I wear this crown as a symbol of my duty to serve the Scottish people.
The latest Netflix Original movie, Outlaw King, explores Scottish historical figure Robert the Bruce, who is played by Chris Pine, and promises plenty of action, violence, and speeches in its 1300’s Scottish setting.
The untold, true story of Robert The Bruce who transformed from defeated nobleman, to reluctant King, to outlaw hero over the course of an extraordinary year. Forced into battle in order to save his family, his people and his country from the oppressive English occupation of medieval Scotland, Robert seizes the Scottish crown and rallies a ragtag group of men to face off against the wrath of the world’s strongest army led by the ferocious King Edward 1 and his volatile son, the Prince of Wales.
The film has already premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and there, the movie gained plenty of attention with Chris Pine’s full frontal nudity scene. It also had many mixed reactions at the festival and resulted in critically acclaimed Hell or High Water director David Mackenzie cutting 20 minutes from the film. Mackenzie adds that trimming the film from 137 minutes to approximately 117 was “was entirely my decision” and that “three days (after the festival) later I was back editing.” However, those minutes won’t include Pine’s nudity scene.
“I can’t understand why people get worked about that,” Mackenzie says of the scene in question. “I made ten films and most of them had male frontal nudity; it’s a bathing scene and people do tend to get out of the bath without clothes.”
As for if the cuts make a difference, Mackenzie urges previous viewers to give it another go.
“It’s worth another look, and I encourage critics who saw it and didn’t connect with it to see it again,” the Scottish writer/director adds. “It has a different sense since it’s under two hours, but it’s still very much an epic.”
Starring Chris Pine (Wonder Woman) as Robert the Bruce, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick Ass) as James Douglas, Lord of Douglas, a Scotsman in arms with Robert, Florence Pugh (The Falling) as Robert’s second wife Elizabeth de Burgh, Billy Howle (On Chesil Beach) as Edward, Prince of Wales, Tony Curran (Defiance) as Angus Macdonald, Callan Mulvey (Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice) as John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones) as Edward I of England, Lorne MacFadyen (Grantchester) as Neil Bruce, Robert’s younger brother, Alastair Mackenzie as prominent Scotsman Lord Atholl, James Cosmo as Robert de Brus, Steven Cree (Outlander) as Christopher Seton, Sam Spruell (Snow White and the Huntsman) as Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, and Rebecca Robin as Margaret of France.
Outlaw King hits Netflix on November 9th.
