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Throughout time, men have waged war. Some for power, some for glory, some for honour and some for love.

One of the biggest movies of 2004, this Hollywood epic tells the tale of one of the most tragic and violent love stories of all time.

Based upon part of Homer's classic illiad, Troy tells the woeful tale of Paris, (a Prince of Troy) and Helen (Queen of Sparta). When Paris (Orlando Bloom) woos and eventually steals Helen (Diane Kruger) away from her husband, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), he sets the two nations of Troy and Sparta at war in a bloody battle of revenge.

Family pride dictates that an affront to Menelaus is an affront to his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox), powerful king of the Myceneans, who soon unites all the massive tribes of Greece to steal Helen back from Troy in defence of his brother’s honour.

In truth, Agamemnon’s pursuit of honour is corrupted by his overwhelming greed – he needs control of Troy to ensure the supremacy of his already vast empire. The walled city, under the leadership of King Priam (Peter O'Toole) and defended by mighty Prince Hector (Eric Bana), is a citadel that no army has been able to breach. One man alone stands as the key to victory or defeat over Troy – Achilles (Brad Pitt), believed to be the greatest warrior alive.

“If you go to Troy, glory will be yours. They will write stories about your victories in thousands of years! And the world will remember your name. But if you go to Troy, you will never come back ... for your glory walks hand-in-hand with your doom. And I shall never see you again.” - Thetis

Arrogant, rebellious and seemingly invincible, Achilles has no allegiance to anyone or anything, save his own glory. Achilles despises Agamemnon but his insatiable hunger for eternal renown leads him to attack the gates of Troy under Agamemnon’s banner; however when Achilles falls in love with Briseis (Rose Byrne), one of the captured Trojans, Achilles is forced to choose between personal glory and the woman that he now loves.

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen (A Perfect Storm, Outbreak), and featuring an amazing cast, Troy is an old style Hollywood epic which tells the tale of one of the most tragic and violent love stories of all time. Displaying real depth and maturity in his performance, Brad Pitt is perfect as Achilles – as a Hollywood megastar, Pitt’s screen presence means that he is one of the few actors that are able to get away with playing such a iconic character and he of course, has the physique to match.

Hulk star Eric Bana plays the film’s second lead character Hector, the heroic Prince of Troy. An accomplished character actor, the scenes between Hector and his wife Andromache (Saffron Burrows) are truly moving and Bana really does a first-rate job of displaying Hector’s internal conflict – his loyalty and commitment to his country and the love he feels for his own family – his wife would prefer that he didn’t fight.

Orlando Bloom puts in a good performance as Prince Paris of Troy, brother of Prince Hector. Playing the inexperienced and foolhardy Prince responsible for the destruction of Troy was a brave decision for Bloom who has appeared in more heroic roles. His character cannot see the consequences of his own actions, or the pain that he will inflict on his family and his subjects... he only has eyes for Helen.

History buffs will in all likelihood question how realistic this movie truly is and frown at the historical references – Was there ever actually a Trojan horse? Did the Trojan War actually happen? And shouldn’t it have lasted 10 years? But none of this really matters. Troy is merely based upon one of the many myths of Ancient Greece; an epic story with more than enough to entertain almost everyone.

DVD Special Features include two featurettes, a documentary about the discovery of ancient Trojan ruins, the theatrical trailer and a DVD Easter egg.

A Greek Tragedy

In a neat twist of irony, Brad Pitt can claim among the scrapes and scars he picked up during filming, a torn Achilles tendon.
Keen to look as well toned as the Greek statues he had seen, Pitt trained for a whole six months to get his body into shape for the role.
The film didn’t take on the Italian translation of it’s name when it was released in Italy, as it turns out that Troia – the direct translation of Troy is slang for 'prostitute'!
Troy was originally due to be filmed in Morocco in February 2003, but the impending war in Iraq forced production to Mexico.
What was the worst thing for Brad Pitt about the filming? Apparently, it wasn’t the desert heat or the tortuous training, but the fact that he had just quit smoking.
Originally, director Wolfgang Petersen was down to work on the proposed Batman Vs Superman but left that to work on Troy, just as well really as the Batman project was canned.

How was it playing such a legendary character as Achilles?

“ Well, that's where the research comes in. There was a lot of material out there to digest and it was good to have so much to cling to. I felt very anchored going into it and with the script being really strong, it was just really exciting. ”

What's your Achilles heel?

“ Well, in the film it's his heart and that's pretty much universal for everyone. I'll leave it at that. ”

What was it like working on such an epic movie?

“ This was the biggest movie that I've ever been on. I've never seen anything like it in terms of the scale and scope of the project. I can't imagine what it was like for some of the other actors who'd only done a handful of films to come onto something like this. It was kind of extraordinary. ”

Why do you think the story is so relevant today?

“ Well, it's a bit discouraging to see that we haven't come as far as we think we have. We're not evolved like our technology. Personally speaking, we seem to still be dealing with the same issues and so I believe that means the story really resonates today. ”

How faithful is the story to The Iliad?

“ I think the writer David Benioff did a great job of pulling out pretty much the essence of Homer's story. Most of the elements are there. But we do it in a much more linear fashion. You see the chain of events that sparked a war but it happens over a much shorter period. ”

Was it a fun shoot?

“ Well, it's a Greek tragedy so it's not the most uplifting of subject matters but I guess you can be a kid in a playground a little bit. For me, I was living a little like a monk and keeping to myself for the first part of filming. I'd still talk to people but I had to confine myself a little bit initially, just so I could sink into the thing and know where I was with the character. I made up for it at the end. ”

What was it like working with Wolfgang Petersen?

