high siege
THE INSIDE TRACK ON NEW BBC EPIC TROY: FALL OF A CITY…
1 AT ITS HEART, IT’S A LOVE STORY
Depicting the legend of the 10-year siege of Troy by Greece and its allies around 1200BC, this eight-parter from The Night Manager’s David Farr focuses on the couple whose affair started it all: prodigal Trojan prince Paris (newcomer Louis Hunter) and Helen (Humans’ Bella Dayne), wife of Spartan King Menelaus (Ripper Street’s Jonas Armstrong). Paris faces the wrath of his family; Helen is forced to leave her daughter behind. Director Mark Brozel (Dickensian) is full of praise for his leads. “Bella is beautiful and a very subtle actress, and Louis has an easy manner that makes Paris easy to root for, when he could easily just be wet Romeo. They have great chemistry, and without that you wouldn’t have Troy.”
2 BUT THERE’S PLENTY OF ACTION
With the combined financial muscle of the BBC and Netflix behind it, Troy: FOAC delivers both the legendary duels and epic pitched battles against the backdrop of the stunning Simonsberg mountains, outside Cape Town. The set-to between Trojan beefcake Hector (Spooks’ Tom Weston-Jones) and Greek demigod Achilles (Interstellar’s David Gyasi) took four days to film, with the former’s brawn contrasting with the latter’s stealth. “We have some very exciting, visceral battle scenes,” promises Farr. “But they’re more visceral and exciting because they’re rooted in character.” And, of course, there’s a certain wooden horse; this version will be nearly eight metres tall, built to accommodate several soldiers.
3 there Are two sides to the story
History is of course told by the victors, which means that the Trojan Wars have usually been portrayed from the perspective of the Greeks. Not so here: Farr draws on The Iliad, but also on Greek tragedy and his own imagination to get under the skin of the historical icons. Thus the bisexuality of Achilles is explored, along with the complex marriage of Trojan leaders Priam (David Threlfall) and Hecuba (Frances O’Connor) and reflections on the fundamental futility of war and its impact on normal citizens. “The great challenge was to explore characters and stories in a way that would be as gripping as what’s happening outside the walls [of Troy],” says Farr. “We didn’t want to reduce the world, rather find the psychology and the grit in it.”
4 THE GODS ARE INVOLVED. SORT OF
“We talked endlessly about how to integrate the gods,” says producer Barney Reisz (Black Mirror). “On one level, they represent aspects of destiny or fate; on another, people’s desires and worries – people made up gods to explain storms or shooting stars. They’re a presence, encouraging or chastising the humans without interacting directly – they definitely aren’t blokes with white beards and fists full of lighting.”
5 IT’LL BE BETTER THAN THE BRAD PITT MOVIE
“The film came at the moment when everyone thought CGI was the next best thing,” Reisz recalls of Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 blockbuster. “They poured resources into it and lost the story a bit. It looked amazing, but for what gain? We’re making an epic show, but trying to tell that story from a personal, authentic standpoint. It’s about the turmoil as Paris and Helen try to keep their love together, while everyone tells them
they shouldn’t.”