This mildly amusing video of very sexy actors and very ordinary looking non-actors heralds the arrival of the Starz original series Camelot, bowing April 1st. Revisionist Camelots are nothing new—I have, myself, co-authored an as-yet-unproduced pilot script called Lesser Knights of the Round Table, about the bumblers left behind when the cool kids are off grailing—but this one does appear to have a spirited, enthusiastic cast of extremely pretty people.
There is a place on television for shows about pretty people acting passionately in the midst of handsome production design. As long as the acting is passionate, it doesn’t even necessarily need to be good, and if the actors are sufficiently pretty (hello, Eva Green, and hey there Jamie Campbell Bower playing Arthur, I almost don’t care that you’re a dude) even the production design can skimp a little.
One assumes that this isn’t a practical joke, as it looks neither so stunningly bad nor impossibly awesome that it can’t properly exist in real life. Joseph Fiennes plays Merlin, who has, according to the press release, “visions of a dark future after King Uther’s death. He installs the young and impetuous Arthur, Uther’s unknown son and heir, who has been raised from birth as a commoner. But Arthur’s cold and ambitious half sister Morgan (Eva Green) will fight him to the bitter end, summoning unnatural forces to claim the crown in this epic battle for control.”
In about three months, the curious and those desiring to watch an amiably mounted show with an extremely attractive cast will be able to properly evaluate Camelot. Until then, we will have to deal with the anticipatory anxiety.
Danny Bowes is a playwright, filmmaker and blogger. He is also a contributor to nytheatre.com and Premiere.com.
