History Trivia / Excalibur

** ''Film/LeatherfaceTheTexasChainsawMassacreIII'' parodies the scene of the Lady of the Lake showing Merlin Excalibur in trailer, replacing Excalibur with a chainsaw.

** ''Film/LeatherfaceTexasChainsawMassacreIII'' parodies the scene of the Lady of the Lake showing Merlin Excalibur in trailer, replacing Excalibur with a chainsaw.

* ReferencedBy: The first two words of the Charm of Making are "Music/AnaalNathrakh"

* FakeNationality: Creator/PatrickStewart as a French King. [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration And not for the last time]].
*** Stewart's character is King Leodegrance, whose kingdom is Cameliard (you can hear him shouting it a number of times during the tournament scene). While some scholars do think Cameliard was meant to be in Brittany, most think it's meant to be located in Cornwall. Cornwall would be more consistent with the portrayal of the film, as when Leodegrance chooses to support Arthur he retreats to his castle, and he doesn't have to cross the sea to do it. In the Welsh stories that serve as some of the earliest sources of the Arthur legend, Leodegrance is Laodegern the Giant.

* DivorcedInstallment: Creator/JohnBoorman originally wanted to do a film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy, compressing the trilogy into one very long film, but he couldn't get the rights to it so he made ''Excalibur'' instead. Reportedly his screen treatments sexed up Tolkien's story quite a bit, including but not limited to giving Frodo Baggins nude scenes with Arwen and Galadriel and having the House of Healing scene between Eowyn and Aragorn feel like a sex scene (as he planned to have Eowyn settle down with Aragorn, which reportedly was Tolkien's original idea). Generally the Arthurian myth sounds like it was better suited to him than Tolkien!

* HostilityOnTheSet:
** Creator/JohnBoorman cast Nicol Williamson and Creator/HelenMirren as enemies in the film for this exact reason. They'd previously co-starred in a disastrous production of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' where they absolutely hated each other. Boorman felt that their natural animosity would be perfect for their roles. Neither realised the other would be in the film until filming started. Mirren recalled that they got on very well once they were "freed from the shackles of ''Macbeth''".
** The Irish extras fighting each other did not want to stop after Boorman yelled cut, "to settle old scores".

* QuoteSource: For AcheyScars.

* TheForeignSubtitle:
** Brazil: ''Excalibur, the Sword of Power''
** Denmark: ''Excalibur: The Sword of Kings''
** Finland: ''Excalibur, the Hero's Sword''
** Slovenia: ''Excalibur: The Sword of King Arthur''

* HostilityOnTheSet: Creator/JohnBoorman cast Nicol Williamson and Creator/HelenMirren as enemies in the film for this exact reason. They'd previously co-starred in a disastrous production of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' where they absolutely hated each other. Boorman felt that their natural animosity would be perfect for their roles. Neither realised the other would be in the film until filming started. Mirren recalled that they got on very well once they were "freed from the shackles of ''Macbeth''".

* RefittedForSequel: Boorman was planning an adaptation of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' that fell apart before getting to make this film, and several elements of his vision were added to this film. The naked children that can be seen playing in the Camelot garden, for example, were originally part of an acid trip the hobbits would have had after eating mushrooms in his adaptation.

** When Uryens knights Arthur with Excalibur, he's visibly trembling from emotion. In reality the actor was shivering from the cold; they were in the castle moat.

** A then-unknown Creator/PierceBrosnan auditioned for King Lot.

** The fight between King Arthur and Sir Lancelot was filmed on the Powerscourt estate. The battle scenes in Creator/LaurenceOlivier's ''Theatre/HenryV'' were also filmed there due to wartime restrictions in England.

* BigNameFan: One of Creator/ZackSnyder's favourite films, so much so that a number of his own films have overt references to it. In ''Film/ThreeHundred'', one of the Spartans goes down similarly to Arthur vs. Mordred, with him getting speared and yet killing the one who did it. In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', during a flashback to the murders of Batman's parents, ''Excalibur'' is on the theater marquee as the "next attraction" besides the "now showing" customary ''Zorro'' film, and due to the framing, ''Excalibur'' is the more prominently seen of the two. Arthur vs. Mordred is also revisited with [[spoiler:Superman vs. Doomsday]], though here he's closer to the myth by having [[spoiler:Superman]] use the spear, as Boorman had flipped the weapons around. Snyder also cast Ciaran Hinds as Steppenwolf in ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''.
* CaliforniaDoubling: ''Excalibur'' was shot entirely in Ireland, and was a major boon to the country's film industry.

* BigNameFan: One of Creator/ZackSnyder's favourite films, so much so that in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', he had Bruce and his parents attending a screening of ''Excalibur'' on the night they were killed, rather than the customary ''Zorro'' film. He also cast Ciaran Hinds as Steppenwolf in ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''.

* DoingItForTheArt: The film was a real labour of love for Creator/JohnBoorman, having been trying to get it made since 1969.

* RealitySubtext: The animosity between Merlin and Morgaine wasn't just acting. Creator/NicolWilliamson and Creator/HelenMirren had previously co-starred in a disastrous production of ''Theatre/MacBeth'', where they couldn't stand each other. Creator/JohnBoorman cast them because he thought their natural animosity would be perfect. Neither realised the other would be in the film until filming started.

** Creator/SeanConnery was attached to play King Arthur in the early stages, and was also considered for Merlin.

* BigNameFan: One of Creator/ZackSnyder's favourite films, so much so that in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', he had Bruce and his parents attending a screening of ''Excalibur'' on the night they were killed, rather than the customary ''Zorro'' film.

* WorkingTitle: Creator/JohnBoorman had wanted to call this ''Merlin'' but CBS had a show called ''Series/MrMerlin'' so they had exclusive usage of the "Merlin" name. It began shooting as ''Knights'' but Creator/RidleyScott had registered ''Knight'' for a medieval epic he was planning with Walter Hill as his follow-up to ''Film/{{Alien}}''. They were already shooting before they decided on ''Excalibur''.

!!For the comic book:
* ExecutiveMeddling: What ultimately put an end to the Wisdom/Kitty Pryde relationship, as Marvel didn't want to age Kitty too age and felt uncomfortable with the idea of a teenager dating an idea, through during it, they ultimately decided to make Kitty in her early 20s.
* WrittenInInfirmity: Chris Claremont was seriously ill for several months while working on this title, so Frank Tieri took over during that time.