THE KING'S MAN Was Inspired Sean Connery and Michael Caine's THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING
It turns out that Matthew Vaughn’s lates film, The King’s Man, was inspired by one of my all time favorite films, the 1975 movie The Man Who Would Be King, which starred Sean Connery and Michael Caine. I love this movie and a few years ago I even did a little write up on it to get people to watch it.
This fun and unexpected bit of information came from Vaughn himself in an interview with /Film. He said:
"It all started when I re-watched 'The Man Who Would Be King.' It reminded me when I fell in love with... I don't know if you've seen it, but it's an older film which, if you haven't seen it, for anyone who's reading this go watch it. It was a movie that had everything in it... epic adventure, unbelievable acting. I think one of Sean Connery's finest performances. [It had] Michael Caine, the original Kingsman. It had pathos — important messaging, comedy, fantasy. Had everything. And I was like, 'Wow, why don't we...' and I jokingly said, 'We should make 'The Man Who Would Be Kingsman.' "
Vaughn went on to explain that the idea just brewed in his mind:
"It just stayed in my head. I was like, 'Oh God, now I'm getting this itch. I'm going to have to scratch it,' and then I remembered the scene between Eggsy and Harry, and Eggsy explained why the Kingsman was founded, when it was founded. Everything about where Kingsman came from. And then I went off and I read about World War I, and these characters were popping off the page to me.
"The history, I couldn't believe... actually I wasn't any good at school, so I didn't really listen to any of this stuff. Then, when I was reading about it, I was like, 'Oh, this is really cool.' And I thought, 'God, I'm going to have to do this! I'm going to try and have my cake and eat it, like a Bakewell tart, dare I say.' I just had this sort of idea in my head, how to make a movie like I grew up on and loved, but also [one that] develops into other movies I love [of] the more modern style."
In The Man Who Would Be King, Connery and Caine played two former British soldiers named Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnahan who decide to set themselves up as kings in Kafiristan, which is a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander the Great. As you might imagine, things start out better than they could’ve imagined, but then their story takes a turn for the worse.
I don’t know many people outside of my family that have watched this movie. If you have never seen it, you’ve got to watch it! It’s easily one of the best films that Connery and Caine have made.
I also thought The King’s Man was great! It’s actually my favorite film in the Kingsman franchise. With the film being inspired by one of my favorite movies, I guess it makes sense that it would be. You can read my review of it here.
