Orlando Bloom was probably at the peak of his career in 2004. Not only had the actor already been seen as Legolas in The Lord of the Rings trilogy at this point, he had also recently conquered cinema screens worldwide as Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean alongside Johnny Depp.
But the actor had another box office hit coming up: the historical epic Troy by Wolfgang Petersen, which reunited him in front of the camera with Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger. As Bloom revealed in an interview, he doesn’t speak too highly of the nearly $500 million blockbuster. And there is a reason for that.
Pirates of the Caribbean star Orlando Bloom has erased the historical epic Troy from his memory
Bloom appeared on Variety’s Know Your Lines interview format, where the Pirates of the Caribbean star was asked to guess script lines from his past films. However, when he was introduced to a line from Troy, Bloom couldn’t quite place it and rather associated it with films like The Lord of the Rings or Kingdom of Heaven. The correct answer surprised him for a very specific reason:
Oh my God, Troy. Wow. I think I deleted this movie from my mind. So many people love this movie, but for me it was [deutet an sich die Kehle aufzuschlitzen]to play this role. Am I even allowed to say all of this? I didn’t want to make this film. I didn’t want to play this character.
Watch the trailer for Troy here:
Troy – Trailer (German)
Orlando Bloom also explained that he was persuaded by his agency to take on the role of the Trojan Prince Paris:
The film was great. It was Brad [Pitt]. They were Eric [Bana] and Peter O’Toole. But how should I play this character? It was against everything I felt within myself. In one moment, Paris is said to be crawling on the floor, defeated, holding on to his brother’s leg. I was like, ‘I’m not going to be able to do that.’ One of my agents at the time said, ‘But this is the moment that’s going to make it happen!’ And I fell for this agent saying. I think that’s why I deleted it from my memory. Troy stars Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger also have mixed feelings about the historical epic today
Brad Pitt doesn’t think too fondly of his role as Achilles in the historical epic either. He explained to The New York Times Magazine that the film always placed his character at the center and made him a kind of character commercial hero made. This in turn led to a realization that changed which roles the actor took on after the blockbuster:
It was painful, but I realized that this movie wasn’t told in a way I wanted. I made my own mistakes in it.
Warner Bros.
Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger in Troy
Diane Kruger, on the other hand, had her big international breakthrough in the film, which presented the actress with several new problems, as she revealed to Variety:
When the film came out it was German Press very hard on me. They found my father, who I hadn’t seen since I was 13. They made up stories. It was really harsh.
You can currently stream Troy on Netflix, Sky Go and WOW.