coming out in May of that year making huge innovations in animation like I love to poke fun at it but this was technically a big step in what animation could do my personal favorite Atlantis the lost Empire also came out in June of that year they did a lot of work blending 2d and 3d animation which was a fairly new concept at the time I imagine this may have in some fashion paved the way for this and in the middle of such a tumultuous and buckwild time a night sail was released on May 11 2001 it was a slightly more modest film compared to the Giants of the time a Knight's Tale cost 65 million to make and made back roughly twice its budget with a box-office gross of 117 million and I'm gonna get a bit more into all the weird and interesting [ __ ] this movie did but first let's do the usual rundown a Knight's Tale was written and directed by Brian Helgeland you might not know his name but you've probably seen one of his films or at least one of the films he wrote he got his start as a screenwriter and wrote a few horror comedies but in 1997 he co-wrote LA Confidential from there he wrote films like Mystic River man on fire and the remake of taking Pelham one two three he's also taken a few turns at directing his first go was the 1999 Mel Gibson film payback his next time writing and directing was for a Knight's Tale he also wrote and directed a 2003 film called the order with Heath Ledger Shannyn Sossamon and marc-eddy which is deeply uneven in spite of some good performances he wrote and directed the 2013 Jackie Robinson biopic called 42 which was pretty good as well as the 2015 film legends starring Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy that I found mostly unwatchable as a [ __ ] Wacka worst and this year he wrote Spencer confidential for Netflix which was who's running point on this [ __ ] show yeah I snuck inside on my face what do you work in a Brazilian steakhouse okay pal gülen's had an interesting and storied career to be sure but I do think a Knight's Tale is a highlight now of course the lead of the film is the late great Heath Ledger and we'll talk about him a bit more later but it suffice us to say he was an enormous ly talented actor who never ever phoned in a performance no matter how ridiculous or strange the movie was looking at you the Brothers Grimm now in a knight's tale he plays the lowborn William Thatcher who wants to be a knight and when his liege lord sir Hector dies unexpectedly the spark of his life is smothered in shite his spirit is gone but his stench remains he finds his chance at glory you have to be of noble birth to compete any detail with him there's Roland played by mark addy if the nobles find out who you are they'll be the devil to pay and pray that they don't it seems Roland and will have been traveling with sir Hector since they were children and Roland is honestly the group dad he's the one everybody else seems to look to and listen to for guidance if I'm going to all this effort you best learn to dance now asking nicely also it's fairly low-key but he's a bit of a crush on Jocelyn's lady-in-waiting which is cute then there's what played by alan tudyk who you might know from his role here ah curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal or here would you like to know the probability of her using it against you it's hi that's good quite it's very hard or here did you like her what is the third member of their little group he joined Roland and will following sir Hector some time between here and here if a jail officer backed that he shot himself to death he's hot-tempered and very fond of saying this to people I will follow you sites routers you're outside serving real trails will become directs trails by the way according to helgeland to fajn means to kick although some sites say it means to seize or grab pay those of pain so that's fun then there's Paul Bettany as geoffrey chaucer geoffrey chaucer the writer yep that Chaucer the character enters the film with a salty swagger that immediately tells the story he's grandstanding world-weary cynical and generally on the verge of getting his ass kicked because he can't stop running his mouth off around short fuses like Watt Chaucer also has a gambling problem and likes a drink with his friends and when he's finally grown close to this group of renegades Chaucer has an unbearable sincerity that just you would come to see him rest full shame wrecks my [ __ ] like this is my favorite character always has been when he says things like I will eviscerate you in fiction every last pimple every last character flaw I was naked for a day you will be making for eternity I as a kid who got bullied and liked to write was like hell yeah I'm going to talk about Chaucer more just you wait from there we have the Farris Kate played by Laura Fraser the ottoman era blacksmith sometimes I'm both so in medieval times women could be blacksmith but it generally happened if they were married to a blacksmith when their husband died the widow was allowed to inherit the trade and a ferrous or a farrier specifically worked on horseshoes and stuff I didn't do a ton of research on this but in the commentary helgeland said that women didn't usually get to make armor hence this line no they said you were great with horseshoes but shite normally we don't really learn much about Kate's husband other than a passing line but initially Kate isn't too hot on this rowdy band that crosses her path probably of course she eventually warms to them and joins their merry troupe for the journey around Europe she's a really fun character who's a little romantic and a little impatient with [ __ ] I'll