FILM · 2004 · UK
Troy
- Directed by
- Wolfgang Petersen
- Runtime
- 163 min
- Studio
- Warner Bros. Pictures, Plan B Entertainment, Radiant Productions
105 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
In year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age, two emerging nations begin to clash. Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnon to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. They set off with 1,000 ships holding…
105 Interesting Facts About Troy
Interesting Facts (24)
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The movie's trailer also contained the shot revealing the entire Greek fleet sailing towards Troy, but it had substantially more ships in it. When it was pointed out that this would be unrealistic (ships sailing so close to one another would only hinder each other and take the wind out of each other's sails), the number of ships in the shot was drastically reduced in the finished movie.
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The theatrical version was severely cut for violent and mature content to avoid an NC-17 rating. The director's cut adds over 30 minutes of footage, including much more subplots and character scenes. It also restores all the battle violence and nudity, with Achilles' two mistresses appearing nude during his introduction, Helen's bare breasts shown in the love scene between her and Paris, and more shots of Achilles' back in his love scene with Briseis. One scene was removed where Helen tends to Paris' wounds after his duel with Menelaus.
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Writer David Benioff was a huge fan of The Illiad as, when he was a child, his mother read it to him over and over again. After he completed 25th Hour (2002), he proposed to Warner Brothers that he attempt a screenplay on it. Warners were cool on the prospect of such a project but nevertheless agreed, albeit paying Benioff a very small amount for his first draft.
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Despite what this version of the story suggests, Achilles and Patroclus were not cousins in the original myths. Homer never explicitly says they were lovers, but many later ancient Greeks understood them to be. The film likely changed their relationship to avoid depicting a same-sex romance. In Ancient Greece, relationships between men were often viewed differently than today and could be socially accepted within certain cultural norms.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In Homer's time, archers were looked down upon because they did not fight their opponent on equal terms. Paris, the weakest and least brave, is an experienced archer, and kills Achilles with his arrows. Achilles, the best fighter of all, was never beaten in an open duel.
Production Story (22)
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After the film was announced, the Turkish government and Ministry of Culture and Tourism contacted the producers and suggested the film be shot in Canakkale, Turkey, site of the real Troy. The Turkish government offered sponsorship if the film premiered in Canakkale. It premiered in Berlin, where most historical Trojan artifacts were displayed after being taken from Anatolia.
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Writer David Benioff was a huge fan of The Illiad as, when he was a child, his mother read it to him over and over again. After he completed 25th Hour (2002), he proposed to Warner Brothers that he attempt a screenplay on it. Warners were cool on the prospect of such a project but nevertheless agreed, albeit paying Benioff a very small amount for his first draft.
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Brad Pitt's regular German voice actor, Tobias Meister, had already completely dubbed the role of Achilles. However, as Wolfgang Petersen wanted a deeper and stronger voice for Achilles, he rejected the dub and had the role in the German version voiced by Martin Keßler, who normally voices Nicolas Cage. Meister's version can still be heard in the German trailer.
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The character of Briseis was first given to Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan but she declined due to being uncomfortable with love-making scenes.
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James Horner composed the score for the movie in less than six weeks. Gabriel Yared spent over a year on his version. In the 2007 Director's Cut Edition, Wolfgang Petersen used parts of Yared's score and music from other films, especially from Planet of the Apes (2001), The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and Starship Troopers (1997) in the fight scene between Achilles and Hector.
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Sir Christopher Nolan was originally hired to direct, but was replaced by Wolfgang Petersen in August 2002 after Petersen's Batman vs. Superman film was canceled. Coincidentally, after Nolan was dropped, he was instead offered Batman Begins (2005) by Warner Bros. as a "consolation prize" in early 2003. Nolan ended up directing The Odyssey (2026).
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The Greek Gods play a substantial role in the Iliad from which this movie was adapted. According to myth, Paris was asked to judge which of three Olympian goddesses was deserving of a golden apple meant for "The Fairest". When he was unable to choose because he found them all equally beautiful, Hera offered Paris power if he were to choose her; Athena offered wisdom, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris, being a lady's man with little ambition, gave the apple to Aphrodite, who awarded him Helen of Sparta, despite the fact she was already married, thus setting in motion the events that led to the Trojan War. The gods appear several more times in critical junctions in the story to manipulate the course of the battle, but a decision was made early on that they would only be mentioned in the movie rather than featured, out of fear that depicting them on screen would look silly.
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Behind the Scenes (20)
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In the making-of documentaries, production designer Nigel Phelps and art director Kevin Phipps argued that a grand epic like this required sets of epic proportions. Leading archaeologist Manfred Korfmann and his team had recently found that the alleged real Troy, named building layer VI or VII, was rather small by modern standards, with a population of between 4,000 and 8,000. To compensate for this lack of grandeur, the designers increased various structures from ancient cultures like the Mycenaeans to the size of Egyptian monuments on the movie set in Malta. Statues that were originally 10 feet (3 meters) tall at most, were enlarged four times to 40 feet. Likewise, many columns, such as those of the distinct Minoan type, were also scaled up to 40 feet tall. In his book, Korfmann had estimated that the city walls were between 20 feet and 33 feet (10 meters) at the maximum, which were also raised in the movie to match.
