Rome - this
autumn on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ TWO
Rome fact sheet
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The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ joins HBO to co-produce Rome in August 2002.
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HBO and the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ decided to shoot Rome in Italy in spring 2003, and pre-production
began at Rome's legendary Cinecittà Studios that August.
The set was designed by Joseph Bennett and building began in November
2003. Location shooting began 22 March 2004, and the first shoot at
Cinecittà began 1 April 2004. Production wrapped
in May 2005.
The 11-episode series of Rome spans 52 to 44 BC, and will begin transmission
on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ TWO in the autumn of 2005.
Rome
boasts the largest standing set in the world, comprising five acres
of backlot and six soundstages at Cinecittà Studios.
Rome
is the first English-language series to be shot entirely in a non-English-speaking
country.
Rome
employed an international crew of 350, and has welcomed more than 50
local Italian interns during the course of production.
The Forum set is approximately 60 per cent of the size of the original
Foro Romano. Twenty-five per cent of the set is invisible in the form
of wiring, pipes and gas to fuel its working braziers and torches. The
olive trees in the Sacred Grove are over 200 years old.
References
for the vibrant colours of the temples, statues and streets, as well
as graffiti and signage, are taken directly from the ruins of Pompeii,
Herculaneum and Ostia Antica.
The series required over 4,000 pieces of wardrobe, designed by Oscar-nominated
costume designer April Ferry; 2,500 pieces were used in the first two
episodes alone. Approximately 1,250 pairs of shoes and sandals were
made in Bulgaria.
All
of the fabrics used in the costume design and set dressing are authentic
to the time - wool, linen, cotton and silk. Fabrics came from Prato,
Italy, as well as India, Tunisia and Morocco. They were purchased in
their natural state and dyed on set.
Two
hundred and fifty chain mail tunics for soldiers, each weighing 36 pounds,
were made in India, as well as 40 leather cuirasses for legionary officers.
Leatherwork for the principal actors was done on set by Augusto and
Giampaolo Grassi, second-generation craftsmen whose father created the
body armour for Cleopatra and other period films shot at Cinecittà .
The quality is such that many of those costumes are still in use decades
later, rented throughout the world to other productions.
Prototypes
for helmets and other metal costume elements were handmade by metal
designer Luca Giampaoli and replicated in India. He personally created
all metal costume elements for the principal actors.
Rome
used a peak of 40 horses in one scene, and on the largest day of shooting,
750 actors/extras for the scene of Caesar's triumph.
Kevin
McKidd and Ray Stevenson trained with swordmaster Giorgio Antonioni
for one month before shooting, learning authentic Roman fighting techniques
rarely portrayed on film or television.
Fifty-five
Italians were cast as "special ability" extras and sent to a two-week
boot camp, living in tents, to train as Roman soldiers; 43 completed
it.
A typical day of the extras' boot camp began around 5.00am with an hour
of physical training, then 20 minutes for breakfast. Next they were
split into three groups, working on marching, sword training and manoeuvres.
They had 40 minutes for lunch, followed by more group training, including
camp building and dismantling. After dinner they were permitted to bathe
in the nearby lake without soap. Lights out was at 9.00pm, followed
by sentry duty and night manoeuvres.
Battle scenes in Rome represent one of the first times that authentic
techniques have been portrayed - for example, no large, slashing sword
movements like Gauls and Celts used; instead the series featured a tightly-packed
"Roman Wall" of men shoulder-to-shoulder, thrusting straight from above
and below their shields. The front line rotated to the back every 30-45
seconds, ensuring well-rested soldiers in the fray at all times.
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