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lesbiassparrowA whopping 3 hrs and 40 minutes long: Linky to this horrifying story.
Why? No one wanted the first two versions. One thing this film did prove, though, is the danger of listening to your historical advisor too closely; I think the film is problematic because it tries to somehow cling to the sources and cut out most of the romance (cutting of the Gordian know, the son of Zeus stuff, etc.) in some misguided attempt to be the sort of film classicists approve of. And while those are accurate battle scenes they're not terribly interesting to watch. Kathleen Coleman should be praising Ridley Scott for not listening to her on Gladiator; the result is an entertaining film and not a turgid pile of rubbish.
Personally, I blame Robin Lane Fox, like I do for many things.
Why? No one wanted the first two versions. One thing this film did prove, though, is the danger of listening to your historical advisor too closely; I think the film is problematic because it tries to somehow cling to the sources and cut out most of the romance (cutting of the Gordian know, the son of Zeus stuff, etc.) in some misguided attempt to be the sort of film classicists approve of. And while those are accurate battle scenes they're not terribly interesting to watch. Kathleen Coleman should be praising Ridley Scott for not listening to her on Gladiator; the result is an entertaining film and not a turgid pile of rubbish.
Personally, I blame Robin Lane Fox, like I do for many things.
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Date: 2006-09-13 02:18 pm (UTC)But if you ever read any Robin Lane Fox he goes on about his close relationship with Stone and how much he contributed, and I do sort of feel that's why the battles are such let downs - and oddly chosen. Plus they went for the political over the fantastical - the Siwa incident, the other crazier stuff - which smacks of the sort of choice that very staid historians would approve of.
Not to mention Stone's issues with women finding the motherlode in ancient accounts of Alexander.