talk about her more later - when they name then their Shannyn Sossamon as the princess Jocelyn who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it do not me and spare him not be gone go then we have rufus sewell as our antagonist atom our who is just constantly seething and smoldering and you know a good antagonist for all the little shakes and twitches Sewell adds to him rounding out the main cast there is James Purefoy as the Black Prince of Wales and just all-around good egg who is here to cheer for his new buddy William according to the commentary Purefoy was voted the sexiest man in the cast and also I really like the way he says this line awesome so ok what's the story I mean it's rocky with Lance's no seriously it is I almost at one point dedicated the film to the movie Rocky but I didn't I decided to keep all the credit for myself good any kind of anything any similarities that people see between this story and rock you're purely coincidental I didn't I did not steal anything apparently I'm the one heathen that doesn't love rocky but just know Brian Helgeland knows and I know and now you know it's rocky with Lance's the story is that William Thatcher son of John Thatcher is out there serving as liege lord sir Hector who died suddenly from the spa of his life is smothered in shite so we'll just as Sir Hector and it's mostly for the money because he and his friends are literally starving retaught fancy cakes with peppermint cream but then he sees an opportunity for glory of course Roland and Watt takes some convincing man can change his stars and I won't spend the rest of my life as nothing but eventually they sign up and help him train - I think he's good worse he is getting worse Laurie enriches glory and after a good training montage he's ready for tournament they invent a new character for him to inhabit sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland and then they discovered this man out for a naked jaunt icer were you robbed more a sort of involuntary vow of poverty really turns out this man is Geoffrey Chaucer the writer probably read my book book of the Duchess fine well it was allegorical and he joins their crew on the promise of clothes and food and in exchange he will forge wills patents of nobility which the tournament's are requiring so they get to the tournament and will start suggesting he's good if a little rough around the edges as technique with an entry style non-existent still he's fearless he also meets this girl and he spends awhile just trying to find out her name call me a fox for that is all I am to you oh then a fox you shall be until I find your name my foxy lady but eventually the two of them start I don't know medieval dating we'll talks to her about the Bible they dance it's fun also wills armor is old and breaking so Kate comes in to help fix it and eventually she just joins the band just take me as far as pass and from there the five of them travel around in just in tournaments there's one tournament where the other guy gets badly injured I'm through I've never known finished before I wish to keep my honor intact later we'll find out that of course this is the Black Prince and we'll just against him anyway do knowing main thing to remember the rough ending he knowingly endangered himself you and you mate that's still your own it's not in late withdrawal nor me also will continues pursuing Jocelyn and one time he lost really badly to Adam our and that's the whole thing next time I fish you count betta mom you look up at me from the flat of your back you have been weighed you have been measured and you have been found wanting I told you this is rocky with Lance's the story on the outside is very simple so with that let's talk about anachronism it's called a lass a Knight's Tale is that sort of accidental oddball that just happens to be in keeping with another trend of this era the anachronistic period film so real quick anachronism means a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned there's more than one kind of anachronism in film sometimes it's the accidental sort like slightly inaccurate period details a friend of mine who was very into history stuff was appalled by the wall paneling in an episode of Doctor Who because it was apparently wrong for 1651 and while that is the funniest nitpick ever this could technically be considered an anachronism on the other end of the spectrum you have the intentional kind of anachronism like in Jo Jo rabbit where we have characters saying things like less of an swastikas anything can be anachronistic by choice or by accident the dialogue the music the costumes the hair and makeup there are many reasons to handle things anachronistically but it usually comes down to stylistic choices or attempts to bring audiences into a different time period with more recognizably modern touchstones or sometimes it's just whatever this is now when a Knight's Tale came out a lot of critics made comparisons to the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love which does like to wink at the audiences a lot with moments like this the show must oh but it actually shares a lot of DNA with another film that came out that same year [Music] sometimes little subgenres spring up when people completely independently come to a similar idea like in 2006 when there was the intense magician thriller genre with Christopher Nolan's The Prestige starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale and Neil burgers The Illusionist starring Edward Norton and Jessica Biel for whatever reason anachronistic historical films with pop music became a weird little sub-genre that may