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Troy (film)

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Troy
File:Troy-poster.jpg
Teaser poster
Directed byWolfgang Petersen
Written byDavid Benioff
Produced byWolfgang Petersen
Diana Rathbun
Colin Wilson
StarringBrad Pitt
Eric Bana
Orlando Bloom
Diane Kruger
Owain Yeoman
Brian Cox
Sean Bean
Julie Christie
Peter O'Toole
Rose Byrne
Saffron Burrows
CinematographyRoger Pratt
Edited byPeter Honess
Music byJames Horner
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
May 13, 2004 (2004-05-13)
United States
May 14, 2004 (2004-05-14)
Running time
196 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$175 million
Box office$497,409,852[1]

Troy is a 2004 war drama film concerning the Trojan War. It is loosely based on Homer's Iliad, and includes material from Virgil's Aeneid and other sources of the Epic Cycle. The film's actors include Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Rose Byrne as Briseis, Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus, Peter O'Toole as Priam, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, and Tyler Mane as Greater Ajax. Troy was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff. It received an Oscar nomination for its costume design.

Plot

In Bronze Age Greece, King Agamemnon (Brian Cox) of Mycenae is in Thessaly, Greece, looking to conquer this last territory not in his fledgling empire. His soldiers prepare to fight the Thessalonian king, Triopas (Julian Glover). Triopas agrees to settle the matter through single combat between their best warriors. Achilles (Brad Pitt) easily kills the Thessalonian champion Boagrius (Nathan Jones). Accepting defeat, Triopas presents Achilles with a scepter as a token for his king. But Achilles refuses, saying Agamemnon is not his king.

In Sparta, 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), Menelaus' (Brendan Gleeson) wife. He smuggles her back to Troy with him. Infuriated, Menelaus vows revenge. Meanwhile, Agamemnon (Menelaus' brother), who had for years harbored plans for conquering Troy (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 Achilles, to rally troops to the cause.

Odysseus (Sean Bean) visits Phtia to persuade Achilles and his Myrmidons to fight, and finds him training with Patroclus (Garrett Hedlund), his cousin. Odysseus says the fleet will be sailing in three days, and that this war will never be forgotten. Achilles consults his mother, Thetis (Julie Christie), and she tells him that should he stay, he will find peace, love, and a long life, but his name will be forgotten. Should he go, he will find everlasting glory, but is destined to die in battle. Achilles decides to go.

The Greeks land at Troy and take control of the beach, landing their ships. Achilles and the Myrmidons kill many Trojans and desecrate the temple of Apollo. Achilles and Hector meet but do not fight, with Hector outnumbered but allowed to leave. Briseis (Rose Byrne), a member of the Trojan royal family, is captured and taken as a prize to the Greeks, despite Achilles' claim to her.

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, knowing he is the better warrior, while Agamemnon decides he will attack afterwards regardless of the outcome. Paris is easily defeated. Wounded, he crawls back to his brother's feet. Hector intervenes and kills Menelaus. Agamemnon orders his army to charge, but the Greeks are repelled because their attack is within range of the Trojan archers and the plain outside the city allows the Trojans to concentrate their numbers. Hector also kills Ajax (Tyler Mane). When Odysseus points out his army will be wiped out unless he stops, Agamemnon reluctantly withdraws.

Agamemnon gives Briseis to his men, but Achilles rescues her, claiming that she is his. He carries her back to his tent and attempts to help her, but she does not trust him. They converse by the fireside and discover their differences in their belief of the gods and their similarities in their stubborn nature. That night, Briseis holds a knife to Achilles while he sleeps. He awakens, unafraid. She wants to kill him to spare the lives of others that will be slain by his hand on the battlefield, and he challenges her, saying he will kill "many." Unable to find it in herself to kill the man that saved her, she backs off. They have consensual sex and fall asleep.

The next day, the Trojan council is arguing amongst themselves whether or not to directly attack the Greeks again, to conquer them once and for all. Hector, realizing that such an attack would be futile, strongly advises against it, but Priam, foolishly swayed by his priest's "bird signs" and Glaucus' convictions, gives the order. Meanwhile, Briseis and Achilles are lying in bed together, and it is implied that Achilles is planning to leave the next day, as he had ordered Eudorus to load the ships, much to Patroclus' indignation. Briseis seems skeptical of his decision and asks him if he could really "leave this all behind", to which he asks if she could "leave Troy".

The Trojans launch a surprise attack before dawn. As the Greeks seem to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles appears with the Myrmidons, and joins the battle. He brings courage to the Greeks, and eventually fights man-to-man against Hector. The Myrmidons are shocked by Achilles apparently being outmatched by Hector, which also energizes the Trojans and dismays the Greeks. Hector kneels and pulls Achilles' helmet off, and finds it is actually Patroclus whom he has mortally wounded, not Achilles. Horrified at causing the death of someone so young, Hector deals Patroclus a killing blow out of mercy. Both armies agree to end fighting for the day, and Odysseus informs Hector of the boy's identity. Achilles, who had slept through the battle, is told by Eudorus of his cousin's death. The Myrmidons had also mistaken Patroclus for Achilles, since he had put on the same armour, and moved with a near identical fighting style: Achilles furiously vows revenge. Later that night, Achilles leads the funeral ceremony, complete with a funeral pyre. In Troy, Hector, fearful of a Greek attack taking the city, shows his wife Andromache (Saffron Burrows) a secret tunnel out of the city, telling her to use it if Troy falls, since he doesn't want to see his young son murdered and his wife taken as a Greek slave. He also tells her to try to get as many to safety as she can.

