Troy (2004)

 ●  English ● 3 hrs 16 mins

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Embedded with soulful romance and fierce action, this masterfully crafted historical epic is an adaptation of Homer's Iliad, though the film narrates the entire story of the decade-long Trojan War rather than just the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon in the ninth year. It is the year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age. Two emerging nations begin to clash after Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband, Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnon to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. So they set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy. With the help of Achilles, the Greeks are able to fight the never before defeated Trojans. But they come to a stop by Hector, Prince of Troy. This epic saga intricately depicts personal glimpses of the persons within the powerful personas, their complex interrelationships, and the foreshadowing of fate that intelligibly directed all their actions. How will the future unfold for them and the nations they represent? Will love the victorious over greed and the thirst for power?
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Did you know? According to the special features DVD, 300 buff Bulgarian male extras were transported to the Mexican shooting location and trained for battle scenes so the Greeks and Trojans would look sufficiently European. They supplemented Euro-looking Mexicans and were used in battle close-ups. "Soldier extras" got instructions in Spanish, Bulgarian, and English. Read More
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Actor
Actress
as Agamemnon's Officer
Supporting Actor
as Agamemnon
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Triopas
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Boagrius
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actress
Supporting Actor

Direction

First Assistant Director
Second Unit Director
Second Assistant Director

Distribution

Distributor

Writers

Screenplay Writer

Camera and Electrical

Director of Photography
Still Photographer
Key Grip
Camera Operator

Music

Music Director
Music Editor

Sound

Sound Effects Editor
Sound Re-recording Mixer
Foley Artist
Boom Operator

Animation

Animator

Art

Production Designer
Set Decorator
Prop Master
Storyboard Artist

Casting

Casting Director
Casting Assistant

Costume and Wardrobe

Costume Designer

Editorial

Editor
Assistant Editor

Makeup and Hair

Makeup Artist
Hair Stylist

Special Effects

Special Effects Coordinator
Special Effects Technician

Stunts

Stunt Director
Stunt Coordinator
Stunt Performer

Visual Effects

Visual Effects Producer
Visual Effects Coordinator
Compositor
Digital Compositor
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital, DTS, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound
Camera:
ARRICAM Lite (LT), ARRICAM Studio (ST), ARRIFLEX 435 ES
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
1.37:1, 2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Taglines:
For Troy
For Honor
For Victory
For Love
For Destiny
For Passion
Goofs:
Revealing Mistakes
When Achilles introduces Patroclus to Odysseus, his wooden training sword is in the foreground. The tip and edges are worn, revealing that the sword is painted plastic.

Revealing Mistakes
When the Greek soldiers collect wood for the Trojan horse, bits come off the wood, revealing the white Styrofoam underneath.

Revealing Mistakes
When the Greeks first charge Troy, soldiers run toward the city walls carrying spears. Some soldiers' spear tips are wiggling, indicating soft rubber props.

Crew/Equipment Visible
In the Director's Cut, during the burning of Troy, a temple burns just after a statue falls forward and breaks. A crew member in a motorcycle helmet is on the roof, running across the top right-hand corner.

Crew/Equipment Visible
When Hector and Achilles fight, an obvious camera shadow appears on the ground.

Errors in Geography
After the Achaean fleet is spotted, villagers from the countryside begin pouring into the city. Among the animals being lead away is a pair of llamas. Llamas are originally from South America, and did not exist in Troy.

Errors in Geography
(at around 9 mins) Ships are shown under the caption of "Port of Sparta". Sparta is inland and near the center of the Peloponnesus; Sparta has no port.

Errors in Geography
(at around 17 mins) The caption "Mycenae" appears with a sea inlet in the background. Mycenae is inland and the sea cannot be seen from any vantage point near the city (ruins).

Continuity
During Hector and Achilles' battle, Hector swipes his sword at Achilles's chest, leaving a big scratch on his armor. When Achilles kills Hector, his armor has no marks.

Continuity
When Paris first shoots Achilles, half of the arrow goes clear through his heel. Later, when Achilles is dying, the entire arrow protrudes out of one side of his heel.

Continuity
While Paris fights Menelaus for Helen's hand, their shadows are opposite, which means the sunlight was on both of their lefts as they faced each other. They do not match up; the scenes must have been shot at different times of the day.

Continuity
When Patroclus is fighting Hector in Achilles' armor, Hector stabs him hard in the chest, which would make a hole or a least a cut in the armor. When Achilles goes to fight Hector in the same armor, no marks are visible.

Character Error
When the Greeks are sacking Troy towards the end of the film, you can hear a soldier (played by one of the the Mexican extras) yell "Aqui! Aqui!" (Here! Here!) twice.

Character Error
When the boy goes to find Achilles to fight the warrior, he says "the Thessalonian is huge". He should have said "Thessalian". A "Thessalonian" is someone from Thessaloniki, a city that was founded centuries later (4th century BC) by Cassander, who became the king of Greece after Alexander's death. Cassander married Thessalonike, Alexander's sister, and named the city after her.

Audio/Video Mismatch
Throughout the film, whenever Hector, Paris, Achilles, and Menelaus all draw their swords, metal scraping can be heard as they are pulled from their shields. However, the interior of the shields are lined with cloth, and the loops that hold the swords are leather, not metal.

Miscellaneous
Coins are placed on dead characters' eyes before their bodies are burnt. Ancient Greeks placed a coin in the corpse's mouth, not on the eyes. However, the Trojan War occurred before coined money was invented (in the 7th century BC), so they wouldn't have had coins at all.

Miscellaneous
Most equipment used by the Greeks, such as the large round shields and Achilles helmet, is from the Classical Period (5-4th centuries BC). At the time when the epic is set, the Greeks used small bowl-shaped helmets and light leather shields shaped like the number 8.

Miscellaneous
When Briseis asks Achilles if she is still his captive, her bikini tan line is very visible.

Miscellaneous
Achilles has a vaccination mark on his left arm.
Trivia:
EASTER EGG:. On the main menu on the special features disc, keep hitting right on the control until a section of the Trojan Horse on screen lights up green and hit enter to show a series of creative animations related to the movie.

The Mexican set was hit by two hurricanes in less than a month. The last hurricane hit during the last week of production, when everything was pretty much wrapped.

James Horner composed the score for the movie in less than 6 weeks. Gabriel Yared spent over a year on his version. In the 2007 Director's Cut Edition, Wolfgang Petersen used parts of Yared's score and music from other films, especially from Planet of the Apes (2001), The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and Starship Troopers (1997) in the fight scene between Achilles and Hector.

According to the special features DVD, 300 buff Bulgarian male extras were transported to the Mexican shooting location and trained for battle scenes so the Greeks and Trojans would look sufficiently European. They supplemented Euro-looking Mexicans and were used in battle close-ups. "Soldier extras" got instructions in Spanish, Bulgarian, and English.

Wolfgang Petersen originally didn't want Helen to appear in the movie; he felt an actress couldn't live up to the audience's expectations. The producers insisted, so Petersen cast an unknown actress.

While Achilles and Patroclus are second cousins in Homer's Iliad, the poem hints that they may be lovers as well.

All the male cast had to shave or wax their chest. Eric Bana usually has a hairy chest but had to wax it completely.

Many stagehands fainted from the 100 degree weather (38 degrees Celsius) on location.

Historians are sharply divided about whether or not the Trojan War actually occurred, and if it did, which archaeological site is actually Troy. Discoveries at the beginning of the 21st century provide new evidence of several armed battles in the right area at the right time, but definitive proof is hard to find, largely due to the historical practice of building one city on the ruins of another. Homer's Illiad (and similar epics depicting the Trojan War) were written hundreds of years after the Trojan War supposedly occurred, and are of little use in determining factual historical events because they include many mythological elements. One theory is that the Troy of Homer's lifetime was destroyed by an earthquake, and that the Illiad is a symbolic reinterpretation of that, since a horse is the symbol of the Greek god of earthquakes. The producers decided to eliminate all mythological elements from the story, giving the film an air of historical authenticity not present in the original works.

Garrett Hedlund gained 30 lbs for his role as Patroclus. He gained an additional 20 lbs for his role in Friday Night Lights (2004) which got him up to 200 pounds; he normally weighs 145.

After the film was announced, the Turkish government and Ministry of Culture and Tourism contacted the producers and suggested the film be shot in Canakkale, Turkey, site of the real Troy. The Turkish government offered sponsorship if the film premiered in Canakkale. It premiered in Berlin, where most historical Trojan artifacts were displayed after being taken from Anatolia.

One hurricane tore through the set at night, and wiped out Brad Pitt's house. Pitt woke up at around 4 AM, but he was so tired from the night before that he slept through the hurricane.

Brad Pitt and Eric Bana did not use stunt doubles for their epic duel. They made a gentlemen's agreement to pay for every accidental hit; $50 for each light blow and $100 for each hard blow. Pitt ended up paying Bana $750, and Bana didn't owe Pitt anything.

Brad Pitt trained for six months to get a body that looked like that of Greek statues.

Brad Pitt tore his left Achilles tendon during production.

As Achilles strolls along the beach, among the unpacking Greeks, he teases Odysseus about being the last one to show up. This is an in-joke for those familiar with the Odyssey. Odysseus was the last Greek to return home from Troy because he clashed with various gods.