Troy (film)

• 1. Introduction

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  Troy, the 2004 epic directed by Wolfgang Petersen, retells Homer's Iliad, and its own screenwriter admitted that it barely quotes the poem. David Benioff said so on one of the film's commentary sequences. "I think there are maybe two or three lines in the script that quote Homer," he said. "Any more than that wouldn't have been possible."

  A film built on a poem, yet hardly speaking in that poem's words, raises an obvious question. What did the filmmakers put in its place, and what did they leave behind?

  The production offers further puzzles. A whole city rose on a Mediterranean island. A war and a hurricane pushed the shoot around. A finished score was thrown out in less than a day. And some of the people who made the film later spoke of it bitterly, which sits oddly beside the size of its audience.

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• 2. Cheating on Homer

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  The Iliad stops at the funeral rites for Hector, the Trojan prince. Troy does not stop there. Its final act, the sack of the city, comes from the Posthomerica of Quintus Smyrnaeus, a work that carries the story past the point where Homer ends.

  The poem itself centers on a single quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon in the ninth year of the war. The film reaches much wider. It tells the whole story of the decade-long conflict.

  Benioff explained the choice in an article by the actor David Goldsmith in the journal Creative Screenwriting. "The script covers the Trojan War in its entirety, whereas Iliad is only one fragment of it," he said. Then he gave his reason: "I didn't want to have little titles saying, 'Flash forward nine years.' It would have made it more faithful to the source material, but it wouldn't have been effective for the movie."

  He was blunt about the trade-off. "I always followed the route that I thought was better for the movie; if that meant that I was cheating on Homer then so be it."

  Some critics said he had taken on too much by covering the full chronology of the war. Benioff, who later became one of the creators of the fantasy series Game of Thrones, said he knew the challenge. The departures from the poem are frequent, and the fates of Paris, Helen, Agamemnon, Achilles and Menelaus change the most. Reviewers who counted such changes judged the story unfaithful.

  Compressing a decade of fighting had one visible cost. On screen, the whole war runs for little more than a couple of weeks.

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• 3. The Story on Screen

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  In 1184 BC, King Agamemnon unites the Greek kingdoms by force. The warrior Achilles fights for him, but he is sickened by the cruelty of Agamemnon's leadership.

  Across the water, Prince Hector of Troy and his brother Paris agree a peace treaty with Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Paris then begins an affair with Menelaus' wife, Queen Helen, and smuggles her aboard his ship for the journey home. Menelaus turns to his elder brother Agamemnon, who agrees to attack Troy because conquering it would give him control of the Aegean Sea.

  Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, is sent to persuade Achilles to join the campaign. Achilles seeks the advice of his mother, Thetis. She tells him that if he stays in Larissa he will live a peaceful life, but that going to Troy will bring him eternal glory. He chooses the glory.

  At Troy, King Priam welcomes Helen and prepares for war. Achilles and his Myrmidons help the Greeks take the Trojan beach. Achilles has the temple of Apollo sacked and claims a prisoner, Briseis, a priestess who is the cousin of Hector and Paris. When Agamemnon spitefully takes her away, Achilles refuses to help with the siege.

  Outside the city walls, Paris offers to duel Menelaus, with Helen and the sparing of Troy as the stakes. Agamemnon accepts, though he means to take the city regardless. Menelaus wounds Paris and nearly kills him, but Hector kills Menelaus and breaks the pact. Hector also kills Ajax the Great, and his skillful command of the Trojan army forces the Greeks to retreat.

  Briseis slips into the quarters of Achilles to kill him, but falls in love with him instead. Then Hector duels a warrior he takes for Achilles and cuts his throat, only to find that it is Patroclus, the cousin and protege of Achilles. Distraught, Hector finishes him with a mercy stroke. Achilles vows revenge. Wary of him, Hector shows his wife Andromache a secret tunnel beneath Troy. If the city falls, she is to take their child and any survivors to Mount Ida.

