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Newsbits on Wolfgang Petersen's TROY!
Hey folks, Harry here with a few bits on Troy... First up is a report from Ord Mandell, who declares TROY the first thim his "piddly little island" will feature as a co-producing country on the credits of an epic movie. However, I may be wrong, but I believe that POPEYE was shot entirely in Malta, and that was definitely an epic movie light years ahead of its time. God I love Altman's POPEYE! Anyway here's Ord...
Hey Harry,
Troy, starts shooting today here in Malta.
For the first time ever our piddly little island is to feature as a
co-producing country on the credits of an epic movie (yippee!).
Troy is being shot at a host of locations, including Hal Far, Fort
Ricasoli, where the city of Troy has been constructed, Mtahleb, Ghajn
Tuffieha, Golden Bay, Mellieha, Cirkewwa and Dwejra. For the
non-Maltese readers out there those are places where there are plenty of
run down/ancient Greek-looking buildings.
Starring Brad Pitt, who arrived on Friday, it's being directed by
Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm). Its cast also includes Eric Bana
(i.e. The Hulk), Orlando Bloom and Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings),
Julie Christie and Peter O'Toole. Helen, "the face that launched a
thousand ships", is German actress Diane Kruger.
Troy is being filmed over a total of 100 days and has already shot for
two weeks in the UK, continuing in Mexico after filming in Malta is
completed on July 4. The film was originally meant to be shooting in
Malta for six weeks, but was extended to nine.
Also attached are a couple of pics. First is the set of the City of
Troy under construction at Fort Ricasoli while the second picture shows
an early test of one of the ships that are going to be used in the
movie. (HARRY NOTE: Ord's Pics didn't come through in email sadly)
If you publish this on your website please call me Ord Mandrell.Meanwhile, If you've been curious what Diane Kruger... their HELEN will look like, here's an image for ya...
Meanwhile, Nabi sent in this picture which originally appeared in the Times Of Malta Personally, I'm not gonna be happy till we see a big wooden horsey!
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HA, RIGHT, WHO THOUGHT I WAS ABOUT TO SAY CLAIRE DANES THERE THEN HUH??
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Helen is very attractive, must be hard to play the most beautiful woman of all time. Looking forward to this.
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for all your belgian movie news
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...but she looks a bit like a tranny...
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I know it's been said before, but there was no wooden horse in the Iliad. The horse belongs in a story about Odyseuss or Aeneas, not Achilles. It just doesn't have anything to do with him or his character arc. And what's the deal with Benioff taking out all references to homosexual sex and toning down the brutality of the battles? This promises to be on par with Disney's Hercules. They need to get Ricky Martin to do the theme song. I'm confidant Heat will remain the best movie adaptation of the Iliad.
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May 08, 2003 7:37:21 AM CDT
I think the sequel should be called Troy Story 2 with Hulk Hogan
by chaffro
"You are a sad, strange little horse, brother..."
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This chick is definatelly NOT the most beautiful woman on Earth. Why didn't they cast Shelley Duvall?
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To hell with Troy, I just want to go to Malta. :)
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Pretty woman, but she should have words with her publicist for letting a photo that unflattering out to the press.
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May 08, 2003 8:08:18 AM CDT
Diane Krueger is the second sexiest tomboy beanpole on the plane
by atticus finch
Looking forward to Troy...Armand Assante IS Odysseus! And whoever mentions Hulk Hogan again is officially homosexual...not that there is anything wrong with that.
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...should play achille with Steve guttenberg as Odysseus/Ulysses and Dick Van dyke as king Priam with william shatner as aggamemnon. and paul anderson should direct it.
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I don't remember if Helen was ever distinctly called a blond, but I pictured someone dark, Mediterranean with a vivid look, and with a LOT more meat on her bones. Maybe that picture doesn't do Kruger justice, but I'm starting to recall that crappy Helen of Troy mini-series. Please let this be a good one!
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Yup. Her face could launch a thousand ships.
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I refuse to classify this as a spoiler, since the story is over two centuries old--in the poem, Hector is slain by Achilles, who then ties him to the back of his chariot and drags him around Troy multiple times, then feeds his carcass to dogs. Somehow I doubt Hollywood would allow this to take place in the film, especially since Hector is the closest thing to a "good guy" in the whole Illiad.
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oh really? i guess this guy forgot about a little piece of art named "texas justice" starring jo don baker. any good MST3K fan will recall the central role that malta played in that landmark
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May 08, 2003 10:58:20 AM CDT
You know I feel this movie is gonna run into some problems when
by rogue_leader
Whenever people here the word "Troy" the first thing that comes to mind is the "Trojan Horse". The two seem to go hand in hand together. However, this movie is the about the time before Odysseus. So it won't feature the Trojan Horse or the the famous end of the war. I feel alot of the people out there who are not overly familar with the Greek History of Troy (which is like nearly EVERYONE) will see this and be like "WHERE IS THE FUCKING HORSE!?!?". I think it could cost the movie.
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I was friends with Mike (the guy who write the screenplay before David Benioff revised it) back in college and if this movie can even come close to realizing one tenth of his imagination it will be the epic upon which all other epics are based for the next 50 years.
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I was friends with Mike (the guy who write the screenplay before David Benioff revised it) back in college and if this movie can even come close to realizing one tenth of his imagination it will be the epic upon which all other epics are based for the next 50 years.
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May 08, 2003 11:35:04 AM CDT
Beanpole are you fucking retarded? This is a real woman here. It
by bannthisucommies
damn tootin!
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I wasn't sure if this was going to be based off of the poem one-hundred percent or not. As someone mentioned above (or below--who knows where this will end up in the talkback) the poem ends before the end of the war. All the more "familiar" stuff isn't in it. Sean Bean is a great choice for Odysseus...actually all the casting is pretty good...Brian Cox as Agamemmnon should be perfectly asshole-ish.
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OK - Odysseus was at Troy for the whole bloody thing, and was a stocky short redhead. Helen WAS a blonde, but had to be hotter than this one they got. Agamemnon should be Hugo Weaving. Period. Brad Pitt as Achilles? It works for me. Ajax should be played by Vladimir Kulich (from the 13th Warrior). Hector should be the antithesis of Achilles - a brunette.
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What is Troy normally recognized for? The Horse! They need to put a fucking HUGE WOODEN HORSE!
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Great movie. Really great music. Arrives on DVD on June 24th. Amped. I hope Troy is the biggest, baddest ancient epic ever...until Stone's Alexander.
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Nuff said. I cannot wait for this film. May 21, 2004 mothatruckas.
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Be warned. Its a cool script, but it takes great license with the Iliad and with the Troy legend itself. First off, time is compressed so that the story seems to take place over a matter of weeks, not years. Second, many of the heroes are dispatched in ways different than in the legend (Agammemnon is killed by Briseis while at Troy; Ajax is killed by Hector). The film follows up to the fall of the city (Trojan Horse and all), and ends with Helen escaping with Paris into the proverbial sunset (in the original legend Helen was taken back to Sparta and Paris was killed). Some of this may have changed with new drafts of the screenplay. Like I said, it's a very good script, but don't look for an exact translation of Homer.
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...Would probably include stuff from both the Iliad and the Aeneid and some stuff in between. The Iliad ends after Achilles slays Hector, drags his body around the walls, before finally relenting and returning the body to Priam. Book II of The Aeneid has Aeneas relating to Dido the tale of the Trojan Horse, including how Achilles son Pyrrhus kills Priam, the King of Troy. (FYI, that's what the Player King's speech in Hamlet is about). The movie will also need stuff that doesn't happen in either poem, I would imagine...such as Paris slaying Achilles with the poisoned arrow in the heel....and the Rape of Helen for that matter. (Rape in the Latin sense)
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She's not bad, but I could have launched 2000 ships.
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Homer didn't invent the Trojan war story, he created an epic poem around one series of episodes during it (the death of Akhilleus' lover through the retributory death of Hektor). The whole story would have been well known to the audience at the time; which is why it wasn't written down in total for another 800+ years (but thanks, Quintus of Smyrna, for the most-delayed sequel ever!).
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I went scrounging around for pics when I heard she was cast, and found some much better ones. Some Dior perfume ads, some premiere photos with her bf, some French actor guy. I always thought Helen had to be blonde but what do I know? Hopefully she can act. I don't know why they let this pic slip as it looks like utter shit. But damn, this is a great cast. The only person I'm worried about it Eric Bana. I'm not at all impressed with his stuff in the Hulk so far. At least I have Legolas to cheer me up. However, Troy will likely surpass the highly overrated Gladiator as far as historical epic sort of things go.
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An understandable slip, but if it was written in 1800, it wouldn't exactly feel the same.
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I was hoping that they would stay true to the Iliad, and not do the whole myth of Troy, but I guess that would be too much to wish for. See, the poem itself is fairly short, it doesn't include the whole war and in fact only takes into account part of the final year, and there is no wooden horsey in the poem, it doesn't get that far. It ends soon after Achilles kills Hector, and it has been forshadowed all throughout that following the death of Hector will be the death of Achilles, and Troy will follow. The idea isn't to show you the end, but just the beginning of the end. But I guess it's too much to hope for that hollywood will do any classic Greek literature correctly. Oh well.
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Sorry, I'm high on cough syrup. Centuries...sheesh...
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I believe his name was Xanthos.
Brad Pitt is not Achilles. The brief scenes of Achilles and Hector in the mini series Odyssey worked because it was fast. And as for the changes--Agamemnon killed by Briseis? Pais and Helen driving off into the sunset? Great--sounds like Xena embellishments. I am sure Spartacus shows up somewhere.
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I really didn't want this to start happening, i've heard about a few ancient Greek adaptation movies that are going to get made.
I always thought that Hollywood would never bother with these stories. As a Greek i am very proud of our ancient stories
and always prayed that they would not be raped for money and chopped and changed and brutalized.
I wonder if all the lord of the rings fans who screamed "they changed this and it wasn't the same as the book, at least P.J
stayed as close as he could to the material and he spread one book over 3 films", before you start screaming LOR used to be one book, what will they say about this.
The way the battles are described in the story and the war that takes place is neverending the "Iliad" is probably the most voilent thing you will ever read, the details of the killings and the slaying is immense.
So all these that have never read the "Iliad" it is a thousand page poem which is only half the story the other half is the "Odyssey" another thousand page poem, how much are they going to cut ? are they going to condense the 2 poems into one, will it have cheesy americanisms and rock music in the soundtrack, will anyone defend this stories honor after it's been fucked to death. The battle for Troy make Helms Deep look like a picnic for fairies, the seige at Troy lasted for ten years. I could go on but i won't
The perfect storm from W.P was a big pile of crap,Das Boot was a classic, i think hollywood is suffering from the my penis is bigger than your penis syndrome cause this is the biggest story ever told, the bible was written almost 2000 years later. -
If this is rated PG13 I'm not watching. I'm sick to death of movies making violence unrealistic just to get a more acceptable rating. LOTR is a perfect example of a good movie that would have been great if they'd just been realistic with the violence. In that case I wouldn't have minded if they'd put the good stuff onto a DVD.
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someone...take... this...stupid...mask...off...my...face (in shatner speak)
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May 08, 2003 10:12:34 PM CDT
so 1 milli-Helen is the unit of beauty required to launch a sing
by amy chasing
Is there anyone on Earth whose beauty equals a Helen?
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Geez, what the hell is with that skank? Talk about the ugliest tomboy beanpole on the planet.
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I'm glad they're making this film, and i hope that they make the story justice cause its a huge one, one that has been read by millions and im sure they don't want it to be fucked with. If the comparison to helm's deep is true then it should look spectacular, although the Pelennor Fields Battle in The Return of the King is to be one huge mofo, I mean if u like the arrived of the elves in Towers then u'll like in Return when hundreds of armies come to help out Gondor in the siege that is to come, in the books i felt like it just amped and builded that huge battle that was to come and believe me it delivered on paper, and by what Howard Shore, Billy Boyd and Chris Lee have said of the rough cut they've seen man im getting the shakes just to think what it's gonna be like. Anyways enough ranting about The Return of the king however true it is. Troy should make up for the yearly epic-ancient-event that was LotR if its well done, I hope Sean Bean kicks ass, more than pretty boy Pitt. And by the way wouldn't a movie involving a Minotaur kick ass? What do u think Pedro?
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First thing first.... NO FUCKING HORSE???? NO FUUUCCCKING HORSE?!?!?!?!
I can understand the writers not adding "The Gods" cause those ignorant bastards out there will probably get confused as shit over them. BUT NO FUCKING HORSE???!! This is utter bullshit. That horse is the epitome of Odysseus genius! Besides his deeds in the Odyssey- which should be this movie's sequel if it is a huge hit. Sean Bean is THA man to play the first fucking wise man in written history.
And why the FUCK have they written out the homosexuality in this movie? It was widely known, in the Greek and Trojan camp that Achielles had a thing for his steward/cousin. Don't fucking tell me that Brad Pitt threw a stroppy just so he's lips didn't get wet by a nother man- if Colin Farrell is willing enough to add more depth to his character Alexander the Great, by showing his bi-sexuality, then there is no excuse for Pitt.
Brian Cox is the BOMB. The man is fucking evil. I just cringe to even THINK of him putting his hands on Rose Byrne's Briseis. Such a beautiful girl, and him...*shudder*. Which is the only reason why I accept the fact that she kills him in Troy. I know her fate when the rest of the Grecian Kings walk into the High King's tent and find her standing over his body...brilliant. I'm gonna cheer when I see Hector slay that motherfucker Ajax. I don't care which one (there are two in the Illiad) That piece of ungodly shit deserves to die by Hector's hands if he even TOUCHES Cassandra- Zeldas you have nooo idea how could an actor Eric Bana is. Australia's best kept secret that fella is. ROCK ON CHOPPER!!!
I'm sorry if you sitting in your chair staring at this is thinking, "fuck where is the weed that she just took?", but I adore this story. I read the Illiad when I was on a flight to somewhere when I was 12, and it blew my mind out. Hector is the bomb. Briseis is his cousin, which just adds to his anger towards Achielles. Achielles was a fucken mumma's boy who deserved to get the most simplest deaths ever. I can't wait to see Bloom's Paris, filled with utter hatred at the pouncy piece of Grecian shit, grab his bow and arrows and open a can of Legolas on the fucker. It's down in legend so it has to be. Paris...fuck I hope Orlando pulls him off. I utterly despise that character until he rewards Achielles for his brother's death with an arrow. He brought that blonde bombshell after he just gets accepted by his newly found parents after being left to be raised as a shepard boy on Mount Ida. (how the fuck did I remember THAT?!) He's one of the most despisable characters in literal history- to me. And to have someone as Goldy looking as Bloom play him will just tug at every fan girls' heart. He was selfish enough to take Helen, to leave her beloved daughter behind. Sh didn't hate Menelaus, he adored her, he gave her a daughter to love and cherish...THEN IN COMES THIS DASHING, RECKLESS FLIRTEOUS BASTARD OF A PRINCE come and wisk her away. Yes Menelaus was a fool, yes he didn't get Helen without his good ol brother, whose reward was her intelligent sister Clymmenestra (I can't BELIEVE we don't get her in the movie), but Paris just drove his own homeland into the dust because his fucking manhood couldn't get the better of itself and 'rises to the occasion'. I don't see that Krueger playing Helen. Helen's been interpreatted in so many forms- whore, misunderstood, a player. Marion Zimer Bradley's version of her in 'The Firebrand' is my favourite. Helen, of course taes everyone's breath away, of course she is why Priam forgives his pathetic son for taking the sister-in-law to the High King away from Sparta, but as she explains to a seething Cassandra, she did it because she loved Paris (thanks to Aphrodite). Something in her told her that she was leaving everything she loved behind, that she probably will never see her beloved cherished Hermione ever again, that Sparta might never be her home, but everytime she looked into Paris' eyes, he was her world, and knew she was to him too. Besides the ancient works, that book, The Firebrand is the greatest link to these characters. Hector is the finest man Troy has ever produced. Paris is the long lost son everyone is trying to pour all their love on. Cassandra...my god someone please, PLEASE get someone magnificent to play her, is misunderstood, and vunerable. Helen is also misunderstood. I hope David Benioff portrays her as that and not an out right heaving whore (I know you fellas would like that!!) Though I'm warming to Monica Belluci playing her. But even her playing Helen could not have me like the idea of Helen and Paris run off in the sunset, while the city burns. They fucken start the shit, watch it burn, then catch up to Aeneas and pour all their shit onto that poor bugger. Hey, maybe that could be the sequel!
Troy better be good. Hollywood can fuck around with Heracles, go right ahead. But when you rape (and I don't mean 'Roman style') on one of the best works of the written word ever created...then you're screwed. PG13, is the most biggest piece of fleum to shoot out of a homeless man's mouth. Yes, I agree that we shouldn't have to watch as the royal Princesses's children are thrown over and against the walls of burning Troy, and I don't want to watch as Cassandra is torn from her beloved Athene's shrine, as Ajax rapes her 'again...and again...and again'. But what about the battles? THE BATTLES?! Let's see what happens when Grecian and Trojan heroes fight barely naked. Let's see the sweat, bloof and grime. God dammit it, make Russell Crowe cry with shame!!!
Helms Deep may be nothing compared to Troy...but with a PG13 rating...The Battle of the Pelennor Field is going to make this movie look like a day in Rome. -
May 09, 2003 2:40:36 AM CDT
Where the hell are Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner and David Warn
by darth borgnine
You sure this is the right movie you're talking about here???
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Looks more like a porn star from the 70s...
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Not so sure. Anyway, maybe they can mediterranean her up a bit - you know, that clever newfangled stuff called hairdye? Otherwise, as a heterosexual female I am more than happy with the cast. Eric proved he can act with Chopper, and after Hulk he gonna be huge (not necessarily literally, haha) and the added bonus of Brad and Orlando et all - well. Oh, to be in Malta. And wasn't Cutthroat Island filmed there? Not that I am calling that epic necessarily, although it's about as epic as Popeye.
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May 09, 2003 7:05:53 AM CDT
As someone above pointed out, if anyone is going to launch a tho
by earthworm
... it'll be the sexiest tomboy beanpole. Who should, incidentally, star in every major motion picture from now on.
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Hi folks. Ord Mandrell here with a quick update.
First off - that is a tragically crappy picture of Helen that Harry posted. I've had a quick peek at her on set and she ain't that bad. I still don't think she's the face that launched a thousand ships but I'd shag her any day of the week.
Secondly - only two good films were ever shot in Malta. Gladiator and U-571. OK, so U-571 wasn't historically accurate, it was still a great film. I guess I'm biased though - Matthew Mconaughey and I pounded a few brewskys together and I sorta got to like the chap (you wouldn't believe how much that guy can drink). Popeye and Cutthroat Island were the worst movies ever to be filmed here (I'm the guy who who posted the original clip to Harry and I'm writing this in Malta).
Lastly - Brad Pitt is driving the women on this island absolutely crazy. He's doing this weird disapperaing act where he works out at one gym (that a health centre to you Americans) and then goes to a completely different gym the next time around. What this means is that every woman on the island is booking multiple sessions at multiple gyms in the hope that Brad might just walk in off the street. Its hilarious. Its infuriating. Ahhhh, screw it - I'm just jealous. -
Ok THe HORSE is in the script, it isn't in the poem but nobody said this was a film of the poem. The story itself exists in multiple forms and versions. Examples of inconsistencies in versions are Achillies being invulnerable or Achillies being the possesor of magic armor - traditionally Odyseyus kills Ajax in a duel after Achillies dies to obtain the armor. Some versions had the Helen at Troy not being the actual real Helen and Achillies is portrayed as anything between a reluctant petulant boy and a mindless psychopath. From what I saw of the script Hector is essentially the noble good guy of the film and Achillies is more the petulant version.
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Troy should include material from the Aeneid? I fail to see your logic. From what I've heard of this film, they want to base it (loosely) on the material by Homer. The Aeneid wasn't written by Homer, it was plagerized from Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey by Virgil, centuries later, and places Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, at the center of the narrative. I really don't understand that stuff should be included.
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May 10, 2003 3:23:44 PM CDT
Apparently she launched a thousand ships to get her a pair of Le
by tall_boy
*bah-doom-doom-ching* thank you very much, folks. I'll be here all week, be sure to tip your waitress. Try the veal.
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Modern Greeks are about as close culturally and genetically to the Bronze Age figures depicted in the Iliad as a zucchini is close to a jellyfish. You may as well claim that your culture was raped by the television version of 'Roots'. If living in modern Greece makes you Dorian or Mycenean I guess living in modern New York makes me an Iroquois.
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It's too bad that Wolfgang and Brad are not doing the real character of Achilles. Every true historian knows he was loyal to his male lover Petroklas. Too weird for Brad? I don't see why. He did a pretty wild seen with Banderos in "Interview with the Vampire." I guess we'll just have to wait for Oliver Stone's story of Alexander the Great to hear about the real Achilles.
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