King Arthur stripped of gore

Legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer has said several gory battle scenes from "King Arthur" have been cut so the film could get a lower classification

17:53 16 July 2004

Legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer has said several gory battle scenes from "King Arthur" have been cut so the film could get a lower classification in the US.

"Antoine Fuqua [the director] had to delete some of the action to get the PG 13 certificate," Bruckheimer explained to the BBC.

In the UK it received a 12A certificate.

Reports indicate the producer decided it was easier to cut the scenes than fight the rating.

"If I were sitting here and this picture was R [the most adult rating], everybody would be saying, 'Why do you have the violence, why do you need the gratuitous violence? Do you have to chop off people's heads?' ... So, you know, whatever I do is wrong," the producer commented.

"King Arthur" is an attempt to get to get as close to the underlying historical reality behind the legend of Arthur and Camelot, in the same wat that "Troy" stripped Homer's "Iliad" of the mythical aspect.

The film had its UK premiere in London on Thursday. It stars Clive Owen, Keira Knightley and Ioan Gruffudd.