ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Mikael Lindnord, whose book “Arthur – The Dog Who Crossed the Jungle to Find a Home” inspired the movie Arthur the King. Lindnord discussed his incredible true story, what was different in the film, and more. Arthur the King is now available via premium video on demand and will come out on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital on May 28 from Lionsgate.
“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: How has it been seeing your story reach a whole new audience? Because the story did go around internationally when it happened, but it has to be remarkable seeing so many new people find out through the film and then learning about the real story afterward.
Mikael Lindnord: Everything with the movie coming out now is a totally new experience for me, of course. I feel proud of all the messages I get every day and all the love. I just feel enormously happy with what we have done with the movie and to be in the middle of everything to experience this new thing. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, and with that said, I’m very, very proud of what we have done so far.
We couldn’t have gotten a better actor to play you in the film than Mark Wahlberg. How was it working with him and being on set?
Mark is very professional. The first day we had there, we sat in the dinner. He said, “Mikey, we need to get up early to get everything in shape for this role and movie.” He actually did that. So he was up like 2, 2:30 every day, trained for two to three hours, and then he read the scripts. When the sun came up, he was ready. To see him on set, like one of the monologues in the movie is taking a couple of minutes, and he did that like eight times, and he never stumbled a word, you know? I think that shows a hundred percent. He’s a great actor. He is a good guy. He’s a top athlete and true entrepreneur. I only have positive things to say.
We all know Mark is willing to go all out physically for his roles. But what amazed me was that it was a very physically demanding movie, and everybody in the cast was so willing to do these different scenes. How impressed were you that all these big-name actors were willing to, you know, really put their bodies through the wringer for this film?
I’m so impressed with everyone. Nathalie [Emmanuel], she’s doing great, you know, with all the stunts and the wire. He’s also a super great guy. Also, Simu [Liu], we had so much fun; played a lot of basketball. But also, [the production paid attention to] all the details I have from my sports. They adopt them and use it in the movies. You can see it. Like, if you’re really a nerd, you can see a lot of that in this movie.
I wanted to ask you about the actual events. What was your reaction when you first saw Arthur again during the race?
This was happening in Ecuador for the real thing. The movie is placed in the Dominican Republic, but the first time, I didn’t know that it was the same dog. I couldn’t imagine that he had been following us for such a long time. But then I saw, because he had this deep wound on his back, so I recognized him from that. At that point, I didn’t know that we would be together for six years from that moment. So it was many things that happened.
I was in the middle of the race, too, so it was not like I was thinking, “OK, we bring this dog along.” That was nothing that I was even thinking about. So it was more like, “Yeah, he will be turning around.” Because I’ve been racing for 20 years, and I’ve been in South America, I’ve been in China, I’ve been in a lot of countries where you have dogs out there and around you, and I’ve had dogs and animals before, but I never like experienced nothing like that.
Like this when you kind of, you know, you have a dog that follows you for so, so long time through the jungle and obstacles and, and everything we did together, like, I don’t know. I never experienced it before and I doubt I will do it again, but for sure, it was meant to be.
Obviously, they add drama to the movie, and they make slight tweaks and changes, but what astounded me was when I looked up the real story, so little was exaggerated. I thought the scene where they were like, “You can’t have the dog on the boat. He has to stay back.” I thought that was all completely created for the movie. Then I was looking it up, and that actually happened, that scene with the dog jumping in. Were you surprised that a lot of your real story got through and there weren’t a ton of sweeping changes to make it more dramatic?
To be honest, I think the real deal was even sometimes [more dramatic]. Obviously, it’s a Hollywood production. You need to change some facts and do things so it fits the screen. I think maybe the zipline thing was a little bit over the top … but otherwise, I think the movie almost downplayed stuff. When we were on that cliff for real, that was gnarly. That was super close to taking one step too far. Also, like everything with Arthur, [the process] to take him home and everything, that was even harder than it looks in the movie, I would say.
I wasn’t really familiar with adventure racing until I watched the film. How did you get involved in the sport?
I started back at the end of 1997; I think I did my first race, and I did my military service. I had like a little taste of adventure, and, well, I was hooked for the first time. I was like, “OK, I wanna do this.” I was not good. I was mediocre, but I felt like this is something I really, really wanna put my soul and energy into and it kept me going for almost two decades.
