Troy (film): Difference between revisions
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==Finance and Reaction== |
==Finance and Reaction== |
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''Troy'' was an expensive film from its conception. When the film was completed, total production costs were approximately $180,000,000. This makes ''Troy'' one of the most expensive films made in modern cinema. Not adjusted for inflation, it is number 8 on the all time list of most expensive films and number 15 when adjusted for inflation. |
''Troy'' was an expensive film from its conception. When the film was completed, total production costs were approximately $180,000,000. This makes ''Troy'' one of the [[List of most expensive films|most expensive films]] made in modern cinema. Not adjusted for inflation, it is number 8 on the all time list of most expensive films and number 15 when adjusted for inflation. |
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''Troy'' screenings have earned $133 million (US$133,378,256) in the [[United States]].<ref name=BOMojoTroy> |
''Troy'' screenings have earned $133 million (US$133,378,256) in the [[United States]].<ref name=BOMojoTroy> |
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Revision as of 01:16, 3 December 2007
| Troy | |
|---|---|
| File:Troy-poster.jpg Troy Theatrical Poster | |
| Directed by | Wolfgang Petersen |
| Written by | Poem The Iliad: Homer Screenplay: David Benioff |
| Produced by | Wolfgang Petersen Diana Rathbun Colin Wilson Plan B |
| Starring | Brad Pitt Eric Bana Orlando Bloom Brian Cox Sean Bean Peter O'Toole Diane Kruger |
| Cinematography | Roger Pratt |
| Edited by | Peter Honess |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates | May 13, 2004 |
Running time | 162 Min Theatrical 196 Min Director's Cut |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $180 million USD |
Troy is an Oscar-nominated movie released on May 14, 2004 about the Trojan War, as described in Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Aeneid, and other Greek myths. However, the plot differs significantly from Homer. The film has the following cast of actors prominent at the time of its release: Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus, and Peter O'Toole as Priam. Troy was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff. It received an Oscar nomination for its costume design.
Plot
The film starts with the character Odysseus (Sean Bean) dictating: "Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity; and so we ask ourselves: Will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?"
Agamemnon of Mycenae and his army are in Thessaly, Greece, looking to expand their military might and empire. His army prepares to engage in combat against a host of soldiers under Thessaly's king, Triopas. Rather than suffer great losses, the King of Thessaly agrees to avoid unnecessary deaths by settling the matter through a decisive match between the heroes of the opposing armies. The King of Thessaly summons his greatest and most accomplished warrior (who has reputedly never lost) - Boagrius. A huge brute emerges from the ranks of Thessalian warriors, then stands proudly before his chanting comrades. Agamemnon shouts for Achilles, who (eventually) arrives at the scene. Achilles sprints towards the giant, avoiding Boagrius's spears, and jumps past Boagrius while thrusting his blade through his shoulder and neck. The mighty Boagrius falls to his knees and dies. Achilles questions the stunned enemy army if anyone else would challenge him. Accepting defeat, the King of Thessaly presents Achilles with scepter as a token for his King, which he refuses, stating: "He is not my King". In the show, Achilles fights for Agamemnon solely for personal glory. Therein, their relationship is not a cordial one, and Agamemnon detests him and calls upon him because of his (supposedly) undefeated strength.
As fate would have it, Agamemnon has to call upon Achilles again when his brother Menelaus seeks revenge on the Trojan Prince Paris for running off with his wife, Helen of Sparta. Paris' warrior brother—Hector—isn't pleased to learn of this affair and when he returns to Troy, he urges their father, King Priam, to return the young woman to Sparta. But Priam puts too much faith in his high priests and their interpretation of how Apollo will react. Accordingly—and with Agamemnon realizing that a victory over Troy would give him complete control over the Aegean—the Greeks amass the largest naval force ever known to man and set sail for the foreign land with 1,000 ships, each with 50 soldiers. With them are Achilles and his younger and inexperienced cousin, Patroclus, who have been persuaded by King Odysseus (the only King in Greece whom Achilles respects) and Achilles' mother, Thetis, to join the quest. It is also Thetis who tells Achilles of a prophecy she had learned of that stated that if he does not go to the war he will find peace and have a family of his own but he will eventually be forgotten. If he chooses to go to Troy, his name will last for eternity but he will die there. Achilles cannot resist the glory of such fame and heads for Troy.
