01-09-2013, 11:55 PM
As we all know, far too well, History and Hollywood rarely play well together, and as writer/director John Sayles so cogently pointed out:
"If historical accuracy were the thing people went to the movies for, historians would be the vice presidents of studios. Every studio would have two or three historians."
Likewise, in terms of costumes, I expect standard Hollywood Romans, for as Goldsworthy pointed out in a recent article from the Guardian, Cleopatra would be dressed not in the Egyptian style of a thousand years earlier, but rather "She would have dressed more in the Greek style and the problem for Hollywood is that Greek dress looks pretty much like Roman – lots of people in sheets."
So it will be with the Romans otherwise we might not recognize them as Roman. We can hope at least that they are not wearing black armor (as did the Praetorians in Gladiator) like some proto-SS.
And speaking of gladiators, this new film is sure to feature a couple of them at least, in keeping with Goldsworthy's 1st Law of Hollywood Romans: Thou Shalt Have Gladiators - Even if the story has nothing to do with gladiators.
All that being said ...
It is clear from the initial press release that the screen writer and the production company are already staking out claims to historical fidelity, at least as far as their sources will allow. I have my doubts even to this modest claim.
However ...
The film Centurion did hire members of the RAT Forum to help and maybe, just maybe, one of us can get Graham's article into the hands of this new film's production team. A long shot to be sure, and even if we are successful there is no guarantee they will either read or understand the article. Indeed, all the evidence weighs against us. Even so ...
Hope spring eternal.
As for a film about the Punic Wars, I suspect that your money, Alexander, would be better spent funding research or a dig, though I must admit, I would love to see a film about Scipio (who I still think the noblest of all the Romans) other than Mussolini's film, which is amusing to be sure, but not the epitome of accuracy by any means.
At least Hollywood is still willing to fund films about the ancient world. Perhaps that is the silver lining here, thin though it may be.
:wink:
Narukami
"If historical accuracy were the thing people went to the movies for, historians would be the vice presidents of studios. Every studio would have two or three historians."
Likewise, in terms of costumes, I expect standard Hollywood Romans, for as Goldsworthy pointed out in a recent article from the Guardian, Cleopatra would be dressed not in the Egyptian style of a thousand years earlier, but rather "She would have dressed more in the Greek style and the problem for Hollywood is that Greek dress looks pretty much like Roman – lots of people in sheets."
So it will be with the Romans otherwise we might not recognize them as Roman. We can hope at least that they are not wearing black armor (as did the Praetorians in Gladiator) like some proto-SS.
And speaking of gladiators, this new film is sure to feature a couple of them at least, in keeping with Goldsworthy's 1st Law of Hollywood Romans: Thou Shalt Have Gladiators - Even if the story has nothing to do with gladiators.
All that being said ...
It is clear from the initial press release that the screen writer and the production company are already staking out claims to historical fidelity, at least as far as their sources will allow. I have my doubts even to this modest claim.
However ...
The film Centurion did hire members of the RAT Forum to help and maybe, just maybe, one of us can get Graham's article into the hands of this new film's production team. A long shot to be sure, and even if we are successful there is no guarantee they will either read or understand the article. Indeed, all the evidence weighs against us. Even so ...
Hope spring eternal.
As for a film about the Punic Wars, I suspect that your money, Alexander, would be better spent funding research or a dig, though I must admit, I would love to see a film about Scipio (who I still think the noblest of all the Romans) other than Mussolini's film, which is amusing to be sure, but not the epitome of accuracy by any means.
At least Hollywood is still willing to fund films about the ancient world. Perhaps that is the silver lining here, thin though it may be.
:wink:
Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Burbank CA
