08-22-2005, 02:49 AM
I just finished watching HBO's "making of" documentary. It was interesting in a variety of ways. Certainly it whets the appetite of anyone even remotely interested in the period, the teaser being just violent, colorful, and salacious enough to impel one to take a peek. Yet, as a longtime fan of British actors, I was amazed that I recognized so few of them. Not sure what the thinking was on that score. The tone of some of the series' makers was rather off-putting, insofar as they insisted that they are the first people in the hundred-year history of cinema to get Rome right, by which they evidently mean an Italian slum with chariots. The creators are so amusingly self-congratulatory that all one can do is smile. One wonders how many of them have heard of, let alone seen, Cabiria, the Italian silent film that began Roman epics in the movies.
On the other hand, one can only wish them well. Dramas like this are rare enough without pedants peeing in the makers' well. Successful shows beget similar shows, and that's all to the good. And, as Simon, Conn, and John will tell you, Roman novelists such as we usually get a sales bump when shows like this air, and that can only be described as very good indeed.
Bona Fortuna--
Bill
On the other hand, one can only wish them well. Dramas like this are rare enough without pedants peeing in the makers' well. Successful shows beget similar shows, and that's all to the good. And, as Simon, Conn, and John will tell you, Roman novelists such as we usually get a sales bump when shows like this air, and that can only be described as very good indeed.
Bona Fortuna--
Bill