The next day, an enraged Achilles approaches the gates of Troy alone and demands Hector to come out and face him. Hector requests a pact that the loser be given proper funeral rites by the winner, Achilles angrily refuses, saying "There are no pacts between lions and men." The two fight an evenly matched duel at the start, but Achilles begins to get the advantage as he begins to wear Hector down with his strong blows and quick reactions. In the end Achilles spears Hector in the shoulder blade and finishes him with a sword to the chest. He then ties the body to the back of his chariot, callously dragging it back to the Greek camp, leaving all the Trojans shocked. That night, King Priam visits the Greek army's camp to retrieve Hector's body. After an emotional talk given to him by Priam (Peter O'Toole), Achilles breaks down into tears near Hector's body. He lets Priam take Hector's body back, promising him that no Greek will attack Troy for twelve days in order to give time for the proper funeral games to be performed for the prince, also saying that Hector was the best he'd fought. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well, and gives her the shell necklace Thetis had made for him. He later makes amends with Eudorus (whom he had beaten and almost killed over the death of Patroclus), and gives him one last order: to take the Myrmidons home.

During the twelve days while 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. Paris warns Priam to destroy the horse; however, Priam, swayed by the claims of his priests the horse is an offering to Poseidon and a gift, neglects his warning. Assuming victory, the Trojans take the horse into the city and celebrate. A band of Greeks come out of the horse at night, opening the gates to the city, allowing the main army to enter. The unprepared Trojans are overwhelmed. As the city burns, Agamemmnon and Odysseus fight their way with their army to the palace, killing Glaucus and Priam in the onslaught.

Achilles searches desperately for Briseis, who is being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife, and is saved from his guards by Achilles, who is helping her to her feet when Paris shoots Achilles, once in his legendary vulnerable heel, and several times in the torso. Briseis runs to Achilles to support him, which surprised Paris as he finally realized that his cousin is in love. Achilles urges Briseis to join Paris as they escape the city through a secret passage. Paris sees Aeneas leaving Troy and hands him the sword of Troy, saying, "As long as it remains in the hands of a Trojan, our people have a future. Protect them Aeneas; find them a new home." Aeneas replies, "I will." This is significant because according to mythology, Aeneas then sails to the Italian coast with the defeated Trojans and founds the city of Rome. Achilles watches the others flee, then dies from his wounds. The soldiers arrive to see the fallen Achilles with only a single arrow through his heel, as he had removed all the others from his chest, fulfilling 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 Odysseus' speech.

Cast

Greeks

Trojans

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.[2]

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 Tzarovska 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.[3] According to Yared, his score was removed due to a complaint by the screening audience that the score was too "old-fashioned".[4]

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. A suspenseful note progression introduced in Willow was played numerous times in the score, particularly in battle scenes.

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.

Horner described Yared's rejected score as "atrocious", and said "it was not because Gabriel isn't a gifted writer, it's because he doesn't have any knowledge of writing film scores, real film scores like that".[5]

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.[6] 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-minute extra footage (Running Time: 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. A strange 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. James Horner's memorable drumming during this scene was discarded completely.

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 one of the film editors 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.

Reaction

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 22 on the all time list of most expensive films and, when adjusted for inflation, it is number 13. It was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.[7]

Troy screenings have earned $133 million (US$133,378,256) in the United States.[8]

Troy made more than 73%[8] of its revenues outside of the U.S. Eventually, Troy made over US$497 million dollars worldwide,[8] placing it in the #60 spot[8] 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,[9] while Yahoo! Movies gave it a critic rating of "B-" based on 15 reviews.[10] 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."[11]

Box office totals

  • Budget - $175,000,000[8]
  • Marketing cost - $50,000,000
  • Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $46,865,412
  • Total Domestic Grosses - $133,378,256
  • Total Overseas Grosses - $364,031,596[8]
  • Total Worldwide Grosses - $497,409,852

Awards and nominations

2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards

2005 Academy Awards (Oscars)

2005 Japanese Academy Prize

  • Nominated - Best Foreign Film

2005 MTV Movie Awards

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

References

  1. ^ Box Office Mojo Troy (2004). Troy.
  2. ^ "Troy - Malta Movie Map". Maltamoviemap.visitmalta.com. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  3. ^ ""The Score of Troy - A Mystery Unveiled: by Gabriel Yared". Thescreamonline.com. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  4. ^ "Troy (Rejected Score)". Moviemusicuk.us. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  5. ^ "Jedi Council Forums - A Revealing Interview with James Horner". Boards.theforce.net. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  6. ^ "Troja". Warnerbros.de. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  7. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Troy". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Troy (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
  9. ^ "Troy (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
  10. ^ "Troy (2004)". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
  11. ^ Ebert, Roger (May 14, 2004). "Troy Review". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on December 2, 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)

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.
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