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WOLFGANG PETERSEN:
“My intention was from the very beginning to pay homage to what the Greek legends are all about. It’s not only about spirit, great stories and legendary characters; the whole Greek mythology has to do with physical attraction and beauty. So this film is about beauty.”
BRAD PITT (Achilles) on getting his body in shape to play the role:
“It was a lot of hard work, with an impending midlife crisis I think as a great motivator. I got with people who knew what they were doing and I told them where I had to get to, in order to play the ‘ultimate warrior.’”
ERIC BANA (Hector):
“Hector is the classic noble hero, but what attracted me to it as an actor was the fact that he has to earn your respect through the course of the film.”
PETER O’TOOLE (Priam):
“For me, the greatest joy I have is to work with young people, because then I can grab all their energy. I’m like a vampire. And to see the young ones coming through and doing so splendidly makes my heart tick.”
PETERSEN:
“Orlando (Bloom) got so jealous when he saw Eric put his armor on for the big fight, and he saw his body. He saw it on a little video screen, and he went, ‘Oh my God.’ So he immediately ordered a personal trainer to do whatever he could to put some muscles on him, because he’s rather skinny. It was quite funny.”
PITT:
“A lot of thought was given to the fights in the film. We wanted them to be unique, the choreographer was really adamant about us learning the fights and slowing them down so that you understand the chess of the fight, that every move is considered a death-blow, and every pare is considered something to block the death-blow.”
BANA on the dangers of doing the fight scenes:
“The only thing that you can be concerned about is that something is going to happen that’s going to make you unable to finish the film. I spent so long preparing, and I loved the character and the project, that the only thing I was every really worried about was the thought of getting knocked out halfway through the film and being recast.”
O’TOOLE:
“Brad Pitt and I had to do an extraordinarily difficult scene together, and we had to rely on each other completely. (I felt a great) sense of security from working with this young man, who not only knew what he was doing, but is modest and unpretentious. I’m an experienced runner, but he picked up the flame and carried it, and at the end of the scene the two of us were completely exhausted, but two hours later we were jumping up and down and singing Johnny Cash songs.”
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THE CONCEPT:
