Guy Ritchie didn’t want King Arthur to be a "worthy" character.
The 48-year-old director has been working on ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ and wanted to make the titular medieval hero – who is played by Charlie Hunnam – as "likeable" as possible so felt it was important he had a "naughty" side.
He said: "The fundamental challenge with King Arthur is to make him likeable.
"If you’re not careful, he’s worthy. And once someone’s worthy they’re not likeable. So we had to create a character naughty enough for us to like him and simultaneously have him go on a journey that makes him respectable."
Guy had planned to depict a "rather dour, gloomy world" – only to find themselves shooting in a "f***ing stunning" forest filled with greenery and dandelion seeds blowing in the breeze.
He laughed: "There’s all this tough-speak going on, and you have all these fluffy seed-pods blowing around! Not the aesthetic I was going for.
"I’ve learned that if you’ve got this in mind, then you get that. So you work with that.
"It looks like f***ing fantasy!"
Charlie’s King Arthur is more "streetwise" than previous versions of the character, having grown up in a brothel in post-Roman Londinium.
The actor told Empire magazine: "He’s more streetwise and rough around the edges than most of the Arthurs we’ve seen.
"He’s a wide-boy scoundrel with a heart of gold, who has a health ho has a healthy disdain for the ruling class."
Guy Ritchie didn’t want King Arthur to be ‘worthy’