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The movie's trailer also contained the shot revealing the entire Greek fleet sailing towards Troy, but it had substantially more ships in it. When it was pointed out that this would be unrealistic (ships sailing so close to one another would only hinder each other and take the wind out of each other's sails), the number of ships in the shot was drastically reduced in the finished movie.
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According to the special features DVD, 300 buff Bulgarian male extras were transported to the Mexican shooting location and trained for battle scenes so the Greeks and Trojans would look sufficiently European. They supplemented Euro-looking Mexicans and were used in battle close-ups. "Soldier extras" got instructions in Spanish, Bulgarian, and English.
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Shero Rauf was the only Iraqi who worked on the movie. After three weeks as an extra, he was chosen to lead a group of 25 Bulgarians, training them and translating the commands on set. Later, he did some stunt performances. He ended up as a Trojan archer targeting Brad Pitt, and his arrow goes inside Achilles's shield. It was the beginning of Shero's career in movies.
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George Camilleri, a bodybuilder who won the title of Mr. Malta in 1989. He was a stuntman on this film & broke his leg while filming an action sequence at Ghajn Tuffieha, Malta on May 30, 2003. He had surgery the following day, suffered complications, and died on June 17, 2003. Troy is not even listed in his only two movie credits.
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According to the special features DVD, 300 buff Bulgarian male extras were transported to the Mexican shooting location and trained for battle scenes so the Greeks and Trojans would look sufficiently European. They supplemented Euro-looking Mexicans and were used in battle close-ups. "Soldier extras" got instructions in Spanish, Bulgarian, and English.
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In the making-of documentaries, production designer Nigel Phelps and art director Kevin Phipps argued that a grand epic like this required sets of epic proportions. Leading archaeologist Manfred Korfmann and his team had recently found that the alleged real Troy, named building layer VI or VII, was rather small by modern standards, with a population of between 4,000 and 8,000. To compensate for this lack of grandeur, the designers increased various structures from ancient cultures like the Mycenaeans to the size of Egyptian monuments on the movie set in Malta. Statues that were originally 10 feet (3 meters) tall at most, were enlarged four times to 40 feet. Likewise, many columns, such as those of the distinct Minoan type, were also scaled up to 40 feet tall. In his book, Korfmann had estimated that the city walls were between 20 feet and 33 feet (10 meters) at the maximum, which were also raised in the movie to match.
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Shero Rauf was the only Iraqi who worked on the movie. After three weeks as an extra, he was chosen to lead a group of 25 Bulgarians, training them and translating the commands on set. Later, he did some stunt performances. He ended up as a Trojan archer targeting Brad Pitt, and his arrow goes inside Achilles's shield. It was the beginning of Shero's career in movies.
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Characters & Cast (9)
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In Vanity Fair's career retrospect video, Brian Cox says that Agamemnon is the only role he has ever pursued. Cox also commented on working with co-star Brad Pitt, "He'd never been in costumes like that... Brad walked on set and my jaw was down because he was so stunningly beautiful. I'm straight but I thought, 'Wow, my God! This guy is stunning.'"
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Orlando Bloom reflected in 2024, "I think I just blanked [Troy] out of my brain by the way. So many people love that movie, but... I didn't want to do the movie. I didn't want to play this character. The movie was great... But how am I going to play this character? It was completely against everything I felt in my being. At one point it says Paris crawls along the floor having been beaten by somebody and holds his brother's leg. I was like, 'I'm not going to be able to do this.' One of my agents at the time said, 'But that's the moment that will make it!' And I completely fell for that line... I think that's why I blanked that from my mind."
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Brad Pitt has expressed disappointment with the movie and only did the movie out of contractual obligation. According to Pitt: "I had to do "Troy" because - I guess I can say all this now - I pulled out of another movie and then had to do something for the studio. So I was put in "Troy." It wasn't painful, but I realized that the way that movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be. I made my own mistakes in it. What am I trying to say about "Troy"? I could not get out of the middle of the frame. It was driving me crazy. I'd become spoiled working with David Fincher. It's no slight on Wolfgang Petersen. Das Boot (1981) is one of the all-time great films. But somewhere in it, "Troy" became a commercial kind of thing. Every shot was like, Here's the hero! There was no mystery."
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Brad Pitt's regular German voice actor, Tobias Meister, had already completely dubbed the role of Achilles. However, as Wolfgang Petersen wanted a deeper and stronger voice for Achilles, he rejected the dub and had the role in the German version voiced by Martin Keßler, who normally voices Nicolas Cage. Meister's version can still be heard in the German trailer.
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Easter Eggs & References (19)
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The comment about Odysseus turning up late is likely a reference to the fact that, in mythology, he attempted to get out of the war by pretending to be mad. A prophecy had told him that, if he took part in the siege, he would be away for twenty years. According to Homer, the Trojan War lasted ten years, followed by the ten years Odysseus spent trying to get home to Ithaca.
