"Augustus" starring Peter O\'Toole

[Theodosius the Great]

Avete,<br>
<br>
Has anyone seen the made-for-TV movie called "Augustus" starring Peter O'Toole ? It's an Italian/British production.<br>
<br>
I rented it last week and bought it subsequently. I think it's one of the better movies on Rome in recent history. Yes, there are some historical inaccuracies, for instance, I don't remember ever reading about an assasination attempt on Augustus in his elderly years.<br>
<br>
The armor was anacronistic (segs) and in some cases looks like leather.<br>
<br>
But the battle scenes were fairly impressive, IMO. The battle formations were accurate for a change and the men actually throw their pila.<br>
<br>
The sets were done on a large scale - very impressive.<br>
<br>
I recommend you all at least rent it. It's about 3 hours long.<br>
<br>
-Theo <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=theodosiusthegreat>Theodosius the Great</A> at: 1/17/05 1:27 pm<br></i>

[Tarbicus]

Thanks Theo, I've ordered it for rental. <p></p><i></i>

[John Maddox Roberts]

I'll have to look for that one. This means O'Toole has played two successive emperors. He was Tiberius in the hilariously lurid "Caligula." <p></p><i></i>

[Niedel]

Quote:</em></strong><hr>I'll have to look for that one. This means O'Toole has played two successive emperors. He was Tiberius in the hilariously lurid "Caligula."<hr><br>
<br>
And with his Flavius Silva in "Masada", it's his third Roman. Plus he's participated in three non-roman ancient movies, John Huston's The Bible, Troy and the currently filming Gilgamesh.<br>
<br>
BTW, "Augustus" was supposed to be the first of a whole series of movies about Roman emperors co-produced by the Italian RAI and the German ZDF. The others were supposed to be about Nero, Titus, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Constantine and Justinian, if I remember correctly. I don't know if those will ever be made, of course. But I think "Augustus" was generally well-received in Europe. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=niedel>Niedel</A> at: 1/18/05 8:01 pm<br></i>

[Theodosius the Great]

Quote:</em></strong><hr>BTW, "Augustus" was supposed to be the first of a whole series of movies about Roman emperors co-produced by the Italian RAI and the German ZDF. The others were supposed to be about Nero, Titus, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Constantine and Justinian<hr><br>
<br>
Wow, Niedel<br>
<br>
That sounds great ! Though I wish they'd drop Nero and Hadrian from the list. I suspect the Brits insisted on doing Hadrian because of his wall. IMO, Vespasian would be a better choice than Titus who lasted only a year or two as Emperor.<br>
<br>
Hope they cast quality actors again as they did with "Augustus".<br>
<br>
Thanks for the great news <p></p><i></i>

[Niedel]

Well, as I said, I read this on a German site a while ago, when they were shooting "Augustus". But since that one materialized, maybe the other ones will, too.<br>
I don't mind Hadrian, there has never been a movie about him. I think they could drop Nero and maybe Marcus Aurelius, since those had already been done.<br>
I guess they chose Titus due to Pompeii and his "diem perdidi" type later humanism... <p></p><i></i>

[Luca]

I saw Augustus on the RAI channel here in Italy. I didn't like it.<br>
<br>
www.romanhideout.com/imag...perium.asp <p></p><i></i>

[Theodosius the Great]

They never get Cleopatra's look right in any movie. The real Cleopatra had <span style="color:red;font-size:large;">RED</span> hair and <span style="color:blue;font-size:large;">BLUE</span> eyes. Pure Macedonian blood via all the brother/sister marriages. Although the woman they got to play her in "Augustus" was gorgeous . <p></p><i></i>

[Quintius Clavus]

Cleopatra's mother was not the sister of her father. Her mother was a daughter of Mithradates of Pontus (THE Mithradates, who gave the Romans such a hard time for such a long time). Cleopatra's half-sister, Arsinoe, was the progeny of the "usual" brother/sister marriage (her father's second marriage). I am not certain whether both of her brothers were from full brother/sister parentage.<br>
Colleen McCullough, in her last two Roman novels, "Caesar" and "The October Horse", takes the position that Cleopatra was more Semitic looking-being darker and with a hooked nose. Children do not always resemble their immediate parents; they can "throw back" to earlier anscestry, and I think Cleopatra had some Nabatean in her anscestry, father's side (I think). Ms McCullough is, of course, working from coin profiles for part of her physical description. Cleopatra was not a noted beauty. It was her personality and her power that drew men like Caesar and Marc Antony.<br>
<br>
I looked at the stills from "Augustus" and they are certainly a mish-mash of equipment, some with some vague resemblance to actual stuff, and the rest something else all together. The only good thing about the varying styles is that Roman soldiers did not look exactly alike-unlike modern soldiers. A certain amount of variety in appearance would be expected and normal.<br>
The Italian studio gear seems to be the dominant look these days - being used for "The Passion of the Christ", "King Arthur" and this "Augustus" piece.<br>
<br>
Marcus Quintius Clavus/Quinton <p></p><i></i>

[Caius Fabius]

Someone needs to burn down whatever warehouse they store that pseudo-Roman stuff in and then give the insurance company and the costume buyers some free lessons in what Romans wore.... <br>
<br>
No, No, let's just pray for a lightning strike or something, since we don't want to be accused of promoting arson or anything. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=caiusfabius>Caius Fabius</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ROMANISROMANORVM/files/C%20Fabius%201988b.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 1/21/05 7:04 am<br></i>

[Theodosius the Great]

Ave Quintius,<br>
<br>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>Her (Cleopatra's) mother was a daughter of Mithradates of Pontus (THE Mithradates, who gave the Romans such a hard time for such a long time).<hr><br>
<br>
Hmm..and wasn't Mithradates actually an Iranian or at least in part ? Ironic that he styled himself to be the champion of Hellenism .<br>
<br>
Caius,<br>
<br>
Yeah, that's a good idea. I don't want to see anymore gear reused from "Masada" .<br>
<br>
-Theo <p></p><i></i>

[Luca]

The main problem about those costumes, is that they are kept functional because here in Italy there is one of the most famous reenacter's "Institute" that says that roman gear was done mainly in leather.<br>
This Institute has been involved in many TV/cinema productions in the latest years as consultants.<br>
Their web site (in italian) is: www.arsdimicandi.net <br>
you probably must use babelfish to have an idea of what is written, even if is a much complicate speech also in italian. <p></p><i></i>

[Niedel]

Wow, so now even the movie types have an excuse to use the cheap leather stuff. I had thought that they basically never use real metal segmentatas because it's too expensive to equip hundreds of extras with. My Italian is not great. What do they say about the actual archaeological evidence for metal segmentatas? I got the point that they think that leather is actually a better protection than metal, but what are their other main arguments? Any help appreciated. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p200.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=niedel>Niedel</A> at: 1/21/05 7:39 pm<br></i>

[Luca]

well,<br>
I cannot translate everything, but members of this Institute wrote many things on newspapers and magazines and appeared in many shows also in TV.<br>
<br>
I quote only some statements:<br>
"metal segmentatas were never used in battle (...) only the leather were..."<br>
"metal segmentatas were used only in wet environment as in Britain or in Germany, or also in the navy."<br>
"metal segmentatas were found only in Britain."<br>
"metal segmentatas were used only by soldiers behind walls to hit the enemies with war machines, but never in an open field battle"<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>

[Niedel]

Wow.<br>
Thanks for the help, Luca. <p></p><i></i>