Excalibur

Dame Helen Mirren and Nicol Williamson were initially reluctant to work together. They had appeared in a disastrous production of "Macbeth" and did not get along well. Writer, producer and director Sir John Boorman cast them because their natural animosity would be perfect. According to Mirren, during filming she and Williamson "wound up becoming very good friends."

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The first fight scene had to be shot three times. It was filmed at night, and on the first two occasions a fault in the light meter meant the entire film came out underexposed. The cinematographer had a nervous breakdown over the matter and resigned.

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Morgana's armour is at the home of writer, producer and director Sir John Boorman. In his will, it is stated that upon his death it is to be given to Dame Helen Mirren.

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The cinematographer waited several days with the camera running for a shot of a raven eating the eye of a dead knight. They had to wait for the raven to actually eat a sheep's eye.

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According to Gabriel Byrne, the sex scene with Katrine Boorman was shot with the two of them apart. He performed his close-ups in the scene with a pin cushion.

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"I always said, once you've been raped in armour by Gabriel Byrne and Corin Redgrave and watched by your father, you never look back." - Katrine Boorman, speaking in The Independent.

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Sir John Boorman directed Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) to help finance this film. Contrary to popular belief, Exorcist II was not a flop at the box office, though it was not as successful as The Exorcist (1973) (Boorman openly admitted he did not like or understand it), but it was so criticised by critics and audiences that it is now considered one of the worst films ever made. The failure of Exorcist II, combined with its box-office underperformance and the widespread mockery of Boorman's earlier fantasy work Zardoz (1974), had significantly damaged his career, but this film would be his comeback.

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For Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Ciarán Hinds and Cherie Lunghi, this was their cinema film debut.

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When Morgana gives birth, Dame Helen Mirren's head emerges through a hole in the table while a genuinely pregnant woman lies on the table with her head covered.

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When Uryens (Keith Buckley) knights Arthur (Nigel Terry) with Excalibur, Arthur is visibly trembling. While filming in a castle moat, Terry was actually shivering from the cold.

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This film was shot so close to Sir John Boorman's home that it was the only time throughout an entire film shoot that he was able to sleep in his own bed.

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Before the final battle, Arthur's knights camp around a Stonehenge-like formation on a hill. According to writer, producer and director Sir John Boorman, some American tourists passed by, saw the formation and walked up the hill. Boorman had to explain to them that they were part of a film set.

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Liam Neeson and Dame Helen Mirren met on the set of this film and lived together for the following four years.

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This was Dame Helen Mirren's breakthrough film role. She was already a famous Shakespearean stage actress.

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Writer, producer and director Sir John Boorman wanted the film to focus on the story rather than the actors, so he cast relatively unknown performers. At the time, American filmgoers were only relatively familiar with Nicol Williamson.

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The black smoke in Arthur's first siege of the castle came from burning tyres. It left black flakes in a nearby town.

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It rained every day throughout filming, which caused much of the film to be shot in dull light. The constant rain also contributed to the lushness of the greenery.

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"Many people ask me, 'How did you feel about directing your daughter being raped?' Of course she wasn't being raped. It was just a scene. She didn't mind, and I didn't mind." - Sir John Boorman, on the director of Excalibur's commentary.

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The names of the 25 knights written on the Winchester Round Table are: Galahad, Lancelot du Lac, Gawain, Percivale, Lionell, Bors de Ganis, Kay, Tristram de Lyones, Gareth, Bedivere, Bleoberis, La Cote Male Taile, Lucan, Palomedes, Lamorak, Safer, Pelleas, Hector de Maris, Dagonet, Degore, Brunor le Noir, Le Bel Desconneu, Alymere and Mordred.

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The original cut of the film ran over three hours. Among the many scenes that were lost but briefly visible in the trailer was the one in which "Sir Lancelot" Nicholas Clay rescues "Guenevere" Cherie Lunghi from a forest bandit.

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Polo ponies were used because they were easier to control than normal horses and could be ridden with one hand, leaving the other free to hold a weapon.

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Sir John Boorman disliked the imbalance of the sound in the Dolby mixes at various test screenings, so he changed the mix to mono.

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The hand holding Excalibur belongs to Sir John Boorman's daughter Telsche, who lies underwater.

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Most of the forest scenes and Excalibur (the sword) were backlit with green lights, giving it a magical quality.

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Katrine Boorman and Cherie Lunghi performed their own nude scenes without stunt doubles.

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Thirty-five-year-old Nigel Terry played Arthur from adolescence to young adulthood, from king to an old man. Twenty-nine-year-old Cherie Lunghi played Guenevere from adolescence to an adult queen, and to an old woman who spends the rest of her life as a nun in quiet misery.

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According to writer, producer and director Sir John Boorman's DVD commentary, Excalibur's sword stand and the Holy Grail props used in the film are at his home.

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United Artists told Sir John Boorman that he could cast anyone except Nicol Williamson as Merlin.

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Camelot, shown in the distance, was a model reflected into the camera with a mirror.

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