His story inspired Mark Whalberg to not only step into his shoes on screen, but to produce this story of survival and friendship. The incredible true story is Arthur the 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.
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.
Interviewed for Family Entourage
Family Entourage: Mikael, it was so great to see your adventure kind of showcased on screen. Talk to me about what that was like for you to see Mark Wahlberg and Arthur.
Mikael Lindnord: It is so realistic because the movie is so close to the real thing. So it is like you feel, you see your life once again. That’s how it felt.
FE: All of you had your why, as to the four of you competing, as to what was the motive that was driving you? Did you ever think that that could get you to where we’re talking today?
ML: Never. I was not even thinking about this to have a dog in the first place because I was racing. I did this for almost 20 years and the goal in life to be ranked number one, to be the world champion. So that was everything for me. And then everything changed in Ecuador.
FE: Simon, talk to me about bringing this epic to the screen in the sense that it’s already difficult with terrain and then you’ve got an animal and then you’ve got more and more and more. Talk to me about what that looked like from your perspective.
Simon Cellan Jones: Well, it was daunting at first. It was my first big-ish, medium-sized movie. First time probably working with Mark Wahlberg. So for the first little while I was nervous, but then I realized we had a fantastic story with a real authenticity to it. And Mark Wahlberg, who’s also a producer as well as the main actor, is just so cool to work with and so easy to work with that actually after the first three days of fear on the fourth day I woke up and just could not get to work quick enough.
FE: And talk to me about what we see showcase where, I mean I’m sure it couldn’t have all have gone as planned, just like a race you plan and then it takes different twists and turns, but for you, what did that look like?
SJ: You are right. You are in jungles, you are on the water. You’ve got professional actors who’ve trained very hard and are trying to do good work. But yeah, it’s a lottery. We can’t control the elements, we can’t control everything. We can’t control the dog. So I think, I wouldn’t say that we went with the flow exactly, but every now and then we just had to go, okay, just chill, it’s going to be okay. Just take three minutes and calm himself down.
FE: Mikael, for you and when you are watching this kind of unfold, were there any areas that you thought would take you back? When did it take you back and you thought, oh, if I would’ve just maybe done this or switched or are you able to just enjoy it?
ML: I had the opportunity to come there before and I was training with the actors and Mark and Simon or Simu or Natalie and everyone. So I got to really get, I think that even Simon already get it is very close to the truth. Like the athletes were paddling, biking. It feels really, really accurate and it looks accurate and the accuracy, the phenomenal job. And I’m so impressed, especially by the stunts and some of the things was really, really on edge and I think everyone pulled it off really, really good.
FE: What about Mark Wahlberg? Did you have, what kind of conversations leading into it or did he kind of want to just capture you through what he had seen?
ML: I think already when we met the first time, he got the vision how he want to play me. And to be honest, I think he kind of nailed his thought about how he want to play me. Obviously we are not the same persons, but I dunno. I think the script is amazing. I think Simon did a great job to capture and mark even producing and in front of the camera almost every day on set. I am so impressed of everyone that made a movie that can come this close to the real thing, the truth.
