In the year 1215, the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal seal on the Magna Carta, a seminal document that upheld the rights of free men. Yet within months of pledging himself to the great charter, the King reneged on his word and assembled a mercenary army on the south coast of England with the intention of bringing the barons and the country back under his tyrannical rule. Barring his way stood the mighty Rochester castle, a place that would become the symbol of the rebel's momentous struggle for justice and freedom.
Practical Effects
Full-scale castle built for authentic claustrophobic siege warfare.
Acting
Giamatti's unhinged King John steals every scene he's screaming in.
Stunts
Brutal, weighty combat that feels like it actually hurts.
Director
Jonathan English
James Purefoy
Thomas Marshall
Kate Mara
Lady Isabel
Jason Flemyng
Becket
Paul Giamatti
King John
Brian Cox
Albany
Derek Jacobi
Cornhill
Charles Dance
Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury
Aneurin Barnard
Guy
Jamie Foreman
Coteral
Mackenzie Crook
Marks
Rhys Parry Jones
Wulfstan
Vladimir Kulich
Tiberius
Annabelle Apsion
Maddy
Steffan Rhodri
Cooper
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The director Jonathan English built Rochester Castle as a practical 1/4 scale replica in Wales, making it one of the largest medieval sets constructed for film.
The real siege of Rochester lasted two months, not days, and King John literally undermined the tower by sapping—one of history's great siege tactics barely shown here.
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