“I have a strange story to tell you about Heath,” says Purefoy. It goes like this: A Knight’s Tale was filmed at Barrandov Studios in Prague. Here, Purefoy first met Ledger to shoot the scene in which the Black Prince rescues William from the stocks. “He may appear to be of humble origins, but my personal historians have discovered that he is descendent from an ancient royal line…” Great scene, especially enjoyable for how Purefoy sells the line: “This is my word, and as such is beyond con-tes-tation.”
Several years later and Purefoy is back at Barrandov Studios, being crucified for the Jacobean fantasy Solomon Kane. “It’s chucking down with rain, and then we’re going to use rain machines on top of that. I’m up there on the cross. And a bloke comes up.” He smiles, murmurs, “Heath would appreciate this’’, and continues.
“A bloke comes up on a cherry picker to bang the nails between my fingers. He’s there in his high-vis jacket, and he goes, [Purefoy slips into a Czech accent]: ‘Have you heard the news today? Heath Ledger died.’
“I met Heath on the backlot of Barrandov, and then I heard that he died within ten paces of where I first met him. The coincidence is bizarre…” For a moment, I sense Purefoy has slipped back in time to be with the man on the cherry picker, with Heath. “But yeah, lovely man. A lovely, lovely man. And a terrible, terrible loss.”
The film turns 20 this year – any plans to commemorate the anniversary? Table reads are very popular at the moment. “They are, aren’t they? I’d be very happy to do that. I think the difficulty, obviously, is with Heath dying – the main event, if you like, is not there. It would take a brave person to step in.”
https://squaremile.com/culture/james-purefoy-actor-interview/
