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 Chalamet's Hal, like Shakespeare's in his plays Henry IV parts
one and two, prefers to live away from the palace, among common
folk, carousing with his hard-drinking friend and mentor, knight
Sir John Falstaff, played by Joel Edgerton.
When Hal's father, Henry IV, dies, he reluctantly ascends the
English throne, assuming new responsibilities and vowing to
bring order and peace to the warring chaos he has inherited.
"It just seemed like something really out of the wheelhouse and
for that reason it was terrifying," Chalamet said at a news
conference at the Venice Film Festival, where the movie
premieres on Monday.
"As every teacher I've had in every drama school I went to says,
chase the things that are challenging; your work will be a form
of attrition if you keep working on the things you are
comfortable with."
The 23-year-old actor, known for "Beautiful Boy" and "Call Me by
Your Name" which earned him an Oscar nomination, said he had not
done film stunt work as he did in "The King", which includes a
key scene replicating the 1415 Battle of Agincourt.
Director David Michod and Edgerton, who played Hal fresh out of
drama school, said the film was a mix of history, Shakespeare
and their own imaginations.
"We worked out really early on that we were going to drift away
from the plays themselves ... Both of us did a huge amount of
deep dive research ... and then we made a whole bunch of stuff
up too," Michod said.
"And the upshot of it is that I sit here now before you today
and I honestly can't remember what's real, what's made up and
what's from Shakespeare."
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MUD
Lily-Rose Depp, who plays the daughter of France's King Charles,
Catherine, said the movie spoke about "how different people harness
power differently".
"We're talking about a time period in which women were given almost
no power... and no choice over their own lives," she said.
"The way in which my character harnesses her power in a very calm
way but with a lot of conviction and a lot of strength is a really
nice message to send especially at this time."
Edgerton said the battle scene was shot over two weeks in a muddy
field in Hungary.
"One day ... at the end of the take, I realized I had literally mud
over my entire face and for some reason it just made me really
happy," he said.
"As hard work as it was and as hot as it was and as challenging as
all that was, I just remembered being happy... looking around at the
scale and the scope of it and just remembering the beginnings of a
being a young actor... and being a child dreaming of being part of
these stories."
"The King" also stars "Twilight" actor Robert Pattinson as the
French heir and Ben Mendelsohn as Henry IV.
The Netflix film is screening out of competition at the Venice
festival.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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