EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan Liebesman, who directed last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to a $485M worldwide box office take, is attached to direct Man At Arms for Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road Pictures. The project is a King Arthur story, but reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s classic Western Unforgiven and follows Sir Lancelot as an older man who is bent on making amends after his love for Guinevere (and hers for him) ended up destroying Arthur’s Camelot. Great twist to the tried-and-true story.
Liebesman and Iwanyk worked together on Wrath Of The Titans which starred Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Rosamund Pike and grossed over $300 million worldwide. Man At Arms will be produced by Iwanyk, Adam Goldworm through Aperture Entertainment and Bryan Brucks (who is currently post on Scouts vs. Zombies at Paramount). Erica Lee will executive produce.
Jeremy Lott, who drafted this script, is also co-writing Hood at Sony with Cory Goodman, one of the competing Robin Hood projects which is at Sony. Goldworm is also exec producing that project.
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By coincidence, there is another King Arthur project out there written also by a competing Robin Hood writer. Joby Harold wrote Warner Bros.’ tale Knights Of The Round Table: King Arthur, which Guy Ritchie is directing. That one stars Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou and Eric Bana. Incidentally, Harold and Goldworm went to UCLA film school together.
However, Man At Arms is about Lancelot’s quest for redemption in his later years — based on an original idea by Brucks — and is less a post-modern invention of the of other.
Lott previously scripted/produced The Falling for Warner Bros. with Zac Efron to star. Together, he and Goodman also wrote Lore at Warner Bros. which has Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson aboard.
Goldworm is currently in post on The Last Witch Hunter starring Vin Diesel and Michael Caine as well as Extraction starring Bruce Willis and Kellan Lutz. He is also executive producer for Bus 657 starring Robert De Niro.
Liebesman is repped by CAA, Principato-Young Entertainment and attorney Karl Austen. Lott is repped by CAA and Aperture Entertainment and attorney Greg Slewett.
When is the Robin Hood / King Arthur team up movie?
why would someone bother with the harold/ritchie project already being in production
without a studio this is just a favor to basil’s publicist. WB’s King Arthur is shooting and the bible encompasses the later years of his life, which makes this one null and void.
Lancelot isn’t even in the Guy Ritchie movie. Who knows if there will be a sequel? The universe idea didn’t pay off for the Sinister Six at Sony.
Liebesman’s Wrath of the Titans killed the Clash franchise; that flick did close to half the business of the first. TMNT was a success because folks love nostalgia, had nothing to do with the director.
Love this idea. I don’t think we can have enough “King Arthur” films. Classic tale that the industry should keep trying to perfect. Just hope they can find some manly men to play in it. (Try asking the ladies this time.) Loved Clive Owen in his version–Kiera was a great warrior in that film as well.