Love conqueror

The seeds of war are sown when King Menelaus of Sparta hosts a banquet to make peace with his long-time enemy, Hector, Prince and defender of Troy.

While the two leaders celebrate an end to countless years of war, Hector's handsome brother Paris disappears only to reappear in the bedchamber of Menelaus's wife Helen, one of the world's greatest beauties.

When Paris spirits Helen away from Menelaus's palace without Hector's knowledge, their fate is sealed: leaders of the Greek tribes unite to wage war against the Trojans.

Among the gathering forces is Achilles, a warrior of such skill and fame that his name alone invokes cold dread in his opponents.

Hector and Paris arrive in Troy just ahead of the encroach-ing Greek armada. Their father, King Priam, must decide whether to press war with the Greeks or return Menelaus's stolen bride and deliver Paris to certain execution. The choice is soon made clear: war is the only way.

"There is an old saying that war brings out the worst and the best in human beings," muses producer/ director Wolfgang Petersen.

"But war is a disaster for everyone involved. While our film will show the spectacle of battle between tens of thousands of soldiers in a way that audiences have never seen before, the focus of our story is the timeless human aspect of the victories and defeats that Homer recorded."

Troy is inspired by The Iliad, an epic work attributed to the ancient poet Homer.

"I don't think that any writer in the last 3,000 years has more graphically and accurately described the horrors of war than Homer," says Petersen.

"But in his epic works, the human drama was overshadowed by the brutality. A contemporary audience needs to come into the story through the lives and passions of the real people caught up in this terrifying experience."

Brad Pitt, who heads a stellar cast as the unconquerable hero Achilles, was intrigued by his complex, multi-faceted character. "Homer does an amazing job revealing his character very subtly, particularly since The Iliad isn't told in a linear fashion," says Pitt.

"Little by little, Achilles's personality unfolds. One moment you think he's this cold-hearted killer and then Homer goes back in time to show another facet of Achilles, and you find out that in the past he's actually operated from a place of great humanity and grace. And so it's this conflict and these contradictions that Homer keeps exposing to the reader to form this transcendent human being."

The film's ensemble cast boasts both rising talent and illustrious veterans of the stage and screen, including Peter O'Toole as the venerable King Priam of Troy, Julie Christie as Achilles' mother Thetis, and Eric (Hulk) Bana, who plays Prince Hector of Troy.

"Hector appealed to me straight away," recalls the actor. "Hector's very noble and very brave, qualities that are classically appealing in both a cinematic sense and in a personable sense. Hector has a wife and a child, but I really get the sense that for him, his family is the city of Troy. Even though it's such an epic movie, I find it to be quite an intimate story in that essentially it boils down to the ramifications of very intimate relationships, and from those very small relationships spawns this huge action and drama."

Orlando Bloom, best known for his work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, plays Hector's younger brother, the recklessly charming Prince Paris. "For me, the draw in terms of Paris was that he's the anti-hero," he says.

"Paris is not like any character I've played. He's the second son to Priam, and he's lived a very sheltered life. He's been nurtured and hasn't had to think about the responsibilities of becoming a warrior or King. Although he's in an environment that is a hugely political, dangerous world, his own world is very simple, until he basically creates a war because of his lust and his love for one woman.

"Two countries collide, which leads to him losing everything he knows, and he does all of this for love."