have mostly died out by the mid 2010 other movies of this genre would include pan Shanghai noon inglorious basterds Django Unchained the 2013 Great Gatsby Emperor's New Groove The Book of Life and Marie Antoinette sometimes it's less of a genre and more of a choice for one or two scenes but some movies really commit also it is fun to note that while Moulin Rouge is a musical A Knight's Tale often acts like a musical helgeland himself made references to the works of Vincente Minnelli with how much the musical moments often work in the film to drive the story or express inner feelings which is how musicals work also sometimes the music even seems diegetic [Music] [Applause] and there's the big dance number so that's fun of course the music isn't the only anachronism there's the costumes which were specifically tailored to appeal to a more modern audience when realistically a lot of these people would have been wearing tights we talked about that they should look like the Rolling Stones and the 1972 tour you see they're young they have to look sexy and accessible there's also the dialogue which includes lines like lady and everybody's favorite it's called a loss all these touches were intended to help a modern audience connect with an older story Moulin Rouge has dancers doing a can-can to Lady Marmalade and a Knight's Tale has a jousting audience cheering to the tune of we will rock you in a New York Times article helgeland said someone said to me you can't have this kind of music in this movie so I said what kind of music would you have an orchestral score they said to which I said the instruments in an orchestra didn't exist in 1370 there were no cellos no violins no brass section so why is it okay to be 300 years too early but not 600 years too early I didn't want to present it as an alien world but a world that the audience would recognize elements of and see that they're the same as elements of their own my attitude was the 70s have always been the seventies so we have a royal court dancing to David Bowie in a jousting match set to Backman Turner overdrive it's a great and fun way to set a tone I'll never take issue with this choice and I'm guessing neither did Columbia in fact I do think it's very possible that executives at Columbia Pictures might have looked at the script and whatever pop music was in the original draft and then observed the success of some other historically revisionist movies like Shakespeare and love which posited that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was inspired by a lot of William Shakespeare's personal drama at the time and it has many knowing winks to a modern audience like this one we are in desperate wonder when Mercutio net and the title of the space Mercutio and it won Best Picture that year or ever after which came out the same year taking the story of Cinderella and setting it in actual Renaissance history with historical figures like Leonardo da Vinci making an appearance and also allowing drew barrymore to kick ass in a way that women probably couldn't have or rarely would have in that time period it grossed 98 million dollars at the box office with a budget of 26 million I'm just saying this movie is wacky but it did happen to fit with some popular sensibilities at the time so uh with that out of the way let's talk about the ladies women eh so how can I put this politely I've talked before on this channel about how sometimes men write women in a certain way a way that is not necessarily good and unfortunately since male screenwriters are so much more common in the industry you're going to see women written badly by men a lot more than you might see men written badly by women although it does happen from time to time part of the problem is that women are encouraged to watch and read stories by and about men most of my required reading in high school aside from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was by male authors all throughout film school I was encouraged to seek out the works of Woody Allen Roman Polanski and so on but men are so rarely asked to do the same and so many seem to find it hard to identify with or write women our schools teach girls how to read boys stories we usually don't teach boys to read girls stories said a Vox article that explored men's disinterest in the 2019 Little Women adaptation by Greta Gerwig Gerwig was snubbed for the Best Director nomination at the Oscars and all over the Internet I heard men say the movie was hard to follow or boring it was neither of those things but apparently a story buying about women was just too complicated in spite of the fact that I'm sure many of those same folks laughed up the likes of memento or Inception without batting an eye about the complexity of the narrative with the Knight's Tale this is not a misogyny thing this is not a dr. ruth situation where parts of the show are so broken there's just no fixing them so characters are just whatever the episode requires them to be until we can find some character development for them ego mania in the case of the Knight's Tale it's more of that benevolent sexism that you see when a male screenwriter isn't custom to trying to identify with women but they don't hate them or anything they just maybe could have gotten feedback from a woman or two before producing this screenplay in these sorts of pieces women are more like tools for the story rather than people they are a love interest first and a character second like their personality if they can be said to have one can be summarized with one or two words like sultry or spunky or maybe just pretty sometimes it just means the writing of