“ He always gave us free reign in terms of where we wanted to go with the characters and I think you needed someone like Wolfgang for this kind of film. I didn't know that it would be this big a film and yet he was the epitome of grace and he didn't get flustered by the inevitable things that go wrong. ”

Is it important for you that your films do well at the box office?

“ It's a lot more fun when the movie works, but I look back at my favourite films and they didn't necessarily work at the time they were released. They took some time to be accepted. It is more fun when people get into the films right out of the gate though. ”

Brad Pitt Filmography

You're playing Hector. Is it difficult to get into such a mythical character?

“ Actually, I found it a little easier than "The Hulk". The Bruce Banner character is difficult because there's so much going on. Here, there's a real start and finish point and I'm loving it. I haven't had this much fun on a film ever. It's almost like there are two movies in one. In London and Malta, it was more contained, more about the drama, and then I have a lot of physical stuff to do in the big battle scenes in Mexico. ”

Did you know the story from school?

“ No, I didn't study Greek mythology at school. I was introduced to Homer much later. I didn't study much history at all actually. But I was cast quite early, in August 2002, so I had a really good long time to prepare. The preparation is the favourite part of the job for me. There's all the obvious physical stuff that you have to do. Obviously, I had to learn to be master on a horse and a good swordsman. You've got to know the period, the accent. But I also go sideways and study people who might be similar to the character. ”

Do you think Homer will get some new readers after Troy comes out?

“ I hope so. It is good to be involved in a film that, from an educational standpoint, will open up a period of time to a whole new group of people. I know that when we were shooting in London, we had one of the people from the British Museum there and she was very excited about the film's potential. ”

Did you rehearse at all?

“ Yes, we did in London before shooting started. We got to know each other a bit and Wolfgang is very descriptive about how he's going to do a scene. He shows you the angles he'll be using and lets you know what you're going to be in for each day. He makes everybody feel very loose and natural. It's not a daunting experience working with him. He's very laidback. ”

Is it difficult working in the costumes?

“ It's amazing how quickly you get used to that stuff. When I first put on the armour I thought, “How am I going to do a fight scene in this?” But when you do the first fight scene, the adrenalin kicks in and you feel like you have nothing on at all. ”

Any injuries?

“ You get bruises and scratches. I think if you're going to do fight scenes properly, you've got to expect to be swiped now and again. I have a big fight with a character named Ajax and he's played by a 6”8’ former wrestler and it's really physical and spectacular. We were both wrecked at the end of the three day sequence. ”

You started out as a stand-up comic back in Australia. Is it strange to be playing a mythical hero now?

“ It is odd, but in some ways I think stand-up comedy is more dramatic than straight acting. I think that there's a lot you're put in touch with in the comedy world. It's a very dark, melancholy world. Most of the stand-up comedians I know are very quiet people. I know that on the surface it looks bizarre, but there are some real similarities between the comedy world and dramatic acting. ”

Eric Bana Filmography

Tell us about the character you play, Paris.

“ Essentially, Paris is with Hector in Sparta on a peace mission. I fall in love with Helen and she falls in love with me, so I steal her back to Troy and then all hell breaks loose. There's a line in the movie that Priam, my father, says when I apologise for what I've done: “I've been to war for power and land, so I suppose going to war for love is as good a reason as any.” But it is all caused by the selfishness of this young man, in a way. That was the interesting thing about the role. He has this arc where he goes from being young and irresponsible to growing old very quickly through the loss of all these lives. The experience really does age him dramatically. By the end of the movie, he's much more responsible. ”

Did you know the story of The Iliad before this?

“ Not much. Obviously, I did some homework. I bought The Iliad on CD actually so I could listen to it, because reading it takes a lot of focus. It is an incredible story. It's like the stories of stories, the history of stories, and so working on it, there's quite a lot of pressure. You feel the responsibility of trying to make it believable and real and live up to the expectations that people have. ”

Is it just a coincidence that you're in all these massive movies like Troy, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean?

“ To be honest, I do like doing these big movies. I feel quite at home on a big set now, which I think is a very fortunate position to be in. But this just happened to be around and I met Wolfgang and we got on. I've been lucky that I've been able to work on epic-style films, films that to me, feel like they'll stand the test of time. I've been in the right place at the right time. ”

You seem to be in the right place a lot of the time.

“ No, not necessarily. But I would say that I'm a lucky guy in that I'm having a fortunate career. But I think I put the legwork in at quite a young age in terms of trying to make sure I was in the right place. I moved to London to go to drama school when I was 16, so I kind of geared myself up at a young age to put myself in the right arena to become an actor and get work. I think the biggest compliment for me was just getting work. ”

Do you play in a lot of period films?

“ I love to dress up. I love to get into character through costume and period. It's great and, like I said, I feel really lucky to have worked on the films that I have worked on because I feel like they have that weight about them. ”

Is it easy to stay grounded now that you're a star?

“ No, but I do my best. I see my family and friends as much as possible and I just don't think about it too much. I just try and get on with things. I'm still trying to figure it all out to be honest. It's great though. I'm living most actors’ dreams. I'm getting to work in movies and do the whole thing and it's amazing because I love the work. There's a lot of fluff that goes on around the making of films, raising money and all the rest of it, that enables me to do my job and I'm beginning to understand that you have to be involved with that, even though it's hard to do. But I'm doing what I love. ”

Orlando Bloom Filmography

Troy

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