Troy (film)

Troy
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Wolfgang Petersen
Produced by	Wolfgang Petersen Diana Rathbun Colin Wilson
Written by	David Benioff
Starring	Brad Pitt Eric Bana Orlando Bloom Rose Byrne Diane Kruger Brian Cox Sean Bean Brendan Gleeson Peter O'Toole Garrett Hedlund
Music by	James Horner
Cinematography	Roger Pratt
Editing by	Peter Honess
Studio	Plan B Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	May 14, 2004 (2004-05-14)
Running time	162 minutes
Country	Malta United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$175 million
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. Its cast includes Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Rose Byrne as Briseis, Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus, Peter O'Toole as Priam, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, and Tyler Mane as Ajax.

It was nominated for the Academy Award for Costume Design.

Plot

Prince Hector (Eric Bana) and his young brother Paris (Orlando Bloom) negotiate peace between Troy and Sparta. Paris has fallen in love with Helen (Diane Kruger), the wife of king Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), and smuggles her back to Troy with him. Infuriated, Menelaus vows revenge. Menelaus approaches his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox), a king who has conquered every army of Greece, and now commands them. Agamemnon, who has wanted to conquer Troy for years (which would give him control of the Aegean Sea), uses this as a justification to invade Troy. General Nestor (John Shrapnel) asks him to take the legendary warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt), to rally the troops to the cause.

Odysseus (Sean Bean), a king commanded by Agamemnon, visits Phtia to persuade Achilles to fight, and finds him training with Patroclus (Garrett Hedlund), his cousin. Achilles, pondering his decision, visits his mother Thetis (Julie Christie) for advice. She tells him that, before he was even born, she knew this day would come. She also tells him that if he does not go to Troy, he will live a long, happy life and have children, but after he dies, his name will be forgotten and nobody will remember him. If he does go to Troy, he will find great glory in battle, his name will be written into history forever, but he will die there. Achilles, wanting his name to be remembered, chooses to go.

The Greeks sail for Troy. Achilles and the Myrmidons are the fastest rowers and land before anyone else. They kill many Trojans and desecrate the temple of Apollo. Briseis (Rose Byrne), a member of the Trojan royal family, is captured and taken as a prize to the Greeks, despite Achilles claiming her as a war prize himself.

Achilles and his Myrmidons do not fight the next day because of Agamemnon's unfair claim to Briseis. With Greeks surrounding Troy, Paris challenges Menelaus to a duel to settle things. Menelaus agrees; however, Agamemnon plans on attacking the city regardless of the outcome. Paris is easily defeated, and wounded. Hector intervenes and kills Menelaus. The Greeks charge the Trojan lines but are forced to fall back when they are nearly wiped out by archers on Troy's walls. Ajax is slain in the battle as well at the hands of Hector.

Agamemnon gives Briseis to his men, but Achilles rescues her. He carries her back to his tent and tends to her wounds. Briseis then tries to kill Achilles but realizes that she has feelings for him and the two make love. The next day Achilles is readying his men to leave, much to Patroclus' indignation.

The Trojans launch a surprise attack. As the Greeks seem to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles appears with the Myrmidons and joins the battle, eventually fighting against Hector. All are shocked when Hector cuts Achilles' throat. However, Hector kneels and pulls Achilles' helmet off revealing it was really Patroclus whom he has mortally wounded. Both armies agree to end fighting for the day, and Odysseus informs Hector it was Patroclus whom he had killed. Achilles, who had slept through the battle, is told by Eudorus of his cousin's death. The Greeks had also mistaken Patroclus for Achilles, since he had put on Achilles' armour and moved like Achilles. Furious, Achilles attacks Eudorus and when Briseis tries to stop him, he throws her to the ground. Later that night, Achilles lights Patroclus's funeral pyre.

The next day Achilles approaches the gates of Troy alone and shouts for Hector to come out and face him. Hector knows he must face him alone so he says his goodbyes to his family and friends and then confronts Achilles. The two fight an evenly matched duel at the start, but Hector begins to tire as Achilles is too quick and strong and eventually incapacitates him and stabs him in the chest. He then ties Hector's body to the back of his chariot, dragging it around the city, leaving all the Trojans shocked. That night, King Priam (Peter O'Toole) visits the Greek army's camp to convince Achilles to let him retrieve Hector's body. After the King makes his plea Achilles acquiesces to his request and allows him to take his son to be buried, promising him the 12 days for funerary rites. He tells Priam that Hector was the best he had ever fought. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well. He later apologises to Eudorus for harming him and gives him one last order: to take the Myrmidons home.

Maquette Trojan Horse, used in Troy film, a gift from Brad Pitt to the Turkish town Canakkale.