the character might be wildly inconsistent this happens a lot even good movies will do this this is a very common problem with the Knight's Tale I wish it was a little less women and a little more women you know what I mean like some woman could have looked at any of these screenplays and asked why is she doing this when before she said this why does she like him I asked my male classmates these questions a lot when I was in school and the response was quite often oh wow I never thought of that one of the best things you can do when writing is to get feedback from other people it really helps you to see any holes you might have missed in your screen player story I thought it was really interesting listening to the commentary for the 2019 film 1917 which if you haven't been on my Twitter this movie has become a bit of a hyper fixation for me lately don't ask me why but writer director Sam Mendes co-wrote that screenplay with a lady named Christie Wilson Cairns and he calls out a couple of key moments when she thought of a really heart-wrenching line or moment that he never would have thought of and then he says this he asks Cofield to write to his mum which is a line that Christie wrote one of the very good reasons why you need a co-writer who doesn't think like you and it's not the same sex as you or the same age as you is they come at it from a totally different perspective and one of the many wonderful additions she made to the script was a line like that which I'm a suspect I would never written myself and that's just a sentiment I wish more male screenwriters took to heart you know other perspectives are important in stories all sorts of other perspectives going beyond gender your stories will be better if you listen to people from other ethnicities religions sexualities and I do mean really listen I'm not saying white male writers need to be cancelled but since they are still the dominant group they need to be listening to other viewpoints to write more well-rounded characters that don't look like them now a night still is not that bad when it comes to writing women but it's also not that great Jocelyn's character is a little thinly written aside from being a lady who knows what she wants and wanting a man to prove their love to her the right way what can you tell me about Jocelyn as a character Shannyn Sossamon puts a lot of life into her and so she's not totally flat but other than like headstrong and I don't know a romantic can you describe her character I had a paragraph of adjectives for Chaucer earlier in this video not to mention some personality quirks like the gambling and the general grandstanding but I really can't tell you a lot about Jocelyn she likes poetry she has weird taste in hats she has a lady-in-waiting and in one scene when the two of them are alone and talking to each other it's about will and count Adam are so like we're not passing the Bechdel test here most of my favorite moments with Jocelyn are more down to Solomon's delivery than the writing of her moments like this one go or this one I myself Jocelyn have never been a host no have I or this one which Sossaman came up with herself that is lastly honestly my least favorite bit with Jocelyn is the will proving his love bit the set up is that will is cranky and the two of them have a fight where ledger pulls no punches and showing you how childish will is being right now you're just a city girl oh you and I do love this bit where Jocelyn stands up for being a woman who likes girly things like nice dresses and stuff flower is only as good as its petals better a city girl with a flower than a silly boy with a horse in assisting so the two of them are fighting and the gang helps will write a letter to apologize so they meet in Paris to reconcile and have another fight because Jocelyn wants him to really prove his love losing is a much keener test of your love losing would contradict yourself and losing would show your obedience to your lover and not to yourself really and so the next day at the tournament we get this neither do i and Mike this montage is very funny I particularly love this game but this is hurting will he's literally hurting himself a lot and very badly in order to prove his love and you'll love have you proven that now this comes from a lot of research helgeland did he read these ye oldie treatises on courtly love and there's this 12th century French poem by [ __ ] d'etre called Lancelot the knight of the cart and it's about Lancelot and Guinevere with this exact scenario of Lancelot proving his love by losing in a tournament and I think helgeland probably read it based on this bit Guinevere comes to Lancelot basically the ideas of courtly love and proving your love are like based on real historical cultural things but also this movie picks and chooses where to be historically accurate they dance to David Bowie and say things like so we didn't need to keep this later the film reminds us just how much will hurt himself for Jocelyn you need a surgeon he's being he says I would live though it doesn't feel that way yes it is I appreciate Jocelyn's point here losing would contradict your self-love friend losing would show your obedience to your lover and not to yourself but I wish she could have taken one hit maybe two and then we could have gone straight to this she says that if you love her you will win this tournament there she is the embodiment of love your Venus or how I hate her like I just don't think it's cute to show somebody getting hurt this badly just so Jocelyn can go he loves me yeah he sure does my lady now please tell him to stop but on the other end of the