PINT OF MILK
The story of THE GREEN KNIGHT has been retold for centuries. Director David Lowery’s new update started from an unusual place
Jim Sturgess talks dairy. Hey, why did the pint of semi-skimmed avoid the movie star? It was actose-intolerant.
BACK IN 2001, while still a freshman at the University of Dallas, David Lowery read the medieval English poem ‘Sir Gawain And The Green Knight’, a mythical tale by an anonymous author about King Arthur’s nephew Gawain, who takes on a mysterious green-coloured figure in a game of honour. “It was the last thing we read in our survey of the classic epic tomes of the Western tradition,” Lowery recalls. “And it always hung around in my head.” Seventeen years later, Lowery was having a clear-out in his house when unlikely inspiration struck. “I was unpacking some stuff in my closet and found my old Willow action figures. I’ve always been a really big fan of Ron Howard’s Willow. I don’t know what sort of spark it struck in that particular moment, but I just thought: ‘I would like to make a fantasy film.’” Recalling his freshman studies, he began work on a script, and within two months, he was location-scouting for what would become The Green Knight, his sixth film.
He’s always been an unpredictable filmmaker, and this film, which promises “ghosts, giants, thieves, and schemers”, seems unlike anything he’s done before; the gorgeously weird trailer includes a creepy puppet show, a fox sidekick, and Dev Patel on fire. Lowery doesn’t see it as much of a change-up. “My films never feel that different from one film to the next. To me, it feels very much in keeping with the filmmaking lane I built for myself.” He laughs. “The trailer is a pretty good indicator. Although the movie might be far weirder than people are expecting.”
The story of Sir Gawain — in which the knight essentially agrees to be beheaded by a green monster one year hence, in exchange for a nice axe — is certainly pretty weird. It hooked Lowery for its unusual treatment of death. “The idea of chivalry and nobility being tied to one’s mortality is really fascinating,” he says. It spoke to a theme Lowery explores in all his films, from the Disney heartwarmer Pete’s Dragon to the arthouse curio A Ghost Story: the idea of mortality. “I think about death a lot. I’m not a pessimist about it, but it’s always on my mind. I use my films as a way to express those ideas and those fears.”
Which is not to say the film is unfaithful to its source material; Lowery reckons “about 75 per cent is a straight retelling”. But the other 25 per cent is Lowery himself. “With every film I make, I have to put myself in the protagonist’s shoes. So I had to make Gawain a version of myself. That extra 25 per cent is my perspective on the story.”
The shoot, which took place over 45 days in Ireland, was “gruelling”, he admits, but the filmmaker seems giddily grateful to have been allowed to play in the sword-and-sorcery sandbox. “We were consistently surrounded by knights, soldiers, ghosts and giants,” he chuckles. “I felt very lucky to be getting the chance to play in that world.” From 14th-century myth to 20th-century Ron Howard, David Lowery just seems proud to be part of an ancient storytelling tradition.