‘The King’ director David Michod got a real "thrill" getting to create a character for Joel Edgerton who is "fun and really warm".
The 45-year-old Australian star is more often than not cast as a villain but in ‘The King’ – which is inspired by several plays from William Shakespeare’s ‘Henriad’ – Michod gave him the comical part of Sir John Falstaff.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, Michod said: "With Joel, the thrill for me was getting him to do something totally new.
"He’s really fun, he’s really warm but he never gets to be those things on screen.
"I loved making a character for him that brought out those qualities."
The upcoming movie is set just after the Battle of Agincourt – one of the greatest English victories in the Hundred Years’ War in 1415 and the filmmaker has admitted he won’t be taking on a scene like that again because he always like to be "reinventing the wheel".
He said: "I would never do a scene like Agincourt again, but every movie feels like I’m reinventing the wheel.
"I’m sure something will present itself where I go ‘Oh my god, here I am again.’ I swore I’d never be here again."
Joel admitted he enjoyed getting to do Shakespeare again as he has fond memories of playing Prince Hal – the young Henry V – 20 years ago.
He said: "I played Hal back in 1999 and 2000. These plays are very much in my psyche and in my heart.
"It’s almost a bittersweet thing to separate it from the text but it was part of the early conversations to give us the freedom to say our own things about politics and the world through the life of this man."
Meanwhile, Timothee admitted he loved the challenge of playing King Henry V and as his career goes forward he wants to keep portraying "interesting roles".
He said: "I just want to work on anything good. That could be mini series, TV, Broadway, Old Vic or whatever … Hopefully I get to keep doing good roles that are interesting 10 years from now."
‘The King’ – which also stars Sean Harris, Robert Pattinson and Ben Mendelsohn – will be shown on Netflix from November following its October 11 release.
David Michod got a ‘thrill’ creating a fun character for Joel Edgerton in The King
