http://www.troymovie.com

Anyone seen the trailer for this? The classicist in me is fascinated to see what the makers of this film come up with.

I saw the trailer before Matrix, and I am very intrigued. Actually, I like the recent trend of movies to target classic tales and historical movies. I generally prefer these movies.

I've just saw the matrix revolutions, preview for troy in there. ANyways, its funny, I am doing mythology in english class, and my teacher was talking about this film. Can't wait to see it.

<font color=skyblue>Orlando Bloom and Brad Pitt. I cannot wait to see this! I bet it will be as good or better than Gladiator, if that is the proper genre of movie to place it in.</font>

There's a whole bunch of these films coming out recently. Epic tales about a great hero. Alexander the Great, King Arthur, and now, Achilles. Interesting...

I really look forward to this but I sincerely hope they don't trade the beauty of the mythological story for some hollywood cliche like they did with lots of TV movies and series (e.g. Hercules).
I really loved a lot of the older movies set in Graeco-Roman mythology and/or history. Movies like "Cleopatra", "Spartacus" or "Ben Hur" were of a quality "Gladiator" did not achieve in the farthest sense. So I hope all these new attempts become real classics again instead of just cheap exploits of the Graeco-Roman culture.

I couldn't agree more. I thought it was a travesty that Gladiator won best Oscar. There were much better movies out that year. And it was not even close to true Roman culture. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't all that good, IMHO...

The others you listed are all classics for a reason; they are great movies. I am also a fan of Greek mythology, and if Troy is close to the Iliad, then I will definitely like it. I'll wait until I hear the reviews on it (probably from here...) before I see it, to see if it sticks closely to the myths or goes off into Xena: Warrior Princess territory.

One thing that caught my eye is the apparent use of the Wooden Horse to enter Troy... something that didn't happen until Achilles was long dead. I guess that instead of having Achilles challenge Hector to fight outside Troy and then having Athena dupe Hector into standing and fighting, Achilles will lead the men inside the Horse and the duel will take place inside Troy.

Of note is Rose Byrne playing Briseis(the redheaded woman in the trailer), according to the cast list I've got... Briseis is an extremely minor character in the poem, but as she's the very reason Agamemnon and Achilles fell out, it's nice to know she's there.

Why? I loved the Iliad as a poem, but filmed more or less straight it would make a *terrible* movie!

Why? I loved the Iliad as a poem, but filmed more or less straight it would make a *terrible* movie! </font>[/QUOTE]LOL, wouldn't it? Book 2 would make for some stirring scenes! :D

Actually I heard that two Alexander the Greats were being made - one with Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman, and one with Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie. I dunno how that's going to work.