spectrum there's Kate I actually really like Kate and how this movie handles her did they say I couldn't do it because I'm a woman no they said you were great with horseshoes but shaped armor the fact that you're a woman wasn't even mentioned you're the dumb [ __ ] I said a minute ago you didn't want to go her because she's a woman you eat I actually really appreciate that she has never ever a romantic interest for will because she's already been married once and she just isn't interested in this [ __ ] she is simply accepted into the group as one of the boys if you will say something about breasts her breasts were not that impressive Kate actually has some of the sweetest moments in the film moments like this one with hope life should end with hope or this one look at this Queen she's ready to beat some people with her hammers to protect her friend I love her also we have this truly excellent line during the dumb will hurting himself montage it's very romantic a blacksmith sometimes I'm both like overall this movie is not irreparably broken but every piece of media you love has room for improvement and this is where a Knight's Tale could stand to grow a little Kate's great Jocelyn's pretty good but could be better women weaken the heart without your heart you cannot win Roland and I wish I could give you all some easy answers on how to write women well but there isn't some standard criteria that can apply to all films every story is its own thing every story has its own needs and pace and tone with a Knight's Tale I just wish it was a little less women but this movie was written in 2001 and our standards were a little different then I'll still always appreciate this movie for this sometimes I'm voted and with that let's talk about the Canterbury Tales write some of this story down [Music] so this movie has a very um let's just call it loose historical underpinning I mean there are details like the ferrous or having the Black Prince of Wales show up I mean in real history Chaucer actually served the family of Prince Edward so they probably would have recognized each other but it's Tuesday don't worry about it and then there's author and father of English literature Geoffrey Chaucer so Chaucer did a lot of stuff in his life he served in the Kings army in 1359 in the army of John gaunt in 1369 he also served again in France in 1370 he was married with three or possibly four kids there's actually a deleted scene in a Knight's Tale where we met Chaucer's wife oh that must be what and you're Kate and Roland just told me all about you and somewhat infamously there's about six months around thirteen seventy two when Chaucer appeared to be missing historians can't really account for his whereabouts although some guess he was in Italy Brian Helgeland decided that maybe for those six months he was the herald to our William Thatcher which is a fun detail then there's the Canterbury Tales so Chaucer was according to some historians a man of the people his work seemed to be highly critical of the church as an institution although he himself was Christian his stories were bawdy tales written in English or Middle English when the nobility and the church wrote and spoke either Latin or French some say his works helped to standardize our modern concept of the English language Paul Bettany loves to reference in interviews that time Chaucer wrote a story about a talking penis or who could forget the classic the Millers tale which ends well let's just say this is the climax of the story I'm gonna put the Middle English up on screen and read a translation for y'all Nicholas had gotten up to piss and thought he would surpass the joke Absalon would kiss his arse before he left he opened the window quickly and put out his arse secretly over the buttock to the thigh bone and then said the clerk Ypsilon speak sweet bird I know not where you are Nicholas then let fly a fart as great as if it had been a thunderclap that with the stroke epsilon was almost blinded so uh yeah Chaucer father of English literature who also wrote a story about people farting out windows The Canterbury Tales is just a series of short stories like this one the first story in it is called the Knight's Tale it bears very little resemblance to the story in film two knights Arcite and Palamon in ancient greece fight for the love of a woman named Emily Theseus the Duke of Athens arranges a tournament for them and the one who wins will get to marry Emily our sight dies in the tournament and everybody's very sad including Emily and Palamon everybody mourns our sight for a long time and finally Theseus tells them all that everybody lives and dies and basically to move on so Emily and Palamon get married and live a long happy life together the film A Knight's Tale is more of a named reference rather than an adaptation the movie has references to the canterbury tales with characters like peter the Pardoner and simon the summoner who i will eviscerate you in fiction well considering how those characters go in canterbury tales this is pretty on the mark also there's this fun line here this story down about the priest in the night all human activity lies within the artists scope implying that all of this inspired the Canterbury Tales somehow so it's not the Knight's Tale it's a Knight's Tale and all human activity lies within the artists scope maybe not yours [Music] all right so let's take a minute and talk about the end of the movie so after this and this and also this he loves me the gang returns to London for the final tournament championship it's the sports movie big game time but first we learn that William hasn't been