The Greeks land on Trojan soil and are able to take control of the beach on the first day of the war. Achilles and the Myrmidons—always extremely useful in battle—are able to not only cause many Trojan deaths but also desecrate the Trojan temple of Apollo and kill the unarmed priests that reside there. Notably, Achilles decapitates the statue of Apollo, supposedly angering the gods. Briseis—cousin of Hector of Troy—was taken in the midst of the fight and brought to Achilles' tent to "amuse" him. Briseis questions Achilles' motives and he tells her "I have killed men in five countries; never a priest". Agamemnon decides to take Briseis from Achilles in order to anger and insult him. Achilles protests, but Briseis' words stop Achilles from killing anybody to take her back. The result of this is that Achilles decides not to fight in the next battle. But before this battle, a challenge is issued by Paris, who does not wish to have a war. He—a man inexperienced in combat—challenges Menelaus—who is a hardened and fierce warrior—to a duel for Helen's hand in marriage. Menelaus pretends to agree to a duel that would end the war, only to agree with his comrades that no matter what the outcome is, the Greeks will try to take the City of Troy. Menelaus and Paris fight and Paris, though able to knock out one of Menelaus's teeth, is utterly dominated by the Greek. He is painfully but superficially wounded and crawls to Hector for help. Menelaus goes to attack Paris as he lies at his brother's feet, but Hector blocks the attack and slays him, and the war is back on. The Greek Generals lose control of their army in the mad rush towards the walls of Troy, the Trojans halt the advancing Greeks and shower them with volley after volley of arrows, inflicting devastating casualties. During the battle, Hector also kills Ajax and the increasingly energized Trojans press their attack against the uncoordinated Greeks. With command of the battle lost, Agamemnon grudgingly bows to Odysseus's pleas to withdraw, and the Greeks retreat to the beach.
Achilles learns that Briseis has been given to some men by the king after their poor performance in battle as a "morale booster". The men are beating up and molesting Briseis when Achilles saves her from being raped and branded by hurting two of them. He then takes her back to his tent. Achilles attempts to clean her wounds but she fights him away. That night, he wakes up with Briseis planning to slit his throat so he won't kill any more Trojans; but she can't do it, and instead he wrestles her down, caresses her thigh and has sex with her. The next night the two are in bed talking, when Achilles tells her he is leaving in the morning. The Trojans attack the Greek camp at dawn. Frustrated at not getting a chance to fight, Patroclus takes Achilles' armor when the Trojans attack the beachside camp and a battle ensues. He brings courage to the Greeks, as they mistake him for Achilles, and eventually fights man-to-man against Hector. In the fight with Hector, Patroclus' throat is cut: Hector is dismayed when he pulls Achilles's helmet off—Patroclus—and gives him the coup de grace. When Achilles finds out about this, he punches his best friend and begins to strangle Briseis. He is enraged and marches toward the Trojan gates to fight Hector. Hector stops the city's archers from opening fire and goes down to face Achilles face to face in battle. After engaging in a ferocious spear and sword fight in which both combatants are wounded (Achilles in the chest and side, and Hector on the leg), Achilles finally plunges his spear through Hector's armor, piercing his sholder and then stabbing him through the chest with his sword, killing him. Achilles ties Hector's body behind his chariot and drags it around the city walls, then drags it back to the Greek camp. Later that night King Priam secretly slips into the camp and meets Achilles to plead with him to return Hector's body. Impressed by Priam's courage and virtue, Achilles returns Hector's body to him and allows Briseis to leave with Priam back to Troy. He also assures Priam that a proper amount of time (12 days) is given to allow for a proper funeral service for Prince Hector.
During the 12 days that Troy mourns Hector's death, the Greeks devise a plan to enter the city, using a hollowed-out wooden horse, devised by Odysseus. Assuming victory, the Trojans, against the advice of Paris, take the horse into the city and celebrate long into the night. After the celebrations, the Greeks hidden inside the horse engage in a surprise attack, and open the gates of Troy to allow the entire army inside the city walls. They commence the Sack of Troy, killing nearly everyone and burning down anything they can find. Achilles starts searching for Briseis; meanwhile a group of Trojans (including Helen) flee the city. Though Priam is killed by Agamemnon, Paris refuses to leave at this time and hands the Sword of Troy to Aeneas, quoting his father by telling Aeneas that as long as the Sword of Troy remains in the hands of a Trojan, the people have a future.
Achilles frantically searches for Briseis, who is at the shrine of Apollo being threatened by Agamemnon. Agamemnon tells her that she will be his sexual slave. She kills him with a concealed knife, and is saved from Agamemnon's guards when Achilles reaches her. However, Paris sees Achilles and shoots him in the heel (Achilles' tendon) once, and three times in the chest, while Briseis screams at Paris not to kill him. He pulls out the three from his chest, but the one is left in his foot as he passes into death. Briseis tearfully leaves the city with Paris after Achilles assures her that "everything's all right, go." Achilles then delivers his last words,"You gave me peace in a lifetime of war."
After a last disorganized and futile attempt by surviving Trojan soldiers to repel the invaders, the battle ends and the Greeks storm the inner palace only to find that Achilles has died just a few moments earlier. They perform the funeral rituals for him the next morning. The story ends with Odysseus lighting Achilles' pyre, saying "Find peace, my brother," and then narrating "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, tamer of horses. Let them say...I lived in the time of Achilles".
Finance and Reaction
Troy was an expensive film from its conception. When the film was completed, total production costs were approximately $180,000,000. This makes Troy one of the most expensive films made in modern cinema. Not adjusted for inflation, it is number 8 on the all time list of most expensive films and number 15 when adjusted for inflation.
Troy screenings have earned $133 million (US$133,378,256) in the United States.[1] Having cost $180 million to make,[1] the film was a disappointment in the US. Many critics anticipated that it would flop as Troy barely missed the $50 million mark on its opening US weekend and wrote off the film. Troy was among the several historical epics released in 2004 that disappointed, such as Alexander, The Alamo, and King Arthur, although it fared better than those films.
