A Return Visit To “Troy”
Posted: Monday February 12th 2007 1:12am
Source: Assorted Sources
Author: Garth Franklin

Break out the leather togas and baby oil, Wolfgang Petersen is delivering a director’s cut version of his 2004 sword and sandals epic “Troy” reports the trades.

The 162 minute theatrical cut is being expanded by half an hour and will feature much more sex and violence in the film which starred the often bare-chested likes of Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom.

Petersen hopes the new version, much like his 1997 hour longer director’s cut of “Das Boot”, will be seen as the definitive version of the film.

The $150 million budget “Troy” made a disappointing $133 million at the domestic box-office, but internationally was one of the year’s biggest success stories with a $364 million foreign tally in receipts – adding up to a half billion dollars in revenue for Warner Bros. Pictures.

The new cut, which Warner Home Video is forking over a million dollars in expenses for, gets a limited theatrical re-release in Germany next month, and a DVD (and potential limited theatrical) release in many territories later this year.

It also adds to the growing list of recent splashy new alternate cuts by high profile directors to films in their pantheons like Richard Donner’s “Superman II,” Brian Helgeland’s “Payback,” Oliver Stone’s “Alexander” and Barry Levinson’s “The Natural”.