Arthur the King Interview: Director Simon Cellan Jones on Adventure Racing

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Arthur the King director Simon Cellan Jones about the inspirational drama. Jones discusses his relationship with star Mark Wahlberg, who he also worked with on The Family Plan, plus how the intense stunts were filmed. Lionsgate Films will release Arthur the King in theaters on March 15, 2024.

“Over the course of ten days and 435 miles, an unbreakable bond is forged between pro adventure racer Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg) and a scrappy street dog companion dubbed Arthur,” says the synopsis. “Based on an incredible true story, Arthur the King follows Light, desperate for one last chance to win, as he convinces a sponsor to back him and a team of athletes(Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Ali Suliman) for the Adventure Racing World Championship in the Dominican Republic. As the team is pushed to their outer limits of endurance in the race, Arthur redefines what victory, loyalty, and friendship truly mean.”

Tyler Treese: There are some incredible stunts in this film. The zip line scene — where they get stuck with the bikes on their back – is just so intense. How was it filming that scene? Because it’s incredible.

Simon Cellan Jones: Thank you. It was pretty tricky, because we tried to shoot most of it on a real zip line. And we actually had Mark Wahlberg hanging out there from a zip line with a bike underneath him. He was trying to swing his bike to Natalie Emmanuel.

We had cameras on chairs that would follow the actors down. It was insane. It was very low tech, the way we filmed. We had a drone, of course. The big thing with that kinda scene is whatever happens, you’ve gotta keep it safe. But you [also] wanna make it look super dangerous. So I hope we did.

Everybody knows Mark’s willing to go out of his way to do these stunts — he’s a wild man. But you have such a great cast assembled here. Were you surprised that everybody was so down for such a physically demanding role? Mark said this was one of the most physically demanding films he’s ever done.

I’m sure it would be. I mean, he was running or cycling or climbing or whatever every single day. I don’t think he had one day off.

The cast were up for it. We talked to ’em, we said that we were gonna be filming stuff sort of “for real.” And of course, Mark [is] quite famously is no stranger to the gym. So I think the other actors were going, “Uh oh, I better not get out shown by my star here.” So I think they put some effort into it.

One thing that really impressed me was Ukai, the canine actor. He’s just incredible in this. Mark spoke about really bonding with the dog throughout filming. So how was it just working with the dog and his trainer? Because he’s definitely a big star here.

I’ve gotta say, the dog was fantastic. He was only two years old when we made the film. And you hear all the stories — “never work with animals” and so on. But he was pretty good.

Mark really put some work into it. He put some effort and spent time with the dog. He was over before we started shooting, and he used to come and visit the dog. So it was a sweet dog, and the trainer was great. But I think a lot of it was just Mark’s relationship with the dog.

Your last film, The Family Plan, which also featured Mark, you had a baby involved. Was it easier to work with a dog?

The dog was easier to work with [laughs].

I was curious just about the production timeline. Was this done before or after The Family Plan?

This was shot before The Family Plan. God, I can’t remember the date now. 2021, right in the height of Covid. So we were all doing three tests a week, and wearing masks, and all of that. This was first, and then I got offered the next one with Mark. I love working with him, and he’s very easy to work with. And The Family Plan apparently had a bigger budget, had more stunts and stuff. So it was super fun to work on.

How has it been working with the same actor on back-to-back films? Because I imagine that camaraderie really goes a long way and the the trust you build with each other.

Yeah, I think it does. One of the things about Mark, I would say, is that I would always try to be well prepared every time I went to work. Because out of respect, you wanna let your actors know what you’re doing.

But yeah, he’s very easy to talk to. He’s fun. He’s really nice to the crew. He doesn’t sort of do the big movie star thing. And as you say, having worked on two films, you start to pick up a shorthand and can say things that you might have been too shy to say before. But yeah, [Mark] was just my ideal actor basically.

The film looks great. I read it was filmed in the Dominican Republic. How was it shooting there?

It’s a beautiful country, really lovely people. It’s got incredible beaches. It’s got incredible jungle — just really dense, thick jungle. And it’s also got the most amazing city, San Domingo, which is the biggest city in the Caribbean. Bigger than Nirvana and Kingston and all that. Which is an electrifying place to be. So it gave us a real contrast to the jungle.

