A Knight's Tale (2001)

After his master dies, a peasant squire, fueled by his desire for food and glory, creates a new identity for himself as a knight.

Director:

Brian Helgeland

Writer:

Brian Helgeland

Stars:

Heath Ledger, Rufus Sewell, Shannyn Sossamon

4 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Heath Ledger	...	William Thatcher
Rufus Sewell	...	Count Adhemar
Shannyn Sossamon	...	Jocelyn
Paul Bettany	...	Geoffrey Chaucer
Laura Fraser	...	Kate
Mark Addy	...	Roland
Alan Tudyk	...	Wat
Bérénice Bejo	...	Christiana (as Berenice Bejo)
Scott Handy	...	Germaine
James Purefoy	...	Colville
Leagh Conwell	...	Young William Thatcher
Christopher Cazenove	...	John Thatcher
Steven O'Donnell	...	Simon the Summoner (as Steve O'Donnell)
Jonathan Slinger	...	Peter the Pardoner
Nick Brimble	...	Sir Ector

Storyline

Inspired by "The Canterbury Tales," as well as the story of Ulrich von Lichtenstein, this is the story of William, a young squire with a gift for jousting. After his master dies suddenly, the squire hits the road with his cohorts Roland and Wat. On the journey, they stumble across an unknown writer, Chaucer. William, lacking a proper pedigree, convinces Chaucer to forge genealogy documents that will pass him off as a knight. With his newly-minted history in hand, the young man sets out to prove himself a worthy knight at the country's jousting competition, and finds romance along the way.

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Plot Keywords:

knight | tournament | chaucer | writer | jousting | 

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Taglines:

He Will Rock You

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for action violence, some nudity and brief sex-related dialogue

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 May 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Corazón de caballero

Filming Locations:

Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic

Box Office

Budget:

$41,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,013,559 (France) (16 November 2001)

Gross:

$1,525,952 (France) (23 November 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Escape Artists, Finestkind

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min 144 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS (8 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The part where Jocelyn tells William to prove his love by doing his worst in the tournament appears to be taken directly from Guinevere and Lancelot's romance in Chrétien de Troyes' 12th-century poem "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart".

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Goofs

When Will is in the stocks and the prince reveals himself, one of the guards behind him pulls out his sword twice.

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Quotes

[first lines]
William: Should we help him?

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Crazy Credits

After the credits finish, Roland, Wat, Kate, and Geoffrey Chaucer have a flatulence contest/drinking game. Wat loses, but Kate is the obvious winner.

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Connections

Referenced in The World's First Sports Promoter (2001)

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Soundtracks

"We Will Rock You"
Written by Brian May
Performed by Queen
Courtesy of Hollywood Records and Courtesy of EMI Records UK Ltd.

User Reviews

Entertaining

This comment is to counter those who have issue with modern rock and other time problems being in this movie. This movie was designed to entertain. It was NOT a historical piece and nowhere does it claim to be one. This is the story of a boy who aspires to be more than what society set out for him. The movie uses odd references to history's great figures and humor to bring its story across to the viewer. So I say that, for those of you who cannot enjoy a piece of entertainment due to its well placed use of anachronisms, I strongly suggest you stay away from any of Shakespeare's works. (Not to say that this movie was on level with Shakespeare...) The makers of "A Knight's Tale" set out to entertain, and did so dutifully.