A24’s film i is inching closer to theaters, and ahead of that release, the studio has put together a short video about the history of the legend, narrated by the film’s very own Green Knight, Ralph Ineson.
The movie will be released at the end of July, and from the trailers, it looks like it will be a beautiful, tense take on the story. Directed by David Lowery (A Ghost Story), the film stars Dev Patel as Sir Gawain, who engages in combat with the titular Green Knight and has a year to defeat him.
This new video short provides viewers with a look into the history of the tale in just a couple of minutes. It recounts that the original poem is known as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and describes it as a far-reaching morality tale. The video also tells us that J.R.R. Tolkien was particularly fascinated by the tale, seeing it as a window into the Middle Ages and the folks who lived at that time.
There are some other bits of trivia that are neat to learn: There’s only been a single copy of the poem ever found, and that single copy was almost destroyed in a fire in the 1700s.
From there, Ineson goes on to describe the story itself and some of its literary significance. Overall, it’s a solid overview of a tale that you might have only read years ago in school, helping you get ready for the film to hit theaters.
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