Guy Ritchie Picking Up Excalibur?

This is going to take some explaining, so please bear with: Pajiba is reporting that Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes) is attached to direct re-imagining of Excalibur, the Arthurian legend about the mystical sword that united legendary Knights of The Round Table.

Apparently, the project is set up at Warner Bros. and will be an adaptation of a treatment written by comic book scribe Warren Ellis, creator of the comic book that inspired the upcoming Bruce Willis spy flick, Red.

“But wait,” you’re probably saying to yourself, “what about that Excalibur movie Bryan Singer had set up at WB?”

Well, apparently that movie is still in the works as well.

This is where the explanation comes in: Singer (if you’ve been following Screen Rant) has several big projects on the horizon: X-Men: First Class, a Battlestar Galactica movie and Jack the Giant Killer. Needless to say, Bryan is a ways off from getting around to his Excalibur project, which would essentially be a remake of the iconic 1981 John Boorman film about the mystical sword.

WB got their hands on Ellis’ Excalibur treatment – which is a ‘uniquely original’ vision – and apparently they want to move ahead with it, so writers are supposedly being scouted to help shape Ellis’ ‘unique’ vision into a mainstream flick. Singer’s Excalibur has yet to even enter the scripting stage.

Guy Ritchie has Sherlock Holmes 2 on his plate right now, but another project he was looking at, The Gamekeeper, is said to still be in development. After Holmes 2, Ritchie might have leeway to fit a project like Excalibur into his schedule. We’ll see if any of this actually comes to pass.

Meanwhile, Ellis told AICN about his vision for Excalibur:

‘Untitled Arthurian Project,’ as I call it (just so I can’t feel John Boorman’s EXCALIBUR looming down at me from my DVD shelf), differs from the prior 751 King Arthur movies in many ways, but perhaps most obviously in that it is very specifically about the gathering of the Knights.

Warren Ellis has done some pretty interesting ensemble stories in the past (The Authority) so this may turn out to be a refreshingly weird take on the Knights of The Round Table mythology. Then again, I was a fan of Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (the “real” version of the legend), so obviously when it comes to this genre I’m pretty easy to please.

We’ll try to keep you updated on both Excalibur films as we hear news. Be sure to check back for updates on this Guy Ritchie rumor – I’m sure will be hearing a response.

Sources: Pajiba and AICN

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