Troy
For passion. For honor. For destiny. For victory. For love.
Troy (2004)
Production
Budget
$175 000 000
Revenue
$497 409 852
Director
Scenario
Homer
Author
Composer
Producer
Colin Wilson
Actors
Brad Pitt
Achilles
Orlando Bloom
Paris
Eric Bana
Hector
Brian Cox
Agamemnon
Sean Bean
Odysseus
Brendan Gleeson
Menelaus
Diane Kruger
Helen
Peter O'Toole
Priam
Short description
Troy is a historical war epic set in ancient Greece, where the love between Paris, prince of Troy, and Helen, queen of Sparta, sets off a conflict between two rising powers. After Helen leaves her husband Menelaus for Paris, Menelaus turns to his brother Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, for help. Agamemnon agrees, though his real motive is control of the Aegean and the expansion of his empire. A Greek force sails for Troy, a fortified city defended by King Priam and his son Hector, and the standoff drags on for years, with the outcome resting heavily on Achilles, the Greek army's most formidable warrior.
Wolfgang Petersen directed the film, which came after The Perfect Storm in a career that also includes Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story and Air Force One. David Benioff wrote the screenplay, and the cast is led by Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus and Sean Bean as Odysseus. It was produced by Colin Wilson, Petersen and Diana Rathbun.
Released in 2004, the film cost about 175 million dollars and earned roughly 497 million dollars worldwide, a strong commercial return. On IMDb it holds a 7.3 rating from around 612,000 votes, and on TMDB a 7.2 from more than 11,500 votes. A critics' rating of 6.3 from 227 reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores, suggesting viewers responded more warmly than reviewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the film, Achilles kills 33 enemy warriors.
- It took composer James Horner less than 6 weeks to write the music for the film. Gabriel Yared spent over a year on it, but his soundtrack was rejected. In 2007, a director's cut of the film was released, in which Wolfgang Petersen used parts of the rejected soundtrack, as well as music from other films, namely "Planet of the Apes" (2001), "The Count of Monte Cristo" (2002), and "Starship Troopers" (1997) as accompaniment to the battle scene between Achilles and Hector.
- During the battle in which Patroclus participates in Achilles' armor, Brad Pitt performs the fighting, but when Hector slashes the opponent's throat and removes his helmet, the viewer sees the face of Garrett Hedlund.
- Before filming the movie, Eric Bana had never ridden a horse.
- A character named Boagrius does not exist in ancient Greek mythology. Boagrius is the name of a river.
- During filming, Pitt was forced to quit smoking. He admitted that it was the most agonizing thing he had to go through.
- Walking along the beach among the encamped Greeks, Achilles mocks Odysseus, saying that he arrived last. Those familiar with the plot of the "Odyssey" know that Odysseus was also the last of the Greeks to return home after the war. This happened because he angered the gods.
- In the time of Homer, archers were looked down upon. Among warriors, it was considered shameful not to meet the enemy face to face on the battlefield. Paris, a weak and cowardly warrior, is a skilled archer, whose arrows brought about the fall of Achilles. Achilles, the best warrior of all, knew no defeats in single combat.
- At the very beginning of work on it, the film was called “The Trojan War.” It was released under this title in some countries.
- Brad Pitt and Eric Bana performed the fight scene between Achilles and Hector themselves, without stunt doubles. The actors made a gentleman's agreement to pay each other for every successful hit (50 dollars for a light one and 100 for a serious one). As a result, Pitt paid Bana 750 dollars, and did not receive a cent himself.
- Nigel Terry plays Archeptolemus. He is a Trojan priest and advisor to King Priam, played by Peter O'Toole. These actors starred together in the 1968 film "The Lion in Winter".
- The director's cut of the film lasts 196 minutes.
- Orlando Bloom and Sean Bean starred together in the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy.
- The 2003 Iraq War forced producers to choose different filming locations. Originally, most of the film production was planned to take place in Morocco, but ultimately Mexico and Malta were chosen as filming locations.
- It took Brad Pitt six months of intense training to sculpt his body to resemble Greek statues.
- Achilles and Patroclus practice sword fighting inside a menhir in Malta. This ancient obelisk could have been erected in 2000 BC.
- The Trojan horse prop used in filming was gifted to the Turkish government. It can now be seen in Çanakkale, a large coastal city where tourists from all over the world stop to see the ruins of Troy (which are just an hour's drive from Çanakkale). There is also a Trojan horse figure at the ruins themselves, but it is not related to the film's production.
- Christopher Nolan was offered the opportunity to direct the film “Troy.”
- Sean Bean played Odysseus in the film. In "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" (2010), he played the role of Zeus.
- Wolfgang Petersen initially wanted to do without not only the gods, but also Helen. He believed that the gods simply weighed down the plot, for which they were, in general, irrelevant, and for the role of Helen, he would not be able to find an actress who would meet audience expectations. But the studio insisted that Helen be in the film, and then Petersen chose a little-known actress for the role.
- Actress Katie Holmes auditioned for the role of Helen of Troy.
- According to the original sources, Agamemnon survived the Trojan War and was killed at home upon his return by his wife's lover. His son Orestes later avenged his father's death by killing his mother and her lover.
- During filming in 38-degree heat, members of the crew repeatedly fainted.
- Wolfgang Petersen cast virtually unknown actresses in the leading female roles in the film. The film 'Troy' launched the Hollywood careers of Diane Kruger and Rose Byrne. Within a year, both actresses will appear in 'Wicker Man' (2004), and Kruger will also star in 'National Treasure' (2004).
- Many viewers in Germany were unhappy that Brad Pitt's voice was dubbed by Martin Kessler instead of Tobias Meister, as usual, in the German version of the film. Kessler had previously always dubbed Nicolas Cage. Director Wolfgang Petersen himself insisted on replacing Meister with Kessler.
- Upon learning about the project, the Turkish government became very interested. The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism offered the film crew to shoot the film in Çanakkale, where the ruins of the real Troy are located, but the producers declined. Then the Turks suggested at least holding the film's premiere in real Troy. But the premiere was held in Berlin, where an exact copy of Priam's Treasure, the treasures of Troy, is kept.
- Paris tells Hector in one episode that they were favored by the god Poseidon on their return home. After "Troy" (2004), Wolfgang Petersen will direct "Poseidon" (2006).
- The filmmakers offered the role of Briseis to Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, but she declined, not wanting to play love scenes.
- Kira Knightley auditioned for the role of Briseis.
- The sound effect known as the "Wilhelm scream" is used in a scene where Greek heroes besieging city walls are pierced by Trojan arrows.
- To prepare for the role of Helen of Troy, actress Diane Kruger had to gain almost 7 kilograms.
- The film's trailer features a shot of the Greek fleet heading towards the shores of Troy, but there are far more ships in it than will appear in the movie. The filmmakers realized that such a fleet would look implausible (and that collisions would be inevitable between ships sailing so close together) and significantly reduced its size.
- There are certain discrepancies between the text of Homer's "Iliad" and the film. In the poem, the Olympian gods play an important role. Some of them side with the Greeks, others support the Trojans. The gods even take sides with their favorites on the battlefield. In the poem, Menelaus and Agamemnon remain alive. Achilles' death is foretold, but in Homer he does not die, and the Trojan War does not end. Achilles' death is described in numerous other sources. In Homer's poem, Ajax the Greater also survives. With other authors, he dies by his own hand shortly after Achilles' death. The Trojan War lasted 10 years, while the events shown in the film take place in the last few months of the war. After Achilles' death, it was Philoctetes who killed Paris (this does not appear in Homer, but the story is found in ancient Greek mythology). Broadly speaking, the "Iliad" is a story of the confrontation between Achilles and Agamemnon. Certain romantic elements of the film's plot are given more importance than the role they play in Homer.
- The film was shot in coastal areas of Mexico. Two specially hired biologists closely monitored the situation to ensure that the fighting Greeks and Trojans on the beach did not trample sea turtle eggs.
- All the male actors had to shave the hair off their chests for filming. Eric Bana, with his particularly hairy chest, found this especially difficult.
- The “Iliad” says nothing about the death of Achilles, however, according to the poem “Odyssey,” he died long before the fall of Troy. It was his death that prompted Odysseus to create the Trojan horse.
- In Italian versions of films starring Brad Pitt, he usually speaks with the voice of Alessandro Ansidoni. In "Troy," this actor was replaced by Loris Loddi, who usually voices Val Kilmer. Wolfgang Petersen made the choice in favor of Loddi himself.
- In order to participate in the project, director Wolfgang Petersen left the upcoming blockbuster "Batman vs Superman", and Brad Pitt turned down a role in Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain", with Hugh Jackman ultimately playing the lead role.
- Historians still debate whether the Trojan War actually happened, and if so, where exactly. Archaeological discoveries from the early 21st century indicate that battles did indeed take place in the place where it is believed to have occurred – and around the historical period when the Greeks were thought to have fought the Trojans. Unfortunately, there is practically no one hundred percent evidence of this, mainly due to the millennia-old practice of building new cities on the site of old ones. Homer's "Iliad" and other epics about the Trojan War were written hundreds of years after the Trojan War. These works include many mythological elements, making them questionable evidence of historical events. According to one hypothesis, the Troy of Homer's time was destroyed by an earthquake, and his "Iliad" indirectly confirms this, as the horse is a symbol of the ancient Greek god of earthquakes. The producers decided to avoid mythology and give the film historical accuracy, which is lacking in the source material.
- Garrett Hedlund received the role of Patroclus a month after arriving in Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.
- At one point, the filmmakers considered offering the role of Helen of Troy to model and singer Charlotte Kemp Muhl.
- Before filming, Brad Pitt, who played Achilles, trained in swordsmanship for six months. As a result, he injured his Achilles tendon, forcing the filming to be postponed for several weeks.
- Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana starred together in the film "Black Hawk Down" (2001).
- Halle Berry, Keira Knightley, Kristin Kreuk, Jennifer Lopez, Sophie Marceau, Connie Nielsen, and Catherine Zeta-Jones were all considered for the role of Helen of Troy.
- George Camilleri, a bodybuilder who won the title of "Mr. Malta" in 1989, broke his leg during filming on the shore of Ain Tuffiha Bay. This happened on May 30, 2003. He underwent surgery the next day. Due to complications, Camilleri died on June 17, 2003.
- Diane Kruger, whose native language is German, voiced her own character (Helen of Troy) in the German version of the film.
- Sean Bean often plays characters who do not survive to the end of the film. Surprisingly, in "Troy" he played Odysseus – the only Greek commander who remains alive.
- Orlando Bloom mastered archery skills while preparing for the role of Legolas in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, the first of which was released in 2001.
- Challenging Hector to a duel at the gates of Troy, Achilles shouts his name nine times.
- Gabriel Yared is credited as the composer in the film's trailer, although his soundtrack was rejected and the film features music by James Horner.
- While working in Mexico, the set was hit by hurricanes twice. The second time occurred in the last week, when filming was almost complete.
- During the battle under the walls, Hector struck Ajax in the groin with a spear; when the shot changes, and Ajax breaks off part of the shaft, it is visible that the spear is protruding from the right side of his abdomen.
- For the role of Patroclus, actor Garrett Hedlund gained 13.5 kilograms. He gained another 9 kilograms for the film "Glory" (2004). Thus, the actor, whose usual weight is around 66 kilograms, weighed almost 90.
- Filming took place from April 22nd to December 2003.
- The role played by Trevor Eve consists of only two lines: 'The Greek heroes outnumber the Trojans two to one' and 'It is a gift to the gods, Prince.'
- According to information from the limited-edition film release, 300 Bulgarian athletes were brought to the set in Mexico as extras in the battles between Greeks and Trojans to ensure both sides appeared to be Mediterranean inhabitants. Unlike the Mexican extras, who had more or less European features, Bulgarians were used for close-up shots of the fighting. Instructions to the extras were given in Spanish, Bulgarian, and English.
- Producers offered Terry Gilliam the director's chair for "Troy", but he refused after reading five pages of the script.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
