Charlie Hunnam thinks his younger self would be proud of his 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' role.

Charlie Hunnam

Charlie Hunnam

The 37-year-old actor bagged the lead role as the titular monarch in the upcoming fantasy movie directed by Guy Ritchie, and has said it's a role his childhood self would have loved as he "grew up" watching the 1981 movie 'Excalibur' - which follows the same legend - and playing with toy swords.

Speaking exclusively to BANG! Showbiz at the London premiere of the movie in Leicester Square on Wednesday (10.05.17), Charlie said: "I grew up watching 'Excalibur' and it was my favourite film. It was the first film I got interested in and sort of appreciated everything about the film. Also I was a child and I spent a lot of time with my sword in the back alley. Cut to 30 years later to be starring in Guy Ritchie film is amazing."

And Charlie has admitted the first few weeks on set "didn't feel right" as it took the cast and crew 10 days to find their "rhythm" after 48-year-old Guy originally wanted to make the movie "sombre".

Charlie added: "Originally Guy wanted the film to be something quite linear and sombre - completely different to what is on the screen now and it's not what we ended up doing. The first couple of weeks didn't feel right.

"Ultimately the film told itself and we had to be sensitive to that and it became very important. Initially we would try very sombre, then medium, then fun then swinging off like Monty Python then everything fell into rhythm. It took about 20 weeks to shoot and in the first 10 days we found the rhythm we wanted."

The movie - which also stars Jude Law and includes a cameo appearance from retired soccer star David Beckham - is "wild" according to the lead star, and Charlie says that although the plot is fantastical, the idea of King Arthur trying to become the best version of himself is "deep and relatable".

He said: "The film is wild originally. It's a Guy Ritchie film through and through. It's original, fun and badass. Hopefully what we tried to do was give it a substance of heart. There is something very deep and relatable in the story of a man trying to become the best man he can be."

'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' is due to hit American theatres on Friday (12.05.17), and UK cinema screens on May 19.

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