‘Northman’ and ‘Bad Sisters’ star Bang plays the legendary Swiss marksman who unites his country to fight off invaders in director Hamm’s period actioner, which premieres at the Toronto Film Festival.
1:00 PM PDT 9/6/2024by
British director Nick Hamm (Driven, White Lines) went epic for his latest feature, William Tell, a retelling of the story of the 14-century Swiss crossbowman who, legend has it, united the canons of Switzerland to drive out the tyrannical Austrian army and liberate his nation…
Why William Tell – why did you want to tell this story?
Nick Hamm A couple of reasons actually. First, this is a great European legend that has never been properly told in any form, apart from a play by Schiller written in the early 19th century. We don’t have that many legends in Europe that have not already been seen through Hollywood eyes. Robin Hood has been made and remade thousands of times. There’s not that much difference in the dilemma faced by Robin Hood and William Tell. Tell also bands together a group of people, and ultimately unites his country, in the defense of liberty against fascism.
This is a legend that goes back in time in European culture, and it represents the idea of liberty against autocracy and against authoritarianism. The Schiller text particularly speaks about the ideas of liberty and personal freedom in a world in which those values are threatened. It’s a story that’s been handed down over hundreds of years and used by different political movements at different political times to advertise their own agendas. But it’s never been celebrated or, I suppose, exploited cinematically.