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Brad Pitt's frequent collaborator and Sean Bean's fellow The Martian (2015) co-star Matt Damon starred in the 2026 film adaption of fellow Homer poem The Odyssey (2026) as Odysseus who was played by Bean in Troy and also served as the inspiration for Ulysses Everett McGill, played by Pitt and Damon's fellow Ocean's co-star George Clooney in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) which in turn was loosely based on The Odyssey.
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The comment about Odysseus turning up late is likely a reference to the fact that, in mythology, he attempted to get out of the war by pretending to be mad. A prophecy had told him that, if he took part in the siege, he would be away for twenty years. According to Homer, the Trojan War lasted ten years, followed by the ten years Odysseus spent trying to get home to Ithaca.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Just before the love scene between Achilles and Briseis, she holds a knife to his throat and says that he'll kill more men if she doesn't kill him. He replies that he'll kill "many" more, but he only kills a total of four more men (including Hector) for the remainder of the film
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In the Director's Cut, during the sack of Troy, the priest Archeptolemus (played by Nigel Terry) unsuccessfully tries to save his own life by claiming he can't be harmed, as he is a servant of the gods. This may refer to the description of King Priam's death in Virgil's 'Aeneid', where Priam's son Polites tries to seek sanctuary on the altar of Zeus. However, Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, ignores his pleas and kills him in front of Priam, whom he then drags onto the altar and kills as well.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Brian Cox plays Agamemnon, who is stabbed in the neck by Briseis (played by Rose Byrne). Cox played a character [named Killearn] in the movie Rob Roy (1995). Coincidently, Killearn also is stabbed in the neck by Rob Roy's wife Mary (played by Jessica Lange).
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Contains a major spoiler — show
When Paris is helping the citizens of Troy escape, he hands Priam's sword to a young man named Aeneas and tells him that as long as the sword is in the hands of a son of Troy, the Trojans will survive. This is an obvious reference to Publius Vergilius Maro's (Virgil's) epic poem, The Aeneid, which tells the story of a prince of Troy named Aeneas leading the survivors of Troy through a series of hardships before settling in Italy, where his descendants establish Rome 5 centuries later. According to "The Iliad," Aeneas was the son of Venus, and the second greatest warrior the Trojans fielded during the war. The man he is assisting must be Anchises, King of Dardania and father of Aeneas. In his youth Anchises had been crippled by a thunderbolt from Zeus. Aeneas escaped the burning Troy while carrying his elderly father on his back.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In the Director's Cut, during the sack of Troy, the priest Archeptolemus (played by Nigel Terry) unsuccessfully tries to save his own life by claiming he can't be harmed, as he is a servant of the gods. This may refer to the description of King Priam's death in Virgil's 'Aeneid', where Priam's son Polites tries to seek sanctuary on the altar of Zeus. However, Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, ignores his pleas and kills him in front of Priam, whom he then drags onto the altar and kills as well.
Deeper Meaning (9)
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Despite what this version of the story suggests, Achilles and Patroclus were not cousins in the original myths. Homer never explicitly says they were lovers, but many later ancient Greeks understood them to be. The film likely changed their relationship to avoid depicting a same-sex romance. In Ancient Greece, relationships between men were often viewed differently than today and could be socially accepted within certain cultural norms.
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The young boy in the beginning asks Achilles if his mother was really an immortal goddess, and if that makes him immortal too, but Achilles implies that the latter part is untrue. In mythology, Achilles's mother Thetis was an immortal nereid, a minor deity of the sea, which is why she is shown gathering seashells in the movie. Furthermore, Thetis indeed tried to make Achilles immortal by dipping him in the river Styx, but because she held him by his heel, this remained his only mortal spot (forming the etymology of the term 'Achilles' heel'). However, the text of the Iliad does not contain any of the above. The myth that Achilles was physically immortal (except for his heel) emerged centuries after Homer's Iliad. The early 3rd-century BCE epic Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes first mentioned his invulnerability. The famous version involving the River Styx first appeared in the 1st-century CE Roman epic Achilleid by Statius.
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Paris's betrayal of Menelaus and seduction of Helen mirrors the Arthurian mythological story of Uther and Igraine. In the Arthurian myth, King Uther Pendragon broke his alliance with Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall because he lusted for his wife Igraine, Duchess of Cornwall and Uther seduced Igraine.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In Homer's time, archers were looked down upon because they did not fight their opponent on equal terms. Paris, the weakest and least brave, is an experienced archer, and kills Achilles with his arrows. Achilles, the best fighter of all, was never beaten in an open duel.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Near the end of the movie, Paris hands the Sword of Troy to a young man named Aeneas, telling him that as long as the sword is held by a Trojan, their people will always have a home. According to The Aeneid by Virgil, Aeneas and his company of refugees founded Rome after the sack of Troy. The Trojans ultimately got their revenge on the Greeks, as Rome would go on to supplant Greece as the ruler of the Mediterranean and most of the then-known world.
Career & Awards (2)
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
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