Daniel the Conqueror
AS James Bond, Daniel Craig has conquered cinemas around the world.
But now he is being lined up to star as one of history’s real action heroes – William the Conqueror.
Hollywood is to make a big-budget movie about the Conqueror, despite admitting that most Americans have never heard of him.
The £25million film will tell the story of his early years in Normandy leading up to his victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
The producers believe the story has all the ingredients for a rip-roaring epic, even though 1066 and all that mean little to Americans.
Pamela Koffler of Killer Films told the Sunday Express: “A lot of people here might not have heard of William or 1066 but believe me, this project has got all the ingredients of a hit movie.
“It’s a fabulous story. William was a dynamic, charismatic figure and the film will climax with a battle that was a defining moment in European history.” The film is yet to be cast but Daniel Craig and Clive Owen top the wish list.
“We’re looking for a big star to play a big historical figure in what is going to be a big-budget movie,” said Koffler.
“We don’t mind whether he’s British or American, he just has to be a great actor with movie star appeal,” said Koffler, whose firm produced the Hilary Swank Oscar-winner Boys Don’t Cry.
This is of course not the first time that Hollywood has raided the vaults of British history for inspiration. Over the years, it has made movies about everyone from Robin Hood, played by Kevin Costner in Prince Of Thieves, to General Gordon of Khartoum, a part immortalised by Charlton Heston.
Studios have also taken liberties with the truth, giving such films as the William Wallace epic Braveheart an unsavoury and historically inaccurate anti-British bias.
However, Koffler, whose Killer Films is one of Hollywood’s most respected movie companies, insisted her movie will be as true as possible to events of the past.
“It’s a wonderful tale in its own right and we’ll simply be telling the true story of William’s upbringing, his wooing and wedding of Matilda and his fight for the succession to the English throne, culminating in the Battle of Hastings,” she said.
Historian Lady Antonia Fraser gave the film a cautious welcome, so long as it did not stretch the truth too far. “There are liberties and liberties,”
she said. “I loved the recent Hollywood film of my book on Marie Antoinette, which was surprisingly accurate.
In contrast, the television series The Tudors was pathetic when it came to historical accuracy.
“For instance, to give Henry VIII dark hair was a pointless inaccuracy when his red hair and white skin are so much a part of his image.”
Born in Normandy in 1027, William was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Normandy and was dubbed William the Bastard.
On his father’s death in 1035, he was recognised as the rightful heir to Normandy, despite being just eight years old, and in 1053 he married Matilda of Flanders before launching his invasion across the Channel following a dispute over the succession to the English throne.