  The next day, Achilles challenges Hector outside the gates and kills him. He drags the corpse back to the Trojan beach. Priam sneaks into the camp to beg for the body, and a shamed Achilles agrees. He lets Briseis go back to Troy with Priam and promises a twelve-day truce so that the funeral rites can be held in peace. He also orders his men to sail home without him.

  Agamemnon swears to take Troy whatever the cost. Odysseus answers with a plan. The Greeks build the Trojan Horse as a peace offering and hide their ships in a nearby cove. Priam orders the horse brought inside the walls. That night, Greeks climb out of it and open the gates to their army.

  During the sack, Andromache and Helen lead Trojans to safety through Hector's tunnel. Paris hands the Sword of Troy to Aeneas and tells him to protect his people and find them a new home. Glaucus leads a last defense of the palace. Agamemnon kills Priam and captures Briseis, but she kills him with a concealed knife. Paris shoots an arrow through the heel of Achilles, then several more into his body. Achilles bids Briseis farewell and watches her flee with Paris before he dies.

  At his funeral, Odysseus personally cremates the body of Achilles.

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• 4. Directors and Casting

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  Terry Gilliam turned down the job of directing Troy. He said he "did not understand how you can make a film based on the poem the Iliad without the participation of the Greek gods."

  Petersen had developed the project for Warner Bros. Pictures, then chose to direct a planned Batman vs. Superman film instead. Christopher Nolan was offered Troy in his place. When Petersen's Batman vs. Superman was canceled, Petersen rejoined Troy, and Nolan received Batman Begins, released in 2005, as a "consolation prize." Nolan later directed the 2026 film adaptation of Homer's Odyssey.

  The finished cast was led by Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger. It also included Sean Bean, Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson and Peter O'Toole. Other names were considered along the way.

  The indian actress Aishwarya Rai was first offered the role of Briseis. She turned it down because she was not comfortable with the lovemaking scenes in the script. Keira Knightley auditioned, but the part went to Rose Byrne.

  For Helen, the studio first showed interest in Nicole Kidman. The role went to Kruger, who later said she felt "like meat" during her screen test.

  Many of these actors would end up on Malta, where a city had been built for them.

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• 5. Walls and Hurricanes

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  From April to June 2003, the city of Troy was built at Fort Ricasoli on the island of Malta. Filming had first been slated to begin in Morocco. After the Iraq War started, the producers were forced to relocate, and they chose Mexico.

  Other important scenes were shot in Mellieha, 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. Hurricane Marty then disrupted production in the filming areas for a period.

  Brad Pitt, playing Achilles, injured his own Achilles tendon during filming. The production was delayed for several weeks.

  Both the Trojans and the Greeks speak with English accents. The Trojans are given more refined, upper-class pronunciations than the Greeks. Pitt and Bana both adopted British-inflected accents, which follows a long cinema habit of linking British speech with nobility in historical dramas.

  The human cost of the shoot was less comfortable. One of the extras, George Camilleri, is alleged to have died from a set injury during filming. Bulgarian extras were used, including in Mexico, where they faced harsh conditions and were underpaid. They received $12 a day, while Mexican extras received $40. After the Bulgarians went on strike, their pay was raised by $10 a day.

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• 6. A Score in Four Weeks

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  Gabriel Yared worked on the score for Troy for more than a year after Petersen hired him. The singer Tanja Carovska provided vocals on parts of his music.

  Then came the test screenings, which used an incomplete version of the score. The audience reactions were negative. In less than a day, Yared was off the project, with no chance to fix or change his work.

  James Horner wrote a replacement score in about four weeks. He kept Carovska's vocals and added traditional Eastern Mediterranean music and brass instruments. He also worked with the American singer-songwriter Josh Groban and the lyricist Cynthia Weil on an original song for the end credits. The result, "Remember Me," was performed by Groban with additional vocals by Carovska.

  The soundtrack was released on the 11th of May 2004 through Reprise Records.