home in 12 years I'm afraid of what's the way back home don't be foolish William you just follow your feet so will was back home now and a DeMars here too he was off fighting somewhere and was such a bad person on that battlefield that the Black Prince called him back they were reveling the night pillaging town after town robbing and murdering and ransacking churches committing the oldest sins in the newest ways also there's this a real thoroughbred trophy you speak of Jocelyn like she's a target isn't she no she is the arrow I've entered into negotiations with her father Oh she'll be saddled and placed on my mantle I will have her basically it's the final bout and a DeMars the big bad so we've got to beat him as I promised you before Adam oh you will look up at me from the flat of your back but before he can compete in the regionals he goes to see his dad for the first time in 12 years I wonder if you remember a man was as tall as a knight his name was John Thatcher we get this extremely touching reunion I have word what of your son you wanted you to know that he changed his stars after all has he followed mrs. feet yes and we also discovered that Adam are followed him to Cheapside and saw his father so the next day this happens some dude I saw were from Liechtenstein what will has been found out his true identity finally unmasked well they asked me for your papers they're waiting for you in the lists they're gonna arrest you and the first thing he does is confront joseline what do you think right now you've got to run there is nothing else to do run and I will run I do actually appreciate this little argument between will and joseline because just for a second they're both right here she's probably right that he should run since the alternative is like I'm assuming death but he is also right that she's never lived in poverty and starved the way he has but you will see me run no damn your pride William from there will tries to plead with his friends Balaji would see me run he's the night with honor and chivalry and he doesn't want to run you Jeff yes I wish it to with all the pieces of my heart but you and I we have - William today we are run William and he actually convinces them I'm at night they all understand that he doesn't have it in him to run even Jocelyn understands and then Roland says all good things must come to an end I'd send them together and we get this gorgeous shot of our team which the director says he totally stole from the right stuff but I love it and will gets arrested Adam R comes to his cell to gloat and fun fact that line is the Bible thing I always wondered it's from the Book of Daniel which in Judaism is part of the Coutu Veeam and in Christianity is grouped with the major prophets the actual line according to the ketubah is thus the palm of a hand was sent from before him and it inscribed this writing this is the writing that was inscribed Monnet emanate aquel farsan this is the interpretation of the matter men a counted God has counted the years of your kingship and terminated it to Kael Wade you have been weighed in the scales and found wanting Paris broken up your kingdom has been broken up and given to media and Persia so that's some trivia for y'all but anyway in the film Adam R is a big Meany so he literally beats will while he's chained up in a Cell and then we come to the scene where will is in the stocks leave rollin let them have me God love you William so do i all of his friends come to stand by him in the moments before he might literally be put to death this bid always got me watching his friends rally around him and then the Black Prince comes to his rescue amen love you if I knew nothing else about you that would be enough but you also tilt when you should withdraw that is night later if I may repay the kindness you once showed me take a knee and let me just take a second here to say again how much Ledger was absolutely stellar in this role there's a level of vulnerability to his performance in moments like this that is really understated and lovely but anywho I dub thee so William and this is the bed that kinda wrecked my [ __ ] and I'll tell you why so I mean I said Chaucer was my favorite character I found him instantly appealing for his humor and wit and sang [ __ ] like but ok so just after Jeff had joined their group we learned about the gambling and yeah it's kind of a funny bit these people though who quite literally take the clothes off your back but then it gets less funny what would you do to him if I was to refuse we on behalf of the Lord God will take it from his flesh so that he may understand the gambling is a sin like yeah they just met at this point Jeff can only appeal to him is another human being for help he's well [Music] pleased me to help me so this is probably the moment that cemented Jeff's relationship with will release him the God's sake give him back his clothes and you'll get it from here they spend the rest of the movie actually becoming friends yeah and so by the time we get to here yes I wish it to with all the pieces of my heart this is a really tight-knit group Jeff loves and cares deeply for William and will cares just as much for Jeff they all care about each other a lot it's wholesome and there's actually a deleted scene here that I'll always be sad they cut I actually discovered it because my sister owned the published screenplay and so I sat and read it one day on a lark and discovered this scene where Jeff tried to calm the bloodthirsty crowd that had gathered to see well put to death before the block prince showed up you cut from the same cloth you and he my mother recognized this