HBO\'s "Rome" to present more realistic look at the

[Ebusitanus]

I found some more info...Spoilers included..beware!<br>
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deadwoodstage.proboards34...1100200809<br>
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'Rome' will premiere December 2005 (source: HBO press release)<br>
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'Rome' season 1 episode names:<br>
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1.1 - The Stolen Eagles<br>
1.2 - How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic<br>
1.3 - An Owl in a Thornbush<br>
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Ciaran Hinds, Kevin McKidd and Lindsay Duncan head a cast of top British acting talent in Rome, the BBC/HBO blockbuster epic drama series that chronicles the rise of the ancient Roman Empire through the eyes of two foot soldiers. Ciaran Hinds stars as Gaius Julius Caesar, the battle-weary commander of Rome's conquering army in Gaul and Kevin KcKidd is Lucius Vorenus, one of the two foot soldiers around whom the drama unfolds.<br>
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Ray Stevenson is the headstrong legionary Titus Pullo, Vorenus's battlefield cohort; James Purefoy is Marc Antony, one of Caesar's powerful political allies; Lindsay Duncan is Servilia, the lover of Caesar and mother of Brutus; Polly Walker is the powerful, manipulative and sexy Atia, Caesar's niece; Kerry Condon is Octavia, the daughter of Atia, who is forced to choose duty over love; Ben Whishaw is Gaius Octavian, who becomes the first Emperor of Rome and Indira Varma is Niobe, Vorenus's stunningly beautiful wife.<br>
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Rome is a co-production between the BBC and HBO.<br>
The 12-part series is being shot mainly in Rome, and additional location filming will take place throughout Europe and North Africa. Production will be based at Rome's Cinecitta Studios, on a five-acre set.<br>
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The first season of 12 episodes is planned to be broadcast on the BBC in the UK and on HBO in 2005.<br>
Rome, the saga of two ordinary Roman soldiers and their families, looks at the birth of the Roman Empire through the eyes of ordinary citizens, as well as famous historical figures such as Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, and Rome's first Emperor, Octavian. It is an intimate drama of love and betrayal, masters and slaves, husbands and wives, and portrays a fascinating and influential period of history - the birth of a modern society as we know it today - and brings the audience vividly into everyday Roman life.<br>
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The series begins in 52 BC, as Gaius Julius Caesar has completed his masterful conquest of Gaul after eight years of war, and is preparing to return to Rome. He heads home with thousands of battle-hardened men and a populist agenda for radical social change. Terrified, the aristocracy threatens to prosecute Caesar for war crimes as soon as he sets foot in Rome. Caesar's old friend and mentor, Pompey Magnus, attempts to foment mutiny in order to maintain the balance of power. Two of Caesar's soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, thwart Pompey's plan. Their fates become entwined with those of Caesar, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, and the boy Octavian, a strange and awkward child who, by political guile and bloody force, will become the first Emperor of Rome.<br>
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Rome is the first series co-production between the BBC and HBO, who previously co-produced the acclaimed serial Band Of Brothers, which won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries.<br>
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The co-executive producer is Frank Doelger; the producer is Marco Pugini; co-producers are Robert Papazian and James Hirsch. Additional writers of Rome will be Alexandra Cunningham, David Frankel, John Milius and William J MacDonald. (source: BBC)<br>
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Sex and the city with togas<br>
by BAZ BAMIGBOYE, Daily Mail<br>
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Rome wasn't built in a day. The one Joseph Bennett designed took about a year and, if he's lucky, it'll stand for another five.<br>
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Behind sound stages at the famed Cinecitta Studios (just outside the real Rome), a replica of the Arch of Janus and the two temples of Mars and Jupiter, along with the Basilica Giulia, have been erected for an epic television drama called - you guessed it - Rome.<br>
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The American TV company HBO (behind Sex And The City and The Sopranos) has teamed up with the BBC to create a drama that really brings the ancient civilisation of Rome to life.<br>
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As Jonathan Stamp, the show's historical consultant, noted: "This is the studio where the movies Cleopatra and Ben-Hur were shot, and the same kind of look pervades those movies.<br>
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"I call it the Holly-Rome look - starched white togas and everything sanitised. The whole ethos of our Rome is to do something entirely different."<br>
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Indeed, James Purefoy, who portrays Marc Antony in the new production, has already boasted on these pages about how the bonking scenes have left him exhausted.<br>
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Even a lothario of his stature was initially unnerved when told that his love scenes would be scrutinised by actors playing slaves. "But this is what went on," explained Stamp.<br>
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"It meant nothing to Marc Antony to have his slave, or the slave of his mistress, in the room during sex. It was what they did then and was considered perfectly normal," Stamp told me as he gave me a guided tour through the incredible back streets and lavish temples created by Bennett and his team. Some of the buildings have been daubed with red paint, and straw and food (offerings to the gods) left on the steps.<br>
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The idea was to give various buildings a lived-in and weathered look. In a sense, the same is true of the cast. Sure, the men are handsome and the women beautiful (costume designer April Ferry has created some opulent, decadent gowns), but they look like real people, as opposed to that plastic, full-whiteteeth look of some U.S. actors who get cast inTV roles these days. Ciaran Hinds, as Julius Caesar, leads the company.<br>
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Other British actors such as Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson star as foot soldiers, whose lives we will follow in the drama which has an initial 12 episodes, with the possibility of five series in all.<br>
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Polly Walker plays the manipulative and sexually eager Atia, who's also the mother of Octavian (played by the acclaimed young actor Max Pirkis, who was so good in Master And Commander).<br>
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Lindsay Duncan is Servilia and Indira Varma plays Niobe, who is married to McKidd's character. They have three children, although the parentage of the third becomes a major plot line in itself.<br>
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As I walk around the various stages and workshops, I am fascinated by the activity around me. I have the feeling that if they can get it right - and there have been some major production problems - it could be a big hit.<br>
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Brit prop master Arthur Wicks is 'dressing'a lavish banquet scene with roast hams, quails, figs and chickens, as Stamp watches carefully to make sure no food is presented that wouldn't have been around in 50BC.<br>
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Wicks reckons he'll be in Italy, on and off, for several months for filming.<br>
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"There are enough stories to go to at least five seasons," Frank Doelger, the HBO executive in charge of production, told me.<br>
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He said that the tales from that period have a "great familiarity and yet there's a wonderful strangeness about these people and their lives." (source: The Daily Mail, 10/29/2004)<br>
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The empire may seem more colourful than expected, with gold statues topping turquoise columns, but production designer Joseph Bennett said they were true to history.<br>
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"Most people think about Rome being monumental, white marble. We try to push the aspect of colour -- not because it's not realistic, but because that's the way it was," he said.<br>
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Producers did take some linguistic licence, however, shooting in English and casting British actors. "An American audience expects a British accent from any period that's more than a 100 years old," Thomopoulos said.<br>
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Rome may also be more raunchy than some would think. Behind grandiose temples, a maze of narrow streets and rickety market stalls is dotted with brothels covered in explicit graffiti and mosaics showing couples in Kama Sutra positions.<br>
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"It's about money, it's about power, it's about men being men," said Kevin McKidd, who plays one of the Roman centurions at the centre of the story.<br>
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"People raped and pillaged, all these campaigns, there were orgies, all that kind of stuff which was day to day life." (source: Reuters)<br>
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