  Even the replacement score would not stay untouched for long.

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• 7. The Longer Cut

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  On the 17th of February 2007, the Berlin International Film Festival, in its 57th edition, screened Troy: Director's Cut. It received a limited release in Germany that April. Warner Home Video reportedly spent more than $1 million on it. The new version includes "at least 1,000 new cuts," adding almost 30 minutes for a running time of 196 minutes.

  The music changed dramatically. Many of the female vocals were cut, and Groban's song disappeared from the end credits. Danny Elfman's theme for Planet of the Apes now plays during the pivotal fight between Hector and Achilles in front of the gates.

  Various shots were recut and extended. The love scene between Helen and Paris was reframed to show more of Diane Kruger. The love scene between Achilles and Briseis was lengthened. Only one scene was removed, the moment where Helen tends the wound of Paris.

  The battles grew bloodier, including more of Ajax's rampage against the Trojans and his duel with Hector. The sack of Troy, barely present in the theatrical cut, is shown much more fully, including violence against women and the massacre of Trojan soldiers.

  Priam and Odysseus gain more screen time, and Odysseus now has a humorous introduction scene. The cut also gives more weight to a quarrel inside Troy. Priests who trust omens and signs from the gods clash with commanders who trust practical strategy, chiefly in scenes with Trevor Eve and James Cosmo.

  Two bookend scenes were added. The film now opens with a soldier's dog finding its dead master and closes with the few surviving Trojans escaping to Mount Ida.

  The theatrical version reached DVD and VHS on the 4th of January 2005. The director's cut followed on Blu-ray, HD DVD and DVD on the 18th of September 2007. It is the only edition on Blu-ray worldwide, apart from a Czech release of the theatrical cut.

  Arrow Video has planned a limited edition three-disc 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray set for August 2026. Both cuts are on the first two discs, with most of the older extras collected on a third.

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• 8. Verdict

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  Troy opened to $46.9 million and topped the box office. Its second weekend brought $23.9 million and a fall to second place. It was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

  The film grossed $133.4 million in the United States and Canada and $364 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $497.4 million. That put it among the year's biggest earners, alongside The Passion of the Christ, Spider-Man 2 and Shrek 2. Production costs came to about $185 million, which made Troy one of the most expensive films made up to then.

  On Rotten Tomatoes, Troy holds a 53% approval rating from 227 reviews, with an average of 6.00 out of 10. The critics consensus calls it "A brawny, entertaining spectacle, but lacking emotional resonance." Metacritic gives it 56 out of 100 from 43 critics, which it labels mixed or average. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a "B."

  Roger Ebert gave two out of four stars. "Pitt is modern, nuanced, introspective; he brings complexity to a role where it is not required," he wrote. David Sterritt of the Christian Science Monitor gave three out of four. "This is hardly an Iliad adaptation for the ages," he wrote, "But if you're hankering for sand, sandals, and swordplay, this could be the movie for you." IGN critics Christopher Monfette and Cindy White rated the director's cut eight out of ten and called it better than the early version.

  Peter O'Toole, who played Priam, spoke harshly of Troy at the Savannah Film Festival. He said he walked out fifteen minutes into a screening and called the director "a clown."

  Years later, Brad Pitt voiced his own disappointment. He said he had been put into Troy after pulling out of another film and owing the studio something. "I could not get out of the middle of the frame," he said. "It was driving me crazy." He called it no slight on Petersen, whom he praised for Das Boot. But, he said, "Every shot was like, 'Here's the hero!' There was no mystery."

  The awards record is just as divided. Troy earned a nomination for Best Costume Design at the 77th Academy Awards. The Golden Schmoes named Hector versus Achilles the best action sequence of 2004, and the World Stunt Awards honored its best fight. The same Golden Schmoes also called it the year's biggest disappointment, and the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards named Pitt worst actor.

  The Harry Awards, meanwhile, gave Troy their prize for the film that most contributed to public understanding and appreciation of history.

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