KING ARTHUR 2004

Here are a few photos from the sets of “King Arthur”. The movie was shot both in Dublin and Wicklow. The exterior set of  “Hadrian’s Wall” was built in Wicklow, with the set being over 1km long, making it the longest film set ever to be built in the world. Further to this, the walled garrison town was built in its entirety, with stables, army barracks and public buildings. Jerry Bruckheimer was the Executive Producer and the movie broke a number of film production records.

The movie was designed by Dan Weil, the french production designer who also designed movies such as The Fifth Element, Leon, The Bourne Identity, Blood Diamond, Syriana and The Big Blue. Due to the cinematography in the movie being quite dark, the level of architectural detail is not obvious at first glance. However, the designs for the Roman sets were fully detailed, creating an environment as close as possible to the period between 200AD and 350AD. A full hidstorical study was carried out to ensure that the architectural detailing and set dressing were accurate.

Conor Dennison worked as Art Director on the movie, with an Art Department staff of about 25 and a construction crew of almost 500. For a short period towards the end of the movie, he shared the role of Supervising Art Director, following the withdrawal of staff. The film set designs were created using Vectorworks computer drafting software. Digital versions of the sets were then sent to both the Digital Effects departments and the Computer Games department. The video game of “King Arthur” was also released in 2004, breaking another record for Jerry Bruckheimer, with the movie and game being released simultaneously.

Here are some shots from the movie: