For Clive Owen, it’s been a long day’s journey into knights

The man who would be king is marveling at his good fortune.

“You would think the first thing they would do is secure a couple of A-list actors,” says Clive Owen, the British actor who stars in the new action-adventure movie “King Arthur.”

“(Producer) Jerry Bruckheimer said, ‘No, we’re going to the U.K., and we’re going to cast actors out of Britain and Europe.’ That doesn’t happen in our country much.”

At a strapping 6-foot-2, the dark-haired, green-eyed Owen conveys the commanding presence the role requires.

Still, no one could say that the 39-year-old actor who first hit American screens in 1998 with the small film “Croupier” was the obvious choice to play the legendary Arthur.

But director Antoine Fuqua wanted someone whose stardom wouldn’t overpower the role.

“As soon as I met him, I knew Clive was King Arthur,” Fuqua says. “He’s handsome, but he’s not as good-looking as some. He’s tough enough and he had a good jawbone and he had a certain darkness in his eyes.

“I always thought King Arthur was pretty brooding. The only time he really smiled was when he was in the comfort of certain people, like his knights.

“And Clive is a lot like that.”

After “King Arthur,” audiences will see him star with Hollywood’s reigning princess, Julia Roberts, in “Closer,” a relationship drama from director Mike Nichols that also stars Jude Law and Natalie Portman.

It’s due in December and already is getting Oscar buzz.

“It’s a phenomenal piece of writing, with fantastic dialogue,” says Owen, who appeared in the original theater production in London.

“King Arthur” is Owen’s biggest-budget movie by far. His last film was “Beyond Borders” with Angelina Jolie, which, he says, “no one went to see.”

Owen was drawn to the part of King Arthur simply because “I hadn’t done anything like this.” He also liked how well-drawn the character was in David Franzoni‘s script.

“Here was a guy who had a very strong set of beliefs and believed very strongly in the principles of what Rome stood for,” he says.

“And Rome was changing. The idea of setting a movie where the backdrop is the fall of the Roman Empire is really extraordinary.

“It’s like the fabric of society was crumbling.”

After graduating from London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Owen was in “Capital City,” a television hit in the United Kingdom.

Wary of being trapped in TV, he went and did theater. But “making films is my real first love,” he says.

The career he admires most?

“I look at someone like Johnny Depp and I think, ‘That guy can go anywhere,’ ” he says. “He can turn up in a dress in one movie; he can be a classic leading man in another. He has kept all the options available.”

The birthday bunch

Actor Tab Hunter is 73. Singer Bonnie Pointer (Pointer Sisters) is 54. Actress Sela Ward is 48. Guitarist Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) is 45. Singer Suzanne Vega is 45. Actor Michael Rosenbaum (“Smallville”) is 32. Rapper Lil’ Kim is 29. Rapper Lil’ Zane is 22.