However, Troy did extremely well at the international box office financial success, making more than 73%[1] of its revenues outside of the U.S. Eventually Troy made over US$497 million dollars worldwide,[1] placing it in the #52 spot[1] of top box office hits of all time. This places the film 18 spots above Gladiator (#70) and approximately 20 spots above 300 (#72).[2] in the all-time worldwide box office.
Troy met mixed reactions by reviewers. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a Tomatometer rating of 55% from a base of 211 reviews while Yahoo! Movies gave it a critic rating of "B-" (although that was based on 15 Critical Reviews). Roger Ebert, who seemed to dislike what he saw as an unfaithful adaptation of the Iliad, gave it two stars out of four [1] 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." David Denby of The New Yorker, however, seemed to like it[2]: "[It's] harsh, serious, and both exhilarating and tragic, the right tonal combination for Homer."
Box Office totals
- Budget - $180,000,000[1]
- Marketing cost - $50,000,000
- Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $46,865,412
- Total Domestic Grosses - $133,378,256
- Total Overseas Grosses - $364,031,596[1]
- Total Worldwide Grosses - $497,378,256
Cast
3D red cyan glasses are recommended to view this image correctly.Music
Composer Gabriel Yared originally worked on the score for Troy for about a year, having been hired by the director, Wolfgang Peterson, who trusted him to be able to write an epic score, despite Gabriel Yared's previous work being anything but epic.
Gabriel wrote an original score for Troy, which was conducted by Harry Rabinowitz and Nick Ingman. Tanja Tzarovska sang on Yared's score, as she later would on Horner's version of the soundtrack. However, after having screened the movie with an early incomplete version of the score, the reactions were against the score and in less than a day Gabriel was off the project and the studio was already looking for someone else to do a complete rewrite[3]
Around the time of the film's release in theaters, Gabriel Yared briefly made his Troy music available on the Internet on his personal website. Currently, Yared's score can only be found as an unofficially-released bootleg album on the Internet.
In the end, the final score was written by James Horner utilizing droning vocals, traditional in Eastern Mediterranean music and brass instruments used to support the film's mythos. Drums are conspicuous in the most dramatic scenes; most notably, in the duel between Achilles and Hector.
Perhaps as a result of the unusually short time in which Horner wrote the score, a mere 9 days, or perhaps simply another example of Horner borrowing from himself as well as others, the score for Troy also contains some elements of the musical score Horner did for the 2001 World War II movie Enemy at the Gates with part of the musical score for the arrival of Achilles and the Greek forces on the beaches of Troy utilising part of the musical score from Enemy At The Gates when the poorly-armed soldiers of the Red Army were assaulting the German Army's lines in Stalingrad's main square.
Furthermore, various elements of the soundtracks seem to have been borrowed from 20th century Russian music, significantly from that of Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff. In particular there is a phrase from the 4th movement of Shostakovich's 5th symphony which is continually repeated while the armies are prepared for war.
The end-credits song "Remember"[4] ("Remember Me") was composed by James Horner with Josh Groban, David Foster, Randy Kerber, Jochem van der Saag, and Tanja Tzarovska, with lyrics by Cynthia Weil,[4] sung by Josh Groban.
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. [3] Warner Home Video reportedly shelled out more than $1 million for the Director's Cut, which includes "at least 1,000 new cuts" or almost 30-minute extra footage (Running Time: 196 minutes). The DVD was released on September 18, 2007 in the USA. The score of the film was changed dramatically, with many of the female vocals being cut. Various shots were recut and extended. For instance, the love scene between Helen and Paris was reframed to include more nudity of Diane Kruger. 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.
Awards (Wins and Nominations)
2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
- Won - Top Box Office Film — James Horner
2005 Academy Awards (Oscars)
- Nominated - Best Achievement in Costume Design — Bob Ringwood
- Nominated - Best Foreign Film
2005 MTV Movie Awards
2005 Motion Picture Sound Editors (Golden Reel Award)
- Nominated - Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features — Wylie Stateman, 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 Breakout Movie Star - Male — Garrett Hedlund
- Nominated - Choice Movie - Drama/Action Adventure
- Nominated - Choice Movie Fight/Action Sequence
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (July 2007) |
- The Trojan horse prop that was used on the set of the film now stands in Canakkale, Turkey, near the remains of the ancient city of Troy. The horse was a gift offered presumably because of the close proximity of the UNESCO Heritage site. (Location in GeoHacks)
- Brad Pitt suffered an injury when he jumped off his ship during filming. Ironically, he tore his Achilles tendon.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g "Troy" (film data), Box Office Mojo, 2006, BoxOfficeMojo.com, webpage: BOMojo-Troy.
- ^ "Gladiator" (film data), Box Office Mojo, 2001/2006, BoxOfficeMojo.com, webpage: BOMojo-Gladiator.
- ^ http://www.thescreamonline.com/film/film4-3/yared.html
- ^ a b "Josh Groban: Remember (from Troy)" [song], Sheet Music Plus, 2006, webpage: SheetmusicP-Troy.
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
