Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 14, 1995 TAG: 9507140032
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: YARDENA ARAR LOS ANGELES DAILY NEW
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
So what does ``First Knight'' bring to the Arthurian legend that the others didn't? The answer is obvious: the hunks - Sean Connery as an exceptionally majestic Arthur and Richard Gere as a rival for Guinevere's affections as Lancelot.
What's less immediately apparently is what drew two of the most magnetic leading men in the business to such an oft-told tale.
``It's invariably, for me, the script - how it's written. And in this case, I really liked it,'' said Connery, adding that the idea of a Utopian society like Camelot seems particularly appealing right now.
``When you look around and you see Bosnia, Chechnya - everything seems to be such a mess, but everywhere,'' said the Scottish actor. ``Everyone's complaining about every society. ... No matter if it's right, left, center or whatever, everybody seems to be pretty disenchanted with it.
``So the idea that there was a Camelot would be terrific.''
Connery was the proverbial first and only choice for the role of Arthur by director Jerry Zucker. Even as he approaches traditional retirement age - he turns 65 on Aug. 25 and lives with his second wife, Micheline Roquebrune, in Spain - Connery does not seem to have lost much steam as a romantic leading man.
``Sean was just perfect in every respect,'' Zucker said. ``There was no negative baggage.''
In ``First Knight,'' Zucker and screenwriter Bill Nicholson have taken considerable liberties with the traditional story of love, honor and sacrifice in medieval England, most notably transforming Lancelot from tormented idealist to soldier of fortune.
``Bill Nicholson looked at earlier drafts of this, and he said, `The problem here is that everyone's too clean. Someone's got to be dirty,' '' said Gere. ``The original Lancelot from legend was a very squeaky clean Boy Scout.''
In contrast, Gere's Lancelot is a devil-may-care sword-for-hire who comes to Camelot for the express purpose of seducing Guinevere after rescuing her from an abduction attempt while she is traveling to Camelot to wed Arthur.
``I like the concept that Nicholson had in this one - simplifying the kind of foundation of the triangle, bringing in somebody from the outside who's got absolutely nothing to lose and has been sort of abused by it all outside Camelot,'' Connery said.
``It sort of clarifies what it's about, what Camelot's supposed to be, should it have existed. We all like to think it could, did, would and will.''
Snagging Connery to play Arthur was a major coup, but it also meant tailoring the role to the star.
``When somebody comes in like myself who's going to play a part, you start to see a lot of things that Arthur would have dealt with differently. It's more obvious to me, because I'm going to have to do it,'' Connery said in his trademark lilting Scottish burr.
``He has to be smarter than anybody else, otherwise the legendary aspect doesn't work. And I found a lot of stuff that was overdescriptive - you'd rather do it than say it - and cut quite a lot of dialogue, rather than adding dialogue. I think that in this kind of movie, they always had a tendency to be overtalkative.''
Zucker put it more bluntly. ``Before Sean, Bill wrote in a lot of lines and moments for Arthur and other people to show the authority and power that King Arthur had, and why people respected him, and as soon as Sean steps in front of the camera that's all there. We just realized we didn't need any of that and we ended up cutting it all out. ...
``Even in the James Bond films, he played the character you completely trusted and you put your life in his hands, because he could get out of any situation. He could handle any problem.''
Gere's casting followed from Connery's; the original screenplay called for a younger man, Gere said.
``I said, `Jerry, I'm very flattered, it's a beautiful script' - which it was, it was a really well-written, poetic, exciting, dramatic script, beautiful - `I'm really impressed by this. But you've written this for a 22-year-old,''' Gere said.
``He said, `I know, but I keep reading with these 22-year-old kids, and it's not working. I need some more maturity, some more depth. So look - think about it, and let's talk about it.'
``So we talked, and we realized that changing very little, it worked for me, for someone my age and with my experience. And it actually did help the story. It just made it richer doing it that way.''
Zucker acknowledged that the 45-year-old Gere made more sense than a younger man as a romantic rival to the 64-year-old Connery, but said it wasn't just a question of age.
``He had both the romantic muscle to pursue this woman selfishly and to really electrify the scenes with Guinevere ... but yet, the maturity to make the turn, and to understand the meanings of Camelot, and to say, `I believe in Camelot and I'm leaving. ...'
``He can do all that, plus the physicality, which is really a huge part of your believing him as Lancelot and what makes the movie work.''
For it to work, however, Gere had to work out a lot.
``After realizing that I'm not 22, I realized that I would have to be in the best shape of my life to do this, at 45,'' said Gere, whose hair in person is a powdery gray as opposed to the dark chestnut he sports on magazine covers.
``So I said, `All right, I'll do it.' So it was, get out there and run, and do the sword practice, and become a better horseman and do all that, which is great fun. It really was fun. I had a ball doing it.''
The intense physical demands of the role couldn't have come at a better time, apparently.
``This was not a great year for me,'' Gere said, without elaborating further on the apparent reference to the breakup of his marriage to supermodel Cindy Crawford.
``I'm kind of amazed that I came off as light-hearted and roguish as I do. ... It's always better to keep working - to keep some semblance of normalcy, but also as an outlet for energy. This was particularly good for me, just blowing off energy, riding horses, swordfighting - that was particularly good for me at this time.''
by CNB