Kingdom of Heaven is a historical epic directed by Ridley Scott and starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, and Liam Neeson. The film follows Orlando Bloom’s Balian as he becomes embroiled in the Crusades, with the character trying to become the ‘perfect knight’ in an imperfect world.
The film itself has a divided reputation. Essentially, those who have seen the theatrical cut only believe the film is a disappointment; whereas those who have seen the director’s cut are generally blown away by the scope of storytelling.
Ridley Scott Disowned The Theatrical Cut
Right off the back of the success of Gladiator, the studio was banking on a film that would follow in the footsteps of Scott’s prior historical epic and so jumped at the chance to green light his idea for Kingdom of Heaven.
However, when Ridley Scott presented them with the full cut of the film, they balked at the length and demanded that it be cut down to around 2 hours. This affected the film to such an extent that Ridley Scott completely disavowed the theatrical cut and only recognizes the director’s cut.
Edward Norton's Involvement
King Baldwin was one of the most important characters in the movie. It is King Baldwin who had been keeping the peace between the Muslims and the Christians in the Holy Land and it was the death of this character that triggered the conflict at the end of the movie.
Edward Norton wanted to play the role of King Baldwin, despite being offered the role of Guy. Due to the fact his face wasn’t seen, Norton even requested to not be credited for the role.
Liam Neeson's Research
Liam Neeson had a fairly important, if minimal role in the film. Liam Neeson’s character is the father of Orlando Bloom’s Balian. He brings Balian into the Holy Lan and helps him become a knight and receive redemption.
After accepting the role, Neeson started researching the Crusades as he knew very little about the history. He then started with “the Complete Idiots Guide to the Crusades”, which was very informative according to Neeson.
David Thewlis' Character
David Thewlis plays an unnamed Hospitalier in the movie. In essence, this order is a religious military sect. It is for this reason that David Thewlis’ Hospitalier appears to be so divine in both his words and his wisdom.
That being said, there is more divinity to the character than mere words. Ridley Scott intended the character to be a subtle embodiment of God, with the character ‘disappearing’ in one scene and even ‘resurrecting Balian’ after the assassination attempt.
Replica Of Jerusalem Was Built
The movie was filmed in Morocco, with Ridley Scott using several locations that he also used for the filming of Gladiator. That being said, the filming of Kingdom of Heaven certainly required far more building than Gladiator.
To film Kingdom of Heaven, the production team had a replica of Jerusalem built in the desert, with the replica containing over 28,000 meters of wall that stood 17 ft. tall.
Orlando Bloom Almost Turned The Role Down
In 2004, Orlando Bloom had just finished filming Troy, with Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, and Peter O’Toole all starring. After this grueling filming, Orlando Bloom wasn’t ready to star in another historical epic and almost rejected the script for Kingdom of Heaven out of hand.
However, after learning of Ridley Scott’s attachment to the project, Orlando Bloom read the script and decided to accept the lead role as Balian.
Russell Crowe Almost Starred
Gladiator was truly one of the best films of the 21st Century. The film stormed the box office, with the film even picking up several Academy Awards and launching the Hollywood career of Russell Crowe in the process.
It comes as no surprise, then, that Ridley Scott tried to get Russell Crowe to star in Kingdom of Heaven as Richard the Lion Heart, but scheduling conflicts would prevent this.
Jeremy Iron's Character Name
The studio obviously had a huge influence on the production of this movie, with the studio demanding that the film be slashed down in order to make it more digestible for a wider cinema audience.
Another way the studio interfered was with the name of Jeremy Irons’ Tiberias. In real life the character was called Raymond III of Tripoli, but the studio insisted his name be changed to avoid confusion with the character of Raynald de Chatillon.
Real Siege Towers
Kingdom of Heaven has one of the most impressive battle scenes in cinema. One of the reasons why these battle scenes are so impressive is because Ridley Scott was fortunate enough to be able to use real siege towers during the conflict.
The siege towers built for the production were 60ft tall and constructed using methods that would have been available for the period.
Digital Additions
While Ridley Scott did use a lot of practical effects during the filming of this movie, he did rely on some digital edits in order to correct some minor issues with the production and correct some small errors.
Two instances of this were to make the pomegranate that Sibylla eats more vibrant and to correct some patchy areas in Orlando Bloom’s wig.