There are so many different sports involved in adventure racing, which I wasn’t really familiar with until the film. Then I did some research into it afterwards. The kayaking scenes were really well done. How was it, filming on the water there?

Time stands still when you’re filming on the water, believe me.

You’ve got to take every piece of equipment that you need — or might need — with you on a boat. We had a fleet of boats and had a half-hour trip to where we were going every day on a boat. So yeah, that was a challenge.

Again, [though], the actors are doing it. So you want ’em to look like they’re bursting a gut. But you obviously don’t wanna make them to do too many takes. Otherwise, they’re gonna get exhausted and fed up.

Also, the rock climbing scenes. How was it shooting those during the film?

It’s quite hard to find mountains in the Dominican Republic. You have to sort of travel to the middle of the country. But we had a fantastic stunt team. We had a guy called Sean Graham, who’s worked with Mark for years. We had really good riggers. You’ve gotta keep it safe. Those actors, when they were climbing the rocks, they had safety cables. But they had to pull themselves up with bikes attached to ‘em.

One of the great parts of the film is seeing Mark and Simu Liu’s character kind of butt heads. They play off each other in a very enjoyable manner. It was fun to have Simu’s character be an influencer and always mugging to the camera. How was it working with Simu, and collaborating on that effort there?

Well, he was fantastic. He’d just shot his Marvel film, but it hadn’t come out yet. So we were lucky to get him ’cause he was just available. He was great. He had the taste for being a leading man. He knew what he was doing. He’s very confident, but he’s also very generous and wants to look after his co-stars and his crew. And he in fact adopted a dog from the Dominican Republic, I think.

Oh, that’s incredible. One thing that really impressed me was even though I had looked up the true story, you still took me on a wild ride emotionally. It definitely helps when you have a dog and — a lot of people are animal lovers. But in the second half, the focus turns to getting this dog the help it needs. Is it a challenge to balance the pacing of the story?

Yeah. In some way, it’s a dog movie, of course. In some ways, it’s a sports movie — I guess.

But it is emotional, and the dog went through hell. And that’s true. That’s all true. We had Mikael Lindnord, who was the guy who actually met the dog and did the race. He was with us the whole time. It was it was quite a trip.

Mark also mentioned Mikael being on-set. How did it feel to get his advice and see him co-sign this entire project? Because this is a remarkable true story.

It is a remarkable true story. And there’s that thing where you want the person that happened to, to be happy and and respected. But you also don’t want them sort of pushing over and saying, “Hey, wait a minute, wait, we gotta do it like this.”

We had to make a few… [well,] not so much compromises. The original story took place in Ecuador, but because of Covid, we couldn’t film that. But Mikael was brilliant, and I think he’s really pleased with the film.

Your last film, The Family Plan — it’s been such a success. It was setting records on Apple. How has that been seeing it become such a success on streaming? It really kind of really blew a lot of people away on Apple TV.

Well, it did. Apple were brilliant. Of course, they’re not as big as Netflix at the moment, but they’re Apple, so I’m sure they’ve got ambitions. It was a thrill actually. ’cause you never know how a film’s gonna be received. The film did well when we tested it, and then very quickly it became the most-watched movie they’ve had. So yeah, that’s a thrill.

What’s what’s next for you? Is there anything you can talk about that’s coming up?

I don’t know. We talk about a sequel to The Family Plan, which I think would be really fun to get the old gang back together. And I’m doing that thing where I’m reading some scripts. I’m in that time where I’m pleased not to be working, and then in a month, I’m gonna be panicking that I’m not working. You know how it goes.

So what I’m doing is taking the peace while I can and trying to find my next project. I haven’t found it for sure yet.

This is interesting because you’re having these two big films released in a relatively short timeframe. So seeing them both enter the world pretty close together has to be exciting. You deserve a vacation.

It’s true. ‘Cause I did Arthur the King, then I did the pilot of a show called The Diplomat, and then I went literally straight on to The Family Plan. So I haven’t stopped for three years. So yeah, I feel like I’m allowed to take a little bit of a break.

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