We worked together again, a number of years later on a film, First Knight, with Sean Connery and Richard Gere, which is a reinvention of the Arthurian legend. It was a wonderful film, but not financially or critically successful. There are probably many diffuse reasons for that. I mean, it did fine. But it wasn't the hit that Ghost was, for certain. It was not a funny film. It had some quirky moments in it.
But Jerry, who had written and directed Airplane!, which is a very, very funny film, and many other films like that. And Ghost had this funniness to it, the Zucker touch, but also ventured into these other realms. First Knight was not that. And maybe people didn't know how to take that. And it's a fabulous evocation of Arthurian legend. It's not like Excalibur, which had come out a few years earlier, John Boorman's film. It wasn't down and dirty Arthurian stuff, which you can also do, and probably would fit the sensibility of the time more. This was kind of more like old Hollywood extravaganza. I think there was a problem in the casting of it, which illustrative of the problem, which is, do we believe that Richard Gere, who specialised in kind of suave, modern urbanity. Do we believe that he is Lancelot? It's a stretch, and especially in a film with Sean Connery.
But I remember, you know, I would be getting various drafts of the screenplay, and talking to Jerry about the progress. And initially, King Arthur was not a featured part of the story. It was really focused on Lancelot. And there were certain casting ideas that came along with that. And then, through some piece of Hollywood prestidigitation, Sean Connery was suddenly… He let it be known that he was available, or something. And he became King Arthur.
