Official Site

Release Date: May 14th, 2004 (wide)

Release Date Note: (2/14/03) Two other big "tentpole" releases from other studios that are gunning for that May 21st, 2004 release date are Paramount's Mission: Impossible 3 and Universal's Van Helsing. It's likely that in the end, only one of those films will actually open on that date. (3/27/03) Well, it's down to two, as Van Helsing has been bumped up to May 7th. (6/15/03) Paramount has pushed Mission: Impossible 3 back several months, so this movie is currently alone on May 21st, but "Variety" reported this week that there is a good chance that Garfield might be bumped up two weeks to fill that spot. (7/28/03) As a few high-profile movies have vacated the May calendar over the last few months, Warner Bros. appears to be getting more and more confident about kicking the summer off with an earlier date, with the news that they have moved up another week, to May 14th, with Garfield currently scheduled for that date, and Van Helsing just a week earlier.

MPAA Rating: R (for graphic violence and some sexuality/nudity)

Running Time: 165 minutes

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Production Company: Radiant Pictures (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm; Petersen's company), Village Roadshow Pictures, Latina Pictures, Plan B Films (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Cast: Brad Pitt (Achilles), Eric Bana (Prince Hector of Troy), Orlando Bloom (Prince Paris of Troy), Diane Kruger (Helen of Troy), Peter O'Toole (King Priam of Troy), Sean Bean (Odysseus), Saffron Burrows (Andromache), Rose Byrne (Briseis), Julie Christie (Thetis), Brian Cox (Agamemnon), Brendan Gleeson (Meneleus), Garrett Hedlund (Patroclus), Tyler Mane (Ajax); other cast not announced yet.

Cast Notes: (11/14/02) According to the IMDb, the role of Agamemnon may have gone to Ciaran Hinds (Finn McGovern in Road to Perdition). Also, it's worth mentioning that Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom previously costarred together in Ridley Scott's war epic, Black Hawk Down. (11/15/02) Apparently, "Access Hollywood" reported this week that Claire Forlani (possibly Helen?), Michael Clarke Duncan (possibly Ajax?) and Emilio Estevez are also being considered for roles (source: IGN FilmForce). (11/25/02) IGN FilmForce asked Ciaran Hinds' agent about the IMDb listing, and was told that he *is* in talks for a possible role (with Odysseus being another), but is not signed for anything yet.

(2/12/03) Two weeks ago, Peter O'Toole was nominated by the Academy to receive a lifetime achievement award, which he turned down, saying that he is "still in the game and might win the lovely bugger outright, would the Academy please defer the honour until I am 80". Now, the Evening Standard is reporting that O'Toole's next role is an unspecified role in this movie. Might this end up being that chance at an Oscar that O'Toole was referring to? (2/17/03) Corona's Coming Attractions reports that Sean Bean and Brendan Gleeson are both either signed, or in talks, for roles as well. (2/20/03) Brian Cox (X2, L.I.E.) has signed on as well. (2/21/03) Cox is set to play Agamemnon, King of the Myceneans. Odysseus (Bean) is the king of Ithica.

(3/3/03) This is the definitive "epic", so there are lots and lots of roles to be cast (even yet). The latest round includes Julie Christie as Thetis, the mother of Achilles who dipped him in water held by the heel, thus creating his legendary weakness. Saffron Burrows will play Andromache, Hector's wife, and complete newcomer Garrett Hedlund, just a month off the bus (or plane or car or whatever) from Minnesota, has landed the role of Patroclus, Achilles' teenage cousin. The highest profile role yet to be cast is Helen herself, who will be played by a complete unknown like Hedlund, in what is perceived as being a career-launching opportunity. (4/13/03) German actress Diane Kruger, who will be making her studio debut with Wicker Park, has landed the highly-coveted role of Helen of Troy.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak; he's also got Endurance and Batman vs Superman in development)

Screenwriter: David Benioff (25th Hour)

Based Upon: The Trojan War, as depicted in "The Iliad", the epic Greek poem by Homer.

Similar Project Note: (11/14/02) Warner Bros. has another Trojan War project in development, written by Michael Tabb (debut) for the Canton Company (Driven, Angel Eyes), which would be more of a "romantic epic" (that happens to take place during the Trojan War), based upon 'Troilus and Cressida' by William Shakespeare. It appears, however, that they may have put these two Trojan War projects in development with the aim of actually only producing one, so the Troilus project may have been shelved.

Premise: In 1193 B.C., Prince Paris (Bloom) of Troy stole the beautiful Greek woman, Helen (Kruger), away from her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta, setting the two nations at war with each other, as the Greeks began a bloody siege of Troy using their entire armada, led by Achilles (Pitt), that lasted over a decade... (Bana plays Hector, the leader of the Trojan forces; Byrne plays Briseis, a Trojan slave and cousin of Hector and Paris who is given to Achilles as a gift.)

Filming: Production started on April 22nd, 2003 on sets in London and Malta on a budget of $100+ million. On July 12th, 2003, the production then moved on to the battle sequences at Los Cabos, Mexico (replacing the original chosen location of Morocco, which was abandoned due to concerns about difficulties that may arise there during a possible war in the Middle East). Principle production should be wrapped up by September, 2003 or so.

Genre: Action, Eye Candy, Historical, War

Script Reviews: AICN, TNMC.org, The STAX Report

Sites about the Subject: Yahoo! Directory, Calliope.Free-Online.co.uk

Read the Source Material: The Iliad at MIT.edu

Images and Articles about the Filming: Times of Malta (if you do a search for "Troy", you will get a fair amount of articles and images)

Unofficial Actor Fan Sites: OrlandoMultiMedia.net (frequently updated and comprehensive, including lots of images), The Compleat Sean Bean

Unofficial Rumor Control: IGN FilmForce

Watch the Trailer: Yahoo! Movies

Official Japanese Site: Troy.jp (where you can see a full trailer not yet available, 2/18/04, in the U.S.)

10/30/03 - In conjunction with the aforementioned teaser trailer, Warner Bros. is also sending out the first poster to theaters next week, and ComingSoon.net has an excellent, high-res image of it for us to check out. It's one of those beefcake-ish posters usually relegated for A-list stars whose contracts require that their face or personage takes up a certain amount of space on the poster (Sean Connery is especially famous for that; look at the poster for Finding Forrester). Anyway, it's rare that such star-dominated posters are among the year's best, but this one... is excellent. The bronze tinting conveys exactly the right sort of "ancient historical epic" perspective to the image of Brad Pitt as Achilles, with sword and armor. I also like the "find a word" placement of five of Pitt's most famous male costars (Diane Kruger, who plays Helen, is absent, but then again... she's not quite a household name yet, either): Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Sean Bean and Peter O'Toole. The names sort of float there, in a field of other significant descriptions of the characters. In alphabetical order, they are (try to find them all! :): Allies, Brothers, Cousins, Enemies, Gods, Kings, Legends, Lovers, Warriors and Wives.

10/27/03 - Huh. It's odd this movie hasn't inspired me to have preview thoughts before this. I will have to rectify that soon. In the meantime, we can expect to see the teaser trailer appear in theaters, attached to Warner Bros' The Matrix Revolutions.