Dev Patel was “absolutely enthralled” by the script for The Green Knight
In an exclusive clip, Patel says he was also pretty excited about riding a horse and carrying a sword
Aux News The Green Knight
Before signing onto the fantastical Arthurian legend, The Green Knight, the film’s star Dev Patel says he fell in love with director David Lowery’s script. Like many of the mystical images offered in the film, the “poetic” script cast a spell over the actor which lingered long after he finished reading.
“I was just absolutely enthralled. It had this kind of lyricism and poetry in it,” Patel says. “It was one of those scripts that was so hard to quantize and it kept creeping up on me throughout my day and my week.”
Based on the heavily studied poem Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, Patel takes on the role of Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s reckless and tenacious nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the gigantic emerald-skinned tester of men, called the Green Knight.
“This was a character that really resonated with me. He’s this young, headstrong boy who kind of deals with issues of masculinity and ego and honor and trying to be something in this world and at what cost,” Patel says. “What does that bear on his own moral compass and his relationships with people around him?”
As Gawain makes his journey, he contends with ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers in what becomes a deeper journey to define his character while proving his worth in the eyes of his family and kingdom. With the endless possible readings into the original text, Lowery’s adaptation becomes a sort of coming-of-age story for the young Gawain, as described in A.A. Dowd’s review of the film.
The physical and emotional journey aside, Patel also saw the rare opportunity to take on a medieval role typically filled by white men, with the added bonus of horse riding.
“You know a British-Asian guy and Indian guy like me, the opportunity does not come around every so often,” Patel says. “David didn’t really care, it wasn’t even a part of the discussion, which is, what a wonderful opportunity and what an incredible man for letting me be a part of this.”
The Green Knight was written, directed, and edited by Lowery, and stars Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, and Ralph Ineson.
A24's The Green Knight is available on Blu-ray and DVD October 12.
12 Comments
I liked this movie. It was also the first thing Iâd seen Dev Patel in since I ended up sitting next to him at the kind of trendy LA restaurant youâd expect Dev Patel to be at; he had a baseball hat pulled down low, but, I mean, you canât really disguise that youâre Dev Patel, you know?That was my only night in Los Angeles, ever, so I have a 1:1 rate of âLA restaurants:sitting within a yard of an Oscar nominee.â I presume thatâs standard. Anyway it WAS kind of harder to suspend disbelief watching him in a fantasy like The Green Knight having also watched him, like, eat overpriced ceviche.Â
Let whichever of your knights is boldest of blood and wildest of hearts step forth, take up arms and try with honor to denature my protein with acid. One year and Yuletide hence, he must seek me out yonder to the Green Chapel six nights to the north. He shall find me there and bend a knee and let me denature his protein in return
Pre-pandemic, if youâre good at recognizing actors, yeah, you really can bump into actors on a regular basis, especially if you haunt the trendy places theyâre likely to show up (e.g. West Hollywood restaurants). Thereâs a farmerâs market near us, in Atwater Village, and I would routinely bump into celebrities there and bother them for selfies. Over the last couple of years: Hamish Linklater, Walton Goggins, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mackenzie Davis, Joel Stoffer, Nelson Franklin, Rene Gube, Kristen Wiig, off the top of my head. And this was just going there for half an hour once a week!
Hate to tell you this but the Atwater farmerâs market is famous as a spot where celebrity impersonators hang out. Those were professional Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Rene Gube lookalikes. Real celebrities go to a secret farmerâs market youâve never heard of.
Curses! I knew it was too good to be true.
The most famous person Iâve ever seen at our local farmers market is Jesse Eisenberg. Iâll trade him for Mackenzie Davis though.
makes one of us.
âIt was so hard to quantize.â What?
This movie was neither watchable nor enjoyable. Overhyped it was.
I knew what I was expecting before I saw this movie. I didnât lower my expectations, but I had to change them to avoid disappointment. I had to help one of my friends realize that this movie is pretty much just an art house fantasy piece. No real action, not even combat. They thought from the trailers that this move was going to be on some kind of Dark Souls level. I guess Dark Souls (Myst Edition) where you just point and click on objects, see some visuals and scenery, solve some clues, and hear dialogue that you kind of get but find it difficult to relate to. But thatâs as much action as you would get. I liked it visually as far production wise in creating a world. The attention to detail sure. But it really is just a coming of age kind of movie that you canât really relate to mostly. There were a lot of questions from this movie where you wish they would confront but chose to not even acknowledge. The message overall if youâre left with lingering questions is; shh shhh shhhhh. Donât ask how or why, itâs just how the times were, youâll ruin the ambience. I think this movie movie wouldâve been better as simply a stage play. Still can. I saw it. It was fine but not great for me. Iâll have no interest in watching it again. If my friends wanted to watch it, I would say go for it but just change your expectations.
I really want to see this, but I didnât get a chance to get to the theater last summer. Canât wait until itâs streaming somewhere.
And he looked absolutely handsome doing all of that (even though the movie was… meh-ish).