Though there are variations on the story, the general thrust of Arthurian legend is that the man became king after getting his hands on Excalibur, the sword that made him a great fighter and established his lineage. Lucky for him, Charlie Hunnam didn’t have to track down a fabled weapon to become the ruler of Camelot (or for now, a pretender to the throne) in Guy Ritchie’s upcoming film. But, judging by this King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword featurette, he did have to do a whole lot of punching.
As Arthur, Hunnam will have fake humble beginnings as a guy who swears to everyone within earshot that he doesn’t want to fight, not even when there are big-ass elephantine creatures kicking the crap out of everyone. But the actor also had to prepare for all the fighting that does in fact go down in Ritchie’s film, which meant throwing “1,000 punches a day” in addition to all swordfighting. (He doesn’t mention how many of said blows landed.) For all of his character’s protestations, Hunnam really seems to have taken to it, earning effusive praise from from his director and everyone else interviewed in this behind-the-scenes look for a movie that may be classic Guy Ritchie or something more straightforward. You can catch the would-be monarch’s right hook on the big screen when King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword premieres May 12.