A Knight’s Tale is a 2001 American action adventure drama directed by Brian Helgeland and also written by Brian Helgeland.
Rated: PG-13 (movie contains action violence, some nudity and brief sex-related dialogue)
Run Time: 2h 12min
Release Date: May 11, 2001 (USA)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Comedy
Director: Brian Helgeland
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Budget: $65 Million
Box Office: $117.5 Million
A Knight’s Tale stars Heath Ledger, Rufus Sewell, Shannyn Sossamon, Paul Bettany, Laura Fraser, Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, Bérénice Bejo, Scott Handy, James Purefoy and Christopher Cazenove.
A Knight’s Tale is the story of a young squire, accompanied by a group of friends, who fakes his way into various 14th century jousting competitions and then tries to win the hand of a fair maiden all while dealing with the dark count who is determined to defeat him and win the hand of the lady.
William Thatcher (Heath Ledger), Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk) are squires for Sir Ector (Nick Brimble), a Knight who participates in medieval jousting tournaments. Unfortunately during a tournament, Sir Ector dies while napping between rounds. William hatches a plan to pose as Sir Ector and finish the tournament so they could have some money and eat. William dons the armor and mounts the steed and grabs a lance and proceeds to finish the last round. He takes a lance to the helmet bending it to his head so when it was time to accept the trophies, he was not able to remove his helmet remaining anonymous. William was hooked and decided he would participate in other tournaments as they worked their way back to London.
Along the way to the next tournament the 3 cross paths with a man walking naked who introduces himself as Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) and describes himself as an author and poet and in his self accolades, mentions he has also produced Patents of nobility which are royal letters describing a family lineage and their English nobility. William voices an interest and Chaucer agrees to trade some clothes, food and a ride on the horse for the Patents which would allow William to participate in future tournaments and Sir Ulrich Von Lichtenstein is born. This starts them on a journey filled with deception, peril, love and failure as William meets a beautiful princess Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon), faces Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell) who is a daunting and evil jousting champion and forces William to come to grips with his humble beginnings.
Movie Quotes
“You may feel like a poet, but you sound like an idiot.” – Roland
“Change your stars and live a better life than I have.” – John Thatcher
“You have been weighed, you have been measured and you have been found wanting” – Count Adhemar
“Welcome to the New World. God save you, if it is right that he should do so.” – William Thatcher
Official Movie Trailer
Movie Stars
Heath Ledger as William Thatcher
Rufus Sewell as Count Adhemar
Shannyn Sossamon as Jocelyn
Paul Bettany as Geoffrey Chaucer
Laura Fraser as Kate
Mark Addy as Roland
Alan Tudyk as Wat
Bérénice Bejo as Christiana
Scott Handy as Germaine
James Purefoy as Colville
Christopher Cazenove as John Thatcher