During the 12 days Troy mourns Hector's death, the Greeks plan to enter the city using a hollowed-out wooden horse, devised by Odysseus, desperate to stem the slaughter of his own men at the hands of the Trojans. The Greeks leave the horse at their camp, then depart, hiding their ships in a nearby cove. Priam trusts his priests that the horse is an offering to Poseidon and a gift. Assuming victory, the Trojans take the horse into the city and celebrate. A Trojan scout finds the Greek ships hiding in the cove but is killed by the Greeks before he can tell the news. A band of Greeks led by Achilles and Odysseus come out of the horse at night, opening the gates to the city, allowing the main army to enter. The Greeks commence the Sack of Troy, massacring the inhabitants and looting buildings. The Trojan army attempts to defend the royal palace but fails, and the Greeks storm in, killing Glaucus and Priam in the process.

While Troy is burned, Paris sees Aeneas together with Andromache and Helen and many others escaping Troy through a secret passage and hands him the sword of Troy. (In the Roman writer Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas and other Trojan survivors are eventually founders of Rome.)

Achilles searches for Briseis, who is being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife and is saved from his guards by Achilles. While Achilles is helping Briseis to her feet, Paris, seeing them together and misintepreting Achilles' actions, shoots Achilles several times before Briseis manages to stay his hand. Achilles urges Briseis to join Paris and escape the city, then dies of the wound to his the one spot on his body that was vulnerable, his heel. The soldiers arrive to see the fallen Achilles with only the single arrow through his heel, as he had removed all the others, in keeping with the myth that Achilles was killed by a single arrow to the heel. Funeral rituals are performed for him in the ruins of Troy the next day. The film ends with a speech from Odysseus "If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, breaker of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles."

Cast

Greeks

House of Atreus members, advisors and servants (Mycenae and Sparta)

• Brian Cox as Agamemnon – King of Mycenae. Brother of Menelaus.
• John Shrapnel as Nestor – Adviser of Agamemnon.
• Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus – King of Sparta and husband of Helen. Brother of Agamemnon.
• Ken Bones as Hippasus – Adviser of Menelaus.
• Siri Svegler as Polydora – Spartan entertainer.
• Diane Kruger as Helen – Queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus. Lover of Paris.
• Julie Christie as Thetis – Mother of Achilles and aunt of Patroclus.

Myrmidons

• Brad Pitt as Achilles – Son of Peleus and Thetis, cousin of Patroclus and leader of the Myrmidons. Lover of Briseis
• Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus – Cousin and student of Achilles.
• Vincent Regan as Eudoros – Captain of the Myrmidons.

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

• Sean Bean as Odysseus – King of Ithaca and friend of Achilles. Considered the most clever of the Greeks.
• Julian Glover as Triopas – King of Thessaly.
• Nathan Jones as Boagrius – Thessalian champion.

Trojans

• Peter O'Toole as Priam – King of Troy, father of Hector and Paris, uncle of Briseis and father-in-law of Andromache.
• Eric Bana as Hector – Prince of Troy and the best warrior among the Trojans. Eldest son of Priam, brother of Paris, cousin of Briseis and husband of Andromache.
• Orlando Bloom as Paris – Prince of Troy. Youngest son of Priam, brother of Hector , cousin of Briseis and brother-in-law of Andromache. Lover of Helen.
• Rose Byrne as Briseis – Priestess of Apollo, niece of Priam and cousin of Hector and Paris, cousin-in-law of Andromache. Lover of Achilles.
• Saffron Burrows as Andromache – Princess of Troy and wife of Hector, sister-in-law of Paris, daughter-in-law of Priam and cousin-in-law of Briseis.
• James Cosmo as Glaucus – Commanding general of the Trojan army.
• Nigel Terry as Archeptolemus – Trojan high priest and adviser of Priam.
• Frankie Fitzgerald as Aeneas – Trojan youth.

Production

Major sets for the city of Troy were 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.

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 utilized Tanja Tzarovska's vocals, traditional Eastern Mediterranean music and brass instruments. Drums are conspicuous in the most dramatic scenes; most notably, in the duel between Achilles and Hector. His instrumental scenes have themes very reminiscent of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1, Gustav Holst's The Planets, and Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. The score also quotes themes from Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings and Dmitri Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. A suspenseful note progression introduced in Willow was played numerous times in the score, particularly in battle scenes. However, the main theme of the score mostly resembles Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. His theme also can be heard in the song performed by Josh Groban, "Remember", on the soundtrack of the film.

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.

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 theatrical 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 significantly 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 Iliad or 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 makes Troy one of the most expensive films made in modern cinema. Unadjusted for inflation, Troy is number 24 on the all time list of most expensive films and, when adjusted for inflation, it is number 20. 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 215 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 & Eric Bana
• 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
• List of films based on poems
• List of historical drama films
• Greek mythology in popular culture

Further reading

• Petersen, Daniel (2006). Troja: Embedded im Troianischen Krieg (Troy: Embedded in the Trojan War). HörGut! Verlag. ISBN 3-93823-099-1.
• Winkler, Martin M. (2006). Troy: From Homer's Iliad to Hollywood Epic. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 1-40513-183-7.

External links

• Official website
• Troy at the Internet Movie Database
• Troy at AllRovi
• Troy at Rotten Tomatoes
• Troy at Metacritic
• Troy at Box Office Mojo