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Jan 28, 2019 · Excalibur - Murdering Morgana: Merlin (Nicol Williamson) comes to Morgana (Helen Mirren) in a dream and convinces her to use a spell which causes her to age ...
Apr 10, 1981 · Excalibur: Directed by John Boorman. With Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi. Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.
- John Boorman
- 3 min
Jan 28, 2019 · Excalibur - Merlin and Morgana: Merlin (Nicol Williamson) shows Morgana (Helen Mirren) his lair, but ends up impaled by Excalibur when Arthur (Nigel Terry) d...
This video is about the attraction between Merlin ( Nicol Williamson ) and Morgana ( Helen Mirren ): a combination of desire, love and hate in the film " Exc...
- Plot
- Production
- Release
- Reception
- Legacy
- See Also
- External Links
In the Dark Ages, the sorcerer Merlin retrieves the magical sword Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake for Uther Pendragon. Merlin also agrees to help Uther seduce Igrayne, the Duke of Cornwall's wife, in exchange for “what issues from your lust". With Merlin's magic, Uther tricks Igrayne into sleeping with him while the Duke dies in battle. Her dau...
Development
John Boorman had planned a film adaptation of the Merlin legend as early as 1969, but when submitting the three-hour script written with Rospo Pallenberg to United Artists, they rejected it deeming it too costly and offered him J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings instead. Boorman was allowed to shop the script elsewhere, but no studio would commit to it. Returning to his original idea of the Merlin legend, Boorman was eventually able to secure deals that would help him do Excalibur. Much...
Writing
Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman wrote the screenplay, which is primarily an adaptation of Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1469–70) recasting the Arthurian legends as an allegory of the cycle of birth, life, decay, and restoration, by stripping the text of decorative or insignificant details. The resulting film is reminiscent of mythographic works such as Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough and Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance; Arthur is presented as the "Wounded King" whose realm becomes a w...
Casting
Boorman cast Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren opposite each other as Merlin and Morgana, knowing that the two were on less than friendly terms due to personal issues that arose during a production of Macbeth seven years earlier. Boorman verified this on the ExcaliburDVD commentary, saying he felt that the tension on the set would come through in the actors' performances. Even though he was 35 years old, Nigel Terryplays King Arthur from his teenage years to his ending as an aged monarch. Sev...
When first released in the United Kingdom in 1981, the film ran to 140m 30s, and was classified as a "AA" by the BBFC, restricting it to those aged 14 and over. In 1982, the BBFC replaced the "AA" certificate with the higher age-specific "15", which was also applied to Excalibur when released on home video. The 140-minute version was initially rele...
Excalibur was the number one film during its opening weekend of 10–12 April 1981, eventually earning $34,967,437 in the United States. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 72% score based on 93 reviews, with an average rating of 7.0/10. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 10 critics. Rog...
The comedic 1989 teaser trailer for Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III directly parodies the lady of the lake scene from Excalibur. In 2009, filmmaker Zack Snyder said Excalibur was his favorite film, calling it "the perfect meeting of movies and mythology". In his film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Bruce Wayne and his parent...
Excalibur at IMDbExcalibur at the BFI's ScreenonlineExcalibur at Box Office MojoExcalibur at Rotten Tomatoes- $11 million
- 10 April 1981
- John Boorman
- Trevor Jones
And as a showcase for Nicol Williamson's Merlin, it is sometimes a lot of fun; Williamson plays the magician as a medieval Noel Coward, always armed with the wry witticism. His relationship with Morgana (the lovely Helen Mirren) is actually the most interesting thing in the film. Morgana borrows Merlin's magic to deceive Arthur and to stay young.
Excalibur. The King Arthur roars to life of Arthur's rise to power, the Knights of the Round Table, Merlin the Magician, the golden age of Camelot and the search for the Holy Grail. Rentals include 30 days to start watching this video and 48 hours to finish once started.