cooking anywhere mother please you at least go home I tell you tonight how it turns out I hope I can tell you that I managed to convince these good people to leave my Lord William on home I cried the first time I read this scene I think I teared up the first time I got to watch it - Bettany was really fond of this scene and so was the director but how cool and it thought it undercut the black prints coming in to save the day which like I don't know maybe it did but I really missed this bit my lord it's true was born poor in sheep cycle and I'm so what for he is his true steel not true for he is like gold to me he is like gold you and I Amelie Ireland and yet you people you would come to see him worse and even without that the sheer relief that we see in him in this moment knowing that will is saved it just gets me I can't even really explain why but this gets me every time I love this character and how much he cares and how willing he is to just stand up and yell it to the heavens but the movie isn't over yet so from there the question is whether or not we'll still wants to joust against Adam our witch who are we kidding of course he does no I said I shall have your opponent informed of it Adam our tries to cheat by breaking off the Cornell which blunts the sharp tip of the Lance it's nothing but spun sugar and blue-black this badly injures will on the first round to the point that he can't even grip the Lance he's tempted so once again will has to look to his friends for support Roland does what he can getting this hunk of wood out of wills shoulder and giving him advice he must oppose him I'll kill him the only way to win what ties the Lance to his arm lash it tomorrow I should to me all and Chaucer seeing they need another minute or two to get well ready for this last bout and Jocelyn went to get wills father and brought him to sit with her at the tournament which is very sweet and the emotional boost that we'll need and what has this nice little moment [Music] so will and Adam are face off one last time I mean of course will wins and he doesn't yelling his own name which I always thought was wild but Leger sells it and we get this moment that is intended to be a sort of vision or hallucination that Adam R has in the seconds before he hits the ground you have been weighed you have been measured and you absolutely have been found wanting welcome to the new world I've wondered for years why the dirt looks weird beneath him it's because he's literally suspended above the ground that's a nice detail and from there we get to celebrate wills victory will gets to kiss the girl and his shoulder is fine now don't worry about it and after a whole movie of Jeff and watt razzing each other I will follow you until your insides were out to your entrails you become direct stripes we get this nice little moment all human actives he lies within the artists scope maybe not you all yeah I like that their issue was resolved and their friends now that's warmed my heart since I first saw this and like that's the movie so there's two threads running through Knight's Tale one is like yeah right cool I guess and the other is everything to me the first is it's a film on what identity a man can change his stars I mean I do enjoy this thread particularly as an attack on class structures which like we still have to this day will has to literally lie and luck himself to the top and then at the end he's just been conveniently royal all along and that's either a funny bit of satire or like okay I mean it sounds nice he changed his styles after but also I feel like people could mistakenly be like yeah he worked hard and pulled himself up by his bootstraps he's a self-made man and I'm just not here for that take it was luck and some skill but more importantly it was his friends it was Jocelyn and his dad and the Black Prince he'll even stir Hector taught him a few things before the spark of his life is smothered in shite will couldn't have done this alone not without Roland didn't want helping him train not without Kate making his armor not without Chaucer forging his patents of nobility not without Jocelyn and the lessons his father taught him spurring him on at the end of the movie he wins thanks to Jeff stalling for time thanks to Roland and Kate taking care of him and watt tying the Lance to his arm it all adds up to a victory born of love and friendship like the found family trope is my [ __ ] it's always my [ __ ] whether it's a found family saving Atlantis or blowing up a Death Star or piloting giant robots with the power of friendship I love stories about people being friends like okay listen right now as I write this we all live inside but nobody is in this alone tell your friends you love them sometime tell your mommy or dad call your grandma or hug your significant other if you happen to live with them or like your dog or something everybody keeps saying it but it's true we're in this together and we won't make it on our own so reach out to the people in your life that matter because to quote one of my favorite musicals can't do an A or favorite song by the Beatles and for you that might mean giving a roommate a hug and for this movie it means this [Music] this movie does come with an unfortunate footnote the sudden death of Heath Ledger in 2008 at the age of 28 from what I believe is considered to be an accidental overdose he was a talented actor just beginning his career and his death was a very tragic one to many there's actually an interview with helgeland from 2011 talking in retrospect about a Knight's Tale ostensibly helgeland didn't ledger got along quite well because after a Knight's Tale Ledger came back to work with him again on the 2003 film the order and well he told me once that when he watched it he said it was like a photo album of how much fun he had making the movie and he'd always have that great photo album of that great time he had you know and that's what it is for me it's a photo album of a great guy great time ledger would receive a posthumous Oscar for his performance of the Joker in the Dark Knight which is now held up as the gold standard for portraying that character but satyr stuff aside this movie has some of the funniest and strangest behind-the-scenes details that we can dig into as well like for instance helgeland and Bettany were quite good friends I would guess they still are based on Bettany's bit part in Hell gülen's film legend Haugland basically wrote the role of Geoffrey Chaucer for Bettany it took a while to convince the studio that he could be funny since the actor was at the time mostly known for some stage work and a gritty British crime drama called gangster number one and bet needed zero research for this part she also was an actual factor enormously fast bald bearded dwarf and I'm clearly none of those things I did what any self-respecting actor would do which is throw any pretensions to doing any research whatsoever straight out the window hope for the best Bray and also didn't watch the WWE clips helgeland sent him since the character was somewhat based on television wrestling announcers instead of watching those clips he made the soft-spoken director imitate those announcers because Bettany thought that was very funny also Haugland lost a tooth when he and ledger were I guess play jousting with some lighting stands on set oh and since the was shot in Prague most of their extras didn't speak English so this bit here way long in the garden of his turbulence was a genuine moment they didn't know he was done or that they should cheer so mark adi doing this she prompted them to cheer and most of those really terrible hits and falls you see throughout the film are planned and choreographed although this one here was accidental Leger stunt double took that hit to the head when he wasn't supposed to and he fell to the ground unconscious they later decided to use it in the prologue bit what else is there well they spent a fair bit of money adding this ye oldie version of the London Eye to this shot just coz also in this shot that is a real stunt person being hung back there like for no reason there's no close-up on the body or anything it could have been a dummy oh and there was Barney the Wonder horse Barney was the only horse that was good at staying on his marks and not fidgeting around and in this shot the horse who was mainly ridden by Ledger got spooked when all the guards came rushing at him oh and when the Lance's break and splinters fly everywhere the Lance's were made of balsa wood and scored to break along specific lines and they were filled with balsa wood splinters and also pasta no really it apparently sort of hung in the air a little longer than the wood which looked good on camera so in scenes like this they are being showered in linguine other fun facts well the cast gathered for two weeks of rehearsal that really was just them getting together and drinking a lot this scene in the movie was filmed after a few drinks according to Bettany also supposedly all during their time filming in prague rufus sewell threw the wildest parties this is strictly anecdotal so maybe they're exaggerating but it sounds like the cops were called more than once there may have been orgies and members of the Russian mafia may have attended these parties and possibly the funniest thing of all is that for as beloved as this movie is now critics at the time were mixed it has a 58 percent on Rotten Tomatoes Roger Ebert liked it okay and gave it a three star review The Guardian liked it well enough but the Washington Post review by Rita Kemp Lee described it as a Canterbury Tales spin in which they lancelot and varieties Todd McCarthy described it as cravenly trying to appeal to a younger audience and yet since then it's become a bit of a cult classic I don't really know a millennial who hasn't seen and loved this movie ok I've met one or two people who haven't seen it but we fix that and it remains a popular film from our collective youth that we all look back on fondly my sister specifically requested this video she was a big Heath Ledger fan and also we've been quoting this movie for years oh and maybe you like the film for the music or the humor or the frankly kick-ass jousting sequences maybe you like it for this for this but I'll always love it for this sometimes I'm both and this all human activity lies within the artists scope and especially I dub thee for this so william hello all here's hoping I got my 13th century history right I did my best with that in terms of announcements if you missed it on Twitter I'm done postponing and we're doing Jo Jo rabbit and The Book Thief next I don't want to sit on this for a year until the world is normal again other than that if you've spotted those names earlier in the credits those are my patrons and thank you very much for your support in this difficult time I don't really have much else to say other than thanks for watching and I'll see you on the next one [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Ladyknightthebrave

Views: 167,910

Keywords: A Knights Tale, Video Essay, Paul Bettany, Heath Ledger, Alan Tudyk, Mark Addy, Shannon Sossymon, Laura Frasier, Brian Helgeland

Id: 802tt7z1f_w

Length: 53min 30sec (3210 seconds)

Published: Fri May 15 2020