Ritchie draws inspiration from East London in King Arthur

Only Guy Ritchie would dare put his “cockney-mockney” spin on the King Arthur legend — because the post-modern translation makes sense to him.

“That’s the sort of stuff I understand and it’s the sort of stuff I like,” says Ritchie in Toronto with his Arthur actor Charlie Hunnam.

In other words, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is a special-effects action version of lads in the medieval ‘hood. It’s like inserting the East London felons from Ritchie’s RocknRolla into a swords-and-sorcery fable.

“It’s interesting to apply that as the essential element in terms of realigning the landscape of the Arthurian legend,” Ritchie says.

Five years ago, it seemed appropriate that Ritchie had prepared an updated version of an Arthur movie, but it stalled. A few years later he agreed to revamp a Joby Harold screenplay with some similar themes.

Besides the tone, filling the Arthur role was key. The director acknowledges he had a list of 10 possible actors, but Hunnam wasn’t on it.

“It hurt my feelings at first, but in this business you have to weather the storm of rejection,” Hunnam says.

“Principally, he got the role because of his enthusiasm and his confidence that he could do it,” the director says. “He had all those components, and he’s not ugly.”

While Ritchie refined the screenplay, Hunnam put on 40 pounds of muscle and took crash courses in sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat.

By the time he arrived at the sound stages near London, Hunnam was ready to dive into his new adventure, knowing the headliner and the filmmaker “were on the same frequency.”

“Guy’s a quality-of-life human being,” Hunnam says. “He taught me early on that we shouldn’t lose focus on having fun every day.”

Ritchie’s playfulness is evident in the raucous battle sequences and the cheeky dialogue.

The director had less fun editing a three-and-a-half hour epic down to a workable two-hour entertainment for 21st-century audiences. But he insists he’s not pandering to a millennial generation with a short attention span; he always cuts his movies that way.

“It’s just the way my mind works,” Ritchie says. “How am I going to make this fun to watch?”