The recently released Mark Wahlberg movie Arthur the King is an incredible story about an adventure racer who has his life forever changed after meeting a stray dog that follows him during the race. Remarkably, this is based on the real life events of Mikael Lindnord.
Naturally, there were several changes, such as the location and Lindnord’s name becoming Michael Light in order for Wahlberg to play an American. However, there wasn’t a bunch of extra drama added to the film. “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,” Lindnord admitted to ComingSoon.
What did Mikael Lindnord say about the movie?
As for the Hollywood movie, Lindnord only pointed out one scene as being overblown — the zipline scene featuring Mark Wahlberg saving Nathalie Emmanuel, who was stuck with her bike after her gear malfunctioned. As for the rest of the movie, Lindnord says it was largely accurate from a drama perspective or even downplayed.
“I think maybe the zipline thing was a little bit over the top … but otherwise, I think the movie almost downplayed stuff,” explained Lindnord. “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.”
The film “follows Mikael as he finds a wounded stray dog during a 400-mile race through the Ecuadoran jungle. After offering the dog some food before starting back again, the dog followed his team through some of the toughest terrains on the planet, with Lindnord deciding to adopt the dog and bringing him back to Sweden after,” reads the official synopsis of the film.
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.
