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The Last Legion | |
---|---|
Directed by | Doug Lefler |
Screenplay by | Jez Butterworth Tom Butterworth |
Story by | Carlo Carlei Peter Rader Valerio Massimo Manfredi |
Based on | The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi |
Produced by | Dino De Laurentiis Martha De Laurentiis Raffaella De Laurentiis Tarak Ben Ammar |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Marco Pontecorvo |
Edited by | Simon Cozens |
Music by | Patrick Doyle |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Momentum Pictures (United Kingdom) [1] 01 Distribution (Italy) [1] Quinta Communications (France) [1] SPI International (Czech Republic and Slovakia) [1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom Italy Tunisia France Slovakia |
Language | English |
Budget | $67 million [2] |
Box office | $25.67 million [3] |
The Last Legion is a 2007 historical action adventure film directed by Doug Lefler and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. It is based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It stars Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Peter Mullan, Kevin McKidd, John Hannah, and Iain Glen. It premiered in Abu Dhabi on 6 April 2007.
The film is loosely inspired by the events of 5th-century European history, notably the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. This is coupled with other facts and legends from the history of Britain and fantastic elements from the legend of King Arthur to provide a basis for the Arthurian legend.
Ambrosinus, a Druid and member of a secret brotherhood protecting the sword of Julius Caesar, becomes tutor to the young newly crowned Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus. As Emperor, Romulus and his father Orestes refuse to give the Gothic warlord Odoacer a third of Italy. On the same day, Romulus meets the general of the Nova Invicta Legion, Aurelius.
Sometime after the coronation, Rome is attacked by the Goths. Most soldiers of the Nova Invicta legion are killed while Aurelius is stunned and left for dead. Orestes and his wife are killed by Odoacer's lieutenant, Wulfila, who captures Romulus. The next day, Odoacer, now the ruler of the Western Empire, plans to have Romulus killed. At Ambrosinus' urging, Odoacer spares and exiles Romulus to Capri instead, along with Ambrosinus himself while Wulfila and his men are sent to guard them. With Ambrosinus' help, Romulus enters a villa built during the reign of Emperor Tiberius and he discovers a hidden chamber there. Inside, Romulus finds a statue of Julius Caesar holding his sword, forged by a Chalybian smith during his invasion of Britain. Below the statue, Romulus reads a dais which states that the sword is made for "he who is destined to rule". This is interpreted as a prophecy and Romulus keeps the weapon.
Ambrosinus and Romulus are soon rescued by Aurelius and his surviving soldiers Vatrenus, Batiatus and Demetrius, accompanied by Mira, an Indian agent of the Eastern Empire. They take Romulus to a seaport where the Eastern Emperor has promised Romulus safe passage to Constantinople. They barely escape after they learn that the Eastern Empire has actually betrayed them and sided with Odoacer. Ambrosinus persuades Romulus to seek refuge in Britain, where the lost Roman legion may remain loyal. They are eventually followed by Goths under Wulfila, who covets Caesar's sword after learning of the prophecy. After crossing the Alps and the English Channel, the party reaches Britain and they travel to Hadrian's Wall. In there, they meet a man, revealed to be the legion's former commanding general, who tells the group that the legion had decided to disband and settle as farmers following the Empire's withdrawal. However, they all live in fear of a tyrannical warlord named Vortgyn, who is actually an old enemy of Ambrosinus. The group takes shelter in a small village where Romulus befriends a young girl named Igraine.
Meanwhile, Vortