BATTLE: JULIUS CAESAR

The film sounds interesting enough, I've always felt it odd that Caesar's time as an actual general was never really given much thought. It's probably the most interesting point of his life and the various triumphs and pitalls certainly feel just as cinematic as him getting shivved to death in the Senate.

On an off topic note, is this Scandanavian thing schtick or is it an American thing I'm not aware of. Seems odd that someone would define themselves by their genetic ancestors than by their current cultural status is all.

YES. Now we're playing in my wheelhouse.

Hell if they're serious about a franhcise, do a Colleen McCulloch and go all the way back to Marius and Sulla and the time of Caesars birth. There are some fantastic tales of the young Caesar (his kidnapping by pirates for example) that would make fantastic filmic tales.

Ive always been a fan of Roman history but I have a tough time seeing this kind of thing being more than one movie. If they focus too much on actual plot(you know, like a good movie) then it will have a much more difficult time making enough money to get a sequel and if they go for big battles then it would all get kind of samey. You can only do so much to jazz up a Roman battle since they were largely infantry that fought in rectangular groups in orderly lines...effective certainly, but difficult to make cinematically distinct or interesting after more than one movie. 

In any event Im really looking forward to finding out more about it. With as many terrible franchises as their are out there, Id love to see a deserving topic like this really get some love.

Bombs away Warners bombs away!

This is gonna tank in a huge way. Warners has had some bad luck but they should really be looking into more of their DC properties.

A few Justice League movies and Kingdom Come would be a better idea than a string of films of Julius Caesar.

Oh and Rome rocked btw Hinds was wonderful.

Mark Boal gives me hope. Jonathan Liebesman, not so much.

Who do they cast though? I mean, of course I'm going to say Hardy or Fassbender (especially with his Magneto cache), but I'm guessing Caesar is in his late 30s, early 40s for this film so who then? I'd love to see Matt Damon take it on in order to stretch himself but I'm not convinced he'd pull it off. What about Leo DiCaprio? I guess those are the two guys of that age with the most blockbuster pull, and it's going to matter because it's not like historical sagas are so hot right now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spike Marshall 

The film sounds interesting enough, I've always felt it odd that Caesar's time as an actual general was never really given much thought. It's probably the most interesting point of his life and the various triumphs and pitalls certainly feel just as cinematic as him getting shivved to death in the Senate.

Agree whole-heartedly with what you and Rain Dog and Elisabeth say about his earlier years. The soap opera of his decline has its charms but his rise deserves more cinematic attention.

Fassbender is 34 - he could age up by a decade to play a mid-forties Julius easily.

I know I'm a fan of the guy, but personally I haven't seen an actor that could capture Caesars gravitas while being a pretty great physical fit for the younger general at the same time better than Fassbender right now.

Yeah, you're right of course RD, I just sometimes feel like 2/3 of my posts these days are about how he and/or Hardy should be in everything and I don't want to get any more boring and predictable than I am already. But in this case how would Fassbender not be perfect?

Even a young Caesar movie would be interesting. Prior to getting a public office and doing the stuff most know about he was kind of a punk rock guy. Wearing his clothes the wrong way, partying hard and fucking half of Rome. Making fortunes, losing them, going from hanging out drunk with the intelligentsia of Rome to dealing with the uppermost level of political and financial power in minutes, hoping from bedroom to bedroom, his life's story is pretty fucking insane.  

Even something like his attempted campaign in Britain would make for a fascinating film which explored a side of the man we're not really used to. Then again I've always wanted to see a film about a Roman Campaign which isn't just Tortoise shield formations.

There’s a fascinating film to be made out of the way that the Roman’s assimilated with the populaces of their conquered lands. Taking culture, customs, gods, technology and making it their own. It’s a side of Roman society that’s never been really shown before, that malleable culture which allowed them to expand so freely and take so much land.

Don't even get me started about Rome in general. Or any European history from the Persian Wars up to the Dark Ages. I'm liable to keep blabbing on until your ears commit suicide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

Even a young Caesar movie would be interesting. Prior to getting a public office and doing the stuff most know about he was kind of a punk rock guy. Wearing his clothes the wrong way, partying hard and fucking half of Rome. Making fortunes, losing them, going from hanging out drunk with the intelligentsia of Rome to dealing with the uppermost level of political and financial power in minutes, hoping from bedroom to bedroom, his life's story is pretty fucking insane.  

Growing up among the plebs of the Subura (the secret of his common touch imo), desperate to bring a return of dignatus to a once great and venerable family fallen on hard times, nephew to the great Gaius Marius, close friendship with King Nicomedes of Bithyana, his kidnap by and living with pirates, only to hunt them all down once he was finally freed, his death sentence at the hands of Sulla the Dictator and escape from Rome - and all that happened before he was twenty one.

You could seriously do an epic trilogy - with an eye to four or even five films if you wanted to keep going - with the meat of Caesars life. It's quite simply, one of the most fascinating tales in one of the most fascinating eras in human history.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stelios 

Don't even get me started about Rome in general. Or any European history from the Persian Wars up to the Dark Ages. I'm liable to keep blabbing on until your ears commit suicide.

Which is why I'm always hesitant to mention that I'm a historian. We're tarred with the brushes of a thousand history buffs who just won't shut the fuck up.

And yet, Vin Diesel's HANNIBAL stagnates. ;)

If not Fassbender, then Ralph Fiennes for Caesar (if they don't go to early into his past that is, but pirates? gotta have those...)!

Just to be clear, there's no aliens in this, right? The title conjured up all sorts of cross-genre alt-history weirdness.