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BBC - Troy - Fall of a City

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Rubrius
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Currently reading: God of Vengeance, by Giles Kristian & Warrior in Bronze, by George Shipway
Interest in HF: growing up watching movies like Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, & The Vikings; there weren't enough of them to satisfy me, so turned to books as my personal time machine
Favourite HF book: The Earth is the Lord's, by Taylor Caldwell - fascinating account of the youth of Chingis Khan
Preferred HF: Like the whole breadth of history, but am partial to the ancient Mediterranean and Feudal Japan
Location: Toronto

BBC - Troy - Fall of a City

Post by Rubrius » Sun September 3rd, 2017, 2:51 pm

anybody out there as excited as I am to see this ?

https://deadline.com/2017/03/troy-fall- ... 202055633/

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
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Re: BBC - Troy - Fall of a City

Post by Madeleine » Sun April 8th, 2018, 3:36 pm

Just finished watching this - well I watched the first two, then left it until the 8th episode (of 10) - pretty disappointing, risible dialogue, Paris and Helen were pretty drippy, strong performances from David Threlfall and Joseph Mawle, but that's about it. And I don't remember the Amazons getting involved either, including one who seemed to be a clone of Charlize Theron in Fury Road.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

SGM
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Re: BBC - Troy - Fall of a City

Post by SGM » Mon April 9th, 2018, 9:06 pm

Daft, silly script, a lot of bad acting but I agree that David Threfall gave the usual worthy performance. I actually don't recognise a lot of the other actors and hope not to recognise them again in the future. I don't know what the BBC is doing anymore but at least it's better than the stuff ITV comes up with now. Thankfully there is a second series of The Handmaid's Tale on the way (and I know that there was never a second novel but it appears that Margaret Atwood is having a hand in the new season).
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Re: BBC - Troy - Fall of a City

Post by Madeleine » Tue April 10th, 2018, 8:54 am

I agree, I don't think it will do much for a lot of those actors' CVs, quite second-rate casting for a lot of the younger ones - then again Game of Thrones is similar, the older actors are fine but most of the younger ones are meh, and it's the older actors which carry these things.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

SGM
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Re: BBC - Troy - Fall of a City

Post by SGM » Tue April 10th, 2018, 11:48 am

Too true about GOT. What surprises me, however, is that even some of the really good actors, like Charles Dance, don't come through either. Then you get an inspired moment when Ian McShane appears only to discover that he is gone within minutes. The same with Roger Alam in the first episode. I put it down to the directing and getting carried away with the aspects of big production and forgetting about the basics, such as acting. Apparently they don't pay the actors very well. Brian Cox turned it down on the grounds of pay and Dominic West on the grounds that he didn't want to be away from his family for that long. So I suppose they have gone for a lot of unknown or nearly unknowns. Shame really -- wasted opportunity.. Jerome Flynn gives good value and I am sure there are a couple of others I have forgotten.
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith

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Madeleine
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Posts: 5860
Joined: August 2008
Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Re: BBC - Troy - Fall of a City

Post by Madeleine » Wed April 11th, 2018, 8:57 am

I suppose with GoT they didn't know how successful it was going to be when it first started - it could have been a flop, apparently they shot a pilot episode which wasn't very good (with quite a few different actors) - so pay probably wasn't that brilliant, but the budget is massive now, and I've heard that the 5 main actors (Jaime, Cersei, Tyrion, Dany and Jon Snow) are all paid the same. Quite a lot of GoT actors seem to be doing well career-wise (whether they're any good or not!) so it's obviously opened a lot of doors.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

SGM
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Re: BBC - Troy - Fall of a City

Post by SGM » Wed April 11th, 2018, 6:11 pm

They might be doing quite well out of it but I still have to watch a lot of people who can't act. If GRRM had finished the books, I wouldn't be watching it at all.
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith

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