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Director Antoine Fuqua earned a place on the Hollywood A-List for his acclaimed cop drama Training Day, but almost went and ruined it all with Bruce Willis action bunkum Tears Of The Sun. Thankfully producer Jerry Bruckheimer didn't hold it against him and Fuqua landed megaphone duties for King Arthur, his radical retelling of the Arthurian legend.

As an American director, how did you feel about taking on a beloved British legend?

Nervous. I mean, I like it here in Britain and I wanted to make sure I could get back in the country! Obviously it's a big legend and it means a lot to a lot of people and I knew... I grew up watching King Arthur - I watched Excalibur and Knights Of The Round Table and all those things.

How else did you go about familiarising yourself with the story?

I did my own research on the mythology - the Joseph Campbell mythology, which talks quite a bit about King Arthur and the whole myth. But it was taking a lot on to try and bring him to life because I wanted the movie to be about King Arthur and not a magical sword. I think, in these times, we need real heroes and he is someone I believe was a real hero.

So you'd heard of King Arthur, but what did you know about Sarmatia?

I had no idea - never heard of Sarmatia, never saw it on a map, never heard it in school. Jerry [Bruckheimer] explained it to me and then I sat down and spoke to him and then David Franzoni [screenwriter], who told me it was part of Russia, and that alone I found fascinating. Just the idea that there are so many places that were called by other names... it starts the wheels turning.

What was it about the project that really appealed to you?

I liked the concept that it feels contemporary, really. The idea that it's very similar to what's happening in the world today. You know, times haven't changed much. The idea of governments trying to control a nation, not understanding the people they're fighting... we still haven't learned how to understand each other, and put ourselves in the other person's skin, talk things through. We gotta go in with guns, you know? We haven't learned to agree to disagree yet. As we learn to agree to disagree, maybe so many people won't have to die in the process.

You shot many of the action scenes in close-up - is it true that your Steadicam operator had to wear protective gear?

Yeah, I mean, we had cameras everywhere. We had 18 cameras some days - cameras rigged on shields, on swords, on horses, on the ground... The guy on Steadicam was running through the middle of all this fire with all the guys swinging swords and another guy with another camera going the other way, so they had to be protected at all times - because anything could happen. It was like riot gear - helmets, gloves, protective padding, kneepads. It's like basically being another knight on the set.

You filmed some scenes in the Brecon Beacons with Owen Teale as Pelagius but they were cut. Why?

There are certain places that have a magical quality and there's something about the light there up in the hills, which was for me visually stunning. But basically the scene with Arthur and Pelagius - we tried to fit it in the film, and it was good information, but it just made the movie go on too long. So we felt the best thing to do was put it on the DVD. The DVD will have lots of other stuff on it too that we took out - a lot of action.

Did you have much pressure to cast bankable Hollywood names in the leads?

Yeah, sure, but I just went against it and Jerry [Bruckheimer] helped me do it. Just didn't want to do it, and I wouldn't have done it. I wanted to work with European actors.

Which European actors were particularly revelatory to you?

There's like a gang of them! At auditions I sat there with my mouth open, going, "They're all really good!" I had a tough time making choices, a tough time. You could tell they were all skilled and came from the theatre. I discovered a plethora of talent here I'm that hoping to be able to use. Ray Winstone is amazing, just amazing. The guy's just like the De Niro of England. He's Robert De Niro here, and he should be seen in the States more.

Is there any way you could cast him in a Hollywood movie?

I'm trying to, I'm checking into it now.

What is your next movie?

It's called Tru Blu, and it's going to star Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro. It's about Frank Lucas, a real-life guy that Denzel is going to play. He's the guy who made a deal with the Chinese and was flying in heroin - pure heroin - into America during the Vietnam War, with the help of the American military.

And that's the film you're looking to cast Ray Winstone in?

Yep. He'd have to play an American New York detective.