Charlie Hunnam says he was 'bamboozled' out of keeping sword from 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword'

— -- Charlie Hunnam joined "Good Morning America" to discuss his upcoming role as King Arthur, a part he said was a longtime childhood dream, swapping his motorcycle for a horse and sword.

He said John Boorman's 1981 film "Excalibur" was one of his all-time favorites as a kid.

"It was a time when I'd already identified that I love film,” Hunnam, 37, said, “but I started to dream, as kids do, that maybe that would be what I could do as a career.

"At six-years-old, I thought learning to ride horses and sword-fighting sounds like pretty much the greatest job in the world. And now cut to 30 years later; it's my least favorite part of the job," he said, laughing. "That's OK, though."

The English actor explained that on a film of this size one of the odd jobs included a "sword wrangler," whose duty was to watch over the pivotal prop.

"He was this lovely old English fellow," Hunnam said. "One day I was just casually walking out of the studio and he said, 'Charlie, where are you taking the sword?' I said, 'Home, naturally.'"

Hunnam said the prop manager told him that director Guy Ritchie "wanted to do something nice" for him and that a new sword would be presented to him at the film's wrap party.

"Wrap came and no sword arrived. I got bamboozled," Hunnam said.

Lara Spencer happily presented Hunnam with a rubber sword as a replacement.

"I got to say this is nice,” Hunnam said. “It’s not quite what I was hoping for ... but I appreciate the effort.”

As the actor started to tell his story about how he persuaded Ritchie to cast him as King Arthur, Hunnam, to his surprise, spotted the director seated in the "Good Morning America" audience.

"I've been an enormous fan of his [Ritchie] so, over the years of endlessly watching his films, I sort of felt like I'd gotten to know him. ... I sort of developed this illusion that we were friends. Oh, there's Guy right there, you cheeky monkey," Hunnam said, calling out his director.

"Well, now it’s going to be awkward telling the story in front of you," he said, laughing.

"I heard the guy was doing King Arthur and I promptly threw my name in the hat and Guy threw it back out," Hunnam said.

After hearing from Ritchie that he was not interested, the star took matters into his own hands. "I jumped on a plane and showed up on his doorstep and said, 'Let’s have a cup of tea.'

“By the end of that cup of tea, I think he decided he quite liked me, so he let me audition and I finally got the job. So it was a happy tale in the end."

Ritchie said he'd had a completely different actor in mind, but it was Hunnam’s enthusiasm that eventually sealed the deal. "Charlie would not take no for an answer," the director said. "Eventually, he turned up at my door and I had to let him in."

"King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" hits theaters everywhere May 12.