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And he has vowed that a war in the Middle East will
not stop his big-screen showdown between Achilles
(Brad Pitt) and Hector (Eric Bana).
Petersen has set a firm April 22 start date in London for the Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures epic, and a May 21, 2004, release date. The epic also stars current Hulk sensation Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom (Legolas in Lord Of The Rings') and Sean Bean.
It seems that O'Toole wasn't kidding recently when he resisted a lifetime Oscar on the grounds that he wasn't finished turning in big performances.
O'Toole will play Priam, the king of Troy, who charges his son Hector (Eric Bana) to defend the kingdom against 1,000 advancing Greek ships ready to raze the city because Priam's other son, Paris (Orlando Bloom), has stolen away with Helen.
She's the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus (Brendan Gleason), who with his brother Agamemnon (Brian Cox) and Odysseus (Sean Bean), set all their forces for vengeance. They are led by the unparalleled warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt).
Christie will play Thetis, the mother of Achilles who tries to help him choose between happiness with a Troy princess, Briseis (Rose Byrne), or the chance to become legend by sacking Troy.
It is no coincidence that O'Toole is best known for starring in 'Lawrence of Arabia' and Christie in 'Doctor Zhivago', the best known epics made by David Lean.
'David Lean was one of my heroes, and my ambition has been for 'Troy' to be made in the tradition of the great Lean epics', Petersen said. 'To have two of his greatest actors join this balance of stars and fresh faces is unbelievable luck'.
Petersen has also set Saffron Burrows to play Hector's wife, Andromache. After his casting director, Lucinda Syson, held a worldwide search for Helen of Troy, Petersen said he's close to choosing a newcomer for the role. Oh...Oh... big beauty but crap actor alert!!
'She has to be believable as the face that launched 1,000 ships and caused the Greeks to go against Troy', said Petersen. 'She has to be that beautiful'.
The director steadfastly denied published reports that the shoot of 'Troy' is imperiled by the prospect of a war in Iraq. It is among several grand-scale period films that expect to shoot in the sands of Morocco.
'We start shooting in April, and then we will move on to Malta', said Petersen. 'We won't be shooting those final battle scenes until July or August. If things are going on in the world that make Morocco impossible, we have explored Mexico and Spain. Of course, we will take care of the security and safety of everybody involved, but the movie will happen and there won't be a week of delay. Everything is in place, cast included'.
Petersen has been sweet on 'Troy' since screenwriter David Benioff first turned in his adaptation of Homer's 'The Illiad'. The director's participation seemed iffy when he agreed to first make 'Batman vs. Superman'. He said he is glad that circumstance prompted him to double back to the epic confrontation pitting Achilles vs. Hector.
'When Warners decided to make 'Superman' right away, I think it was fate that worked well for me', said Petersen. 'All of a sudden, I was back on 'Troy', and Brad Pitt was suddenly available to play Achilles because he was no longer doing 'The Fountain'. This is the best kind of epic because you are working on the grandest scale, with 1,000 ships and 75,000 people waging enormous battles. But the core is emotional themes that Homer handled so well on a human scale'.
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