With Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey opening in theaters today and Wolfgang Petersen's Troy (2004) headed to its first-ever 4K release next month, Trojan War trivia is having a moment. Here's what's worth knowing about the film that first brought Homer's world to the multiplex.
1. Sean Bean already played Odysseus. Twenty-two years before Matt Damon took on the role in Nolan's film, Bean played the same character in Troy - best known there for dreaming up the Trojan Horse.
2. It was a box-office giant. Troy earned $497.4 million worldwide against a budget of roughly $175-185 million, making it the eighth highest-grossing film of 2004.
3. Peter O'Toole's King Priam left an impression. Bean has said he was in awe of working alongside O'Toole, who played the aging Trojan king in one of his final major screen roles.
4. Filming had to change countries mid-plan. Political instability in Morocco pushed production to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with additional filming in Malta and at Shepperton Studios in the UK.
5. The wooden horse was enormous - and shipped in pieces. Built at Shepperton, the 38-foot horse had to be transported to Malta in sections and reassembled on location.
6. The gods were left out entirely. Unlike Homer's Iliad, Troy strips out Zeus, Athena, and the rest of the pantheon - a deliberate choice that sets it apart from Nolan's more mythological approach in The Odyssey.
7. The story doesn't fully follow Homer. Troy's script draws from the Iliad for most of its plot but pulls the fall of Troy itself from a lesser-known ancient text, Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica.
8. The real Troy still draws visitors today. The ancient city's ruins sit in modern-day Turkey, and archaeologists studying the site have long placed it alongside other digs from the ancient Near East - the same world and era where much of the Old Testament's history unfolds.
Troy's 4K Ultra HD release arrives August 18 from Arrow Video, while The Odyssey is now playing in theaters nationwide.
