- Title: Timothee Chalamet and Lily-Rose Depp on role models and responsibility
- Date: 3rd October 2019
- Summary: VENICE, ITALY (FILE - SEPTEMBER 3, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, PRODUCER AND CO-WRITER, JOEL EDGERTON, SAYING: "Quite often when you see this story, and there's been so many wonderful versions of it, you never really see a super young person playing Henry and Henry was 25 or 26 when he became king. So, this was our chance to not only tell our story for other purposes, political purposes, and extract our own essence out of that story but to put youth in the seat of power to show old age as sadly you know a man my age is an old man at that period, you know. I feel, trust me, I feel really young now." VENICE, ITALY (FILE - SEPTEMBER 2, 2019) (REUTERS) CHALAMET, DEPP AND DIRECTOR DAVID MICHOD ON RED CARPET FOR "THE KING" VENICE PREMIERE VENICE, ITALY (FILE - SEPTEMBER 3, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, DAVID MICHOD, SAYING: "You know, they almost killed me. I mean, sorry, that sounds like an exaggeration but it's only a little bit. There were days there, on that battlefield, when I was walking around with a walking stick. I don't know what was wrong. There were medics there because I my blood pressure was so low. I don't know. It was something about the heat and the mud and the stress of it. I mean, it's so huge. We, you know, we shot it in, we shot that battle in two weeks. Normally I think on a movie of this ambition you would maybe have five weeks to do it. And it was, it was horrible and I remember driving away from that battlefield when we'd finished it, just feeling like I'd survived something and feeling traumatized. Yeah, ugh. Anyway. It looks good in the movie, I think, now." VENICE, ITALY (FILE - SEPTEMBER 2, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHALAMET AND DEPP TOUCHING HANDS BEHIND MICHOD'S BACK AS THEY POSE FOR PHOTOS / "THE KING" CAST TURNING AROUND AND POSING FOR PHOTOS VENICE, ITALY (FILE - SEPTEMBER 3, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTORS BEN MENDELSOHN (R) AND SEAN HARRIS (L), SAYING: MENDELSOHN: "Oh I think you know, when you have Timothee Chalamet playing King Henry, you're opening doors to things, to an audience that probably isn't familiar with, you know, the Shakespeare stuff. And, you know, Timmy's a movie star. Timmy's got bang." HARRIS: "Timmy's got bang, plenty of bang. It's important because you know, a lot of his audience or the people who follow him maybe just try and search out other things, so that's just as good because you kind of, you know, you're kind of helping, educating, maybe provoking thought and imagination and creativity."
- Embargoed: 17th October 2019 10:07
- Keywords: The King Netflix movie Timothee Chalamet Lily-Rose Depp David Michod Joel Edgerton Ben Mendehlson
- Location: VENICE, ITALY AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: VENICE, ITALY AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA004AZJLV7X
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Timothee Chalamet goes from reluctant heir to powerful monarch in "The King", a role he has described as "terrifying" in a coming-of-age tale loosely based on William Shakespeare's plays about Prince Hal and his transformation into Henry V.
The Netflix movie, which received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, will screen at the London Film Festival on Thursday (October 3).
Chalamet's Hal, like Shakespeare's in his plays Henry IV parts one and two, prefers to live away from the palace, among common folk, carousing with his hard-drinking friend and mentor, knight Sir John Falstaff, played by Joel Edgerton, who also produced and co-wrote the film.
When Hal's father, Henry IV, dies, he reluctantly ascends the English throne, assuming new responsibilities and vowing to bring order and peace to the warring chaos he has inherited.
The 23-year-old actor, known for "Beautiful Boy" and "Call Me by Your Name" which earned him an Oscar nomination, said he had not done film stunt work as he did in "The King", which includes a key scene replicating the 1415 Battle of Agincourt.
Chalamet said he drew from the "human experience" for his portrayal of Hal, focusing on "fear, paranoia, distrust and inability to process huge decisions and the anxiety that comes with that".
"I felt less interested and less naturally drawn to anything that had to do with power but more to do with helplessness and of being human and a young human at that, when you're still figuring out who you are, who you want to be and having to navigate world affairs basically or governments or the snake like nature of a royal court," he said.
Lily-Rose Depp, who plays the daughter of France's King Charles, Catherine, said she was attracted to her character's strength and conviction in a period where women were often without power.
The actress, daughter of A-listers Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, said seeing herself as a role model for other young women was "really scary".
"You know that people are watching you and listening to you it can be kind of, you know, you do feel that responsibility whether you want it or not. But I think it's also, you know, important to remember that, like you know, it's hard to consider yourself a role model or something when you're still kind of figuring out who you want be yourself and how to be, you know, a good person on your own terms and, you know, you're young and still figuring stuff out," she said.
Director David Michod and Edgerton, who played Hal fresh out of drama school, said the film was a mix of history, Shakespeare and their own imaginations.
The film's battle scenes were shot over two weeks in a muddy field in Hungary, an experience Michod shuddered to think about.
"You know, they almost killed me. I mean, sorry, that sounds like an exaggeration but it's only a little bit," he said.
"It was horrible and I remember driving away from that battlefield when we'd finished it, just feeling like I'd survived something and feeling traumatized."
"The King" also stars "Twilight" actor Robert Pattinson as the French heir and Ben Mendelsohn as Henry IV.
The film is due to have a limited release in the United States on October 11 before launching on Netflix on November 1.
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