Troy (film)

Troy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Wolfgang Petersen
Written by	David Benioff
Produced by	Wolfgang Petersen Diana Rathbun Colin Wilson
Starring	Brad Pitt Eric Bana Orlando Bloom Rose Byrne Peter O'Toole Diane Kruger Sean Bean Brian Cox Julie Christie Saffron Burrows
Cinematography	Roger Pratt
Edited by	Peter Honess
Music by	James Horner
Production company	Plan B Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	May 14, 2004 (2004-05-14)
Running time	162 minutes (Theatrical cut) 196 minutes (Director's cut)
Countries	Malta United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$175 million $177 million (Director's cut)
Box office	$497,409,852

Troy is a 2004 epic war film written by David Benioff and directed by Wolfgang Petersen and loosely based on Homer's Iliad. It features an ensemble cast that includes Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Saffron Burrows, Sean Bean, Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson, Rose Byrne, Garrett Hedlund, Tyler Mane, and Peter O'Toole.

It was nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design.

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Cast

Greeks members, advisers and servants (Mycenae and Sparta)

• Brian Cox as Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae and the main antagonist. He is the brother of Menelaus.
• John Shrapnel as Nestor, the adviser of Agamemnon.
• Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, the king of Sparta and husband of Helen. He is the brother of Agamemnon.
• Ken Bones as Hippasus, the adviser of Menelaus.
• Siri Svegler as Polydora, a Spartan entertainer.
• Diane Kruger as Helen, the queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus. She is the lover of Paris.

Myrmidons

• Brad Pitt as Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis, cousin of Patroclus, and leader of the Myrmidons. He is also the lover of Briseis and the main protagonist.
• Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus, the cousin and student of Achilles.
• Vincent Regan as Eudoros, the general of the Myrmidon army and Achilles's best friend.
• Julie Christie as Thetis, the mother of Achilles and aunt of Patroclus.

Kings and Warriors of other Greek states (e.g. Ithaca, Thessaly, etc.)

• Sean Bean as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca and friend of Achilles. He is considered the most clever of the Greeks. He serves as the film's narrator.
• Julian Glover as Triopas, the king of Thessaly.
• Nathan Jones as Boagrius, a Thessalian champion.
• Tyler Mane as Greater Ajax, the king of Salamis

Trojans

• Peter O'Toole as Priam, the king of Troy, father of Hector and Paris, uncle of Briseis and father-in-law of Andromache.
• Eric Bana as Hector, the prince of Troy and the best warrior among the Trojans. He is the elder son of Priam, brother of Paris, cousin of Briseis and husband of Andromache.
• Orlando Bloom as Paris, the prince of Troy. He is the younger son of Priam, brother of Hector, cousin of Briseis and brother-in-law of Andromache. He is the lover of Helen.
• Rose Byrne as Briseis, the priestess of Apollo, niece of Priam and cousin of Hector and Paris, cousin-in-law of Andromache. She is the lover of Achilles.
• Saffron Burrows as Andromache, the princess of Troy and wife of Hector. She is the sister-in-law of Paris and daughter-in-law of Priam.
• James Cosmo as Glaucus, the commanding general of the Trojan army.
• Nigel Terry as Archeptolemus, the Trojan high priest and adviser of Priam.
• Frankie Fitzgerald as Aeneas, a Trojan youth. As Troy is being sacked, Paris picks him at random to take the Sword of Troy, carrying the future of the Trojans into Virgil's epic, The Aeneid.

Production

The city of Troy was built in the Mediterranean island of Malta at Fort Ricasoli from April to June 2003. Other important scenes were shot in Mellieħa, a small town in the north of Malta, and on the small island of Comino. The outer walls of Troy were built and filmed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Film production was disrupted for a period of time after Hurricane Marty affected filming areas. The role of Helen was initially offered to Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai, but she refused it because of the lovemaking scenes she was not comfortable doing. The role eventually went to Kruger.

Music

Composer Gabriel Yared originally worked on the score for Troy for over a year, having been hired by the director, Wolfgang Petersen.

Yared wrote and recorded his score and Tanja Carovska provided vocals on various portions of the music, as she later would on composer James Horner's version of the soundtrack. However, after having screened the film with an early incomplete version of the score, the reactions at test screenings were against it and in less than a day Yared was off the project without being given a chance to fix or change his music, while Warner Bros was already looking for a replacement. According to Yared, his score was removed due to a complaint by the screening audience that the score was too "old-fashioned".

The replacement score was written by composer James Horner in about four weeks. He used Carovska's vocals again, and also included traditional Eastern Mediterranean music and brass instruments. Drums are conspicuous in the most dramatic scenes; most notably, in the duel between Achilles and Hector. Horner also collaborated with American singer/songwriter Josh Groban and lyricist Cynthia Weil to write an original song for the film's end credits. The product of this collaboration, "Remember" was performed by Groban with additional vocals by Tzarovska. The song is available on the film's original soundtrack.

A commentator, Alex Ross, claims that large portions of the score were essentially plagiarized from the pieces of which they are reminiscent.

Around the time of the film's release in theaters, Gabriel Yared briefly made portions of his rejected score available on his personal website, which was later removed at the request of Warner Brothers. Bootleg versions exist on the Internet. Yared's score has since gained much attention from the fans of film music. Several petitions were made requesting the release of Yared's score either on a limited edition CD or as a bonus feature or secondary audio track on the film's DVD. Those requests however, have been denied by Warner Bros.

Director's cut

Troy: Director's Cut was screened at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival on February 17, 2007, and received a limited release in Germany in April 2007. Warner Home Video reportedly spent more than $1 million for the director's cut, which includes "at least 1,000 new cuts" or almost 30 minutes extra footage (with a new running time of 196 minutes). The DVD was released on September 18, 2007 in the US. The score of the film was changed dramatically, with many of the female vocals being cut. An addition to the music is the use of Danny Elfman's theme for Planet of the Apes during the pivotal fight between Hector and Achilles in front of the Gates of Troy.

Various shots were recut and extended. For instance, the love scene between Helen and Paris was reframed to include more nudity of Diane Kruger. The sex scene between Achilles and Briseis is also extended. Only one scene was removed: the scene where Helen tends to the wound of Paris is taken out. The battle scenes were also extended, showing much more of Ajax's bloody rampage on the Trojans during the initial attack by the Greek Army. Perhaps most significant was the sacking of Troy, barely present in the theatrical cut, but shown fully here. Characters were given more time to develop, specifically Priam and Odysseus, the latter being given a humorous introduction scene. Lastly, bookend scenes were added: the beginning being a soldier's dog finding its dead master, and the end including a sequence where the few surviving Trojans escape to Mount Ida. In one of the commentary sequences, the film's writer, David Benioff, said that when it came to deciding whether to follow The Iliad or to do what was best for the film, they always decided with what was best for the film.

Reception

When the film was completed, total production costs were approximately $175,000,000. This made Troy one of the most expensive films produced in modern cinema. It was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Troy screenings have earned US$133,378,256 in the United States.

Troy made more than 73% of its revenues outside the U.S. Eventually, Troy made over US$497 million worldwide, placing it in the #60 spot of top box office hits of all time.

Troy met mixed reactions by reviewers. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an average approval rating of 55% from a base of 222 reviews, while Yahoo! Movies gave it a critic rating of "B-" based on 15 reviews. Roger Ebert, who disliked what he saw as an unfaithful adaptation of the Iliad, gave it two stars out of four. Ebert claimed that Troy "sidesteps the existence of the Greek gods, turns its heroes into action movie clichés and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies."

Box office totals

• Budget – $175,000,000
• Marketing cost – $50,000,000
• Opening weekend gross (Domestic) – $46,865,412
• Total domestic grosses – $133,378,256
• Total overseas grosses – $364,031,596
• Total worldwide grosses – $497,409,852

Accolades

2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

• Won – Top Box Office Film — James Horner

2005 Academy Awards

• Nominated – Best Achievement in Costume Design — Bob Ringwood

2005 Japanese Academy Prize

• Nominated – Best Foreign Film

2005 MTV Movie Awards

• Nominated – Best Fight — Brad Pitt & Christian Baldovino
• Nominated – Best Male Performance — Brad Pitt

2005 Motion Picture Sound Editors (Golden Reel Award)

• Nominated – Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features — Wylie Statesman, Martin Cantwell, James Boyle, Harry Barnes, Paul Conway, Alex Joseph, Matthew Grime, Steve Schwalbe, Howard Halsall, Sue Lenny, Simon Price & Nigel Stone

2005 Teen Choice Awards

• Won – Choice Movie Actor – Drama/Action Adventure — Brad Pitt
• Nominated – Choice Movie Actor – Drama/Action Adventure — Orlando Bloom
• Nominated – Choice Breakout Movie Star – Male — Garrett Hedlund
• Nominated – Choice Movie – Drama/Action Adventure
• Nominated – Choice Movie Fight/Action Sequence

See also

• Epic film
• Greek mythology in popular culture
• List of films based on poems
• List of historical drama films

Further reading

• Petersen, Daniel (2006). Troja: Embedded im Troianischen Krieg (Troy: Embedded in the Trojan War). HörGut! Verlag. ISBN 3-938230-99-1.
• Winkler, Martin M. (2006). Troy: From Homer's Iliad to Hollywood Epic. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-4051-3183-7.

External links

• Official website
• Troy at IMDb
• Template:Allmovie title
• Troy at Rotten Tomatoes
• Troy at Metacritic
• Troy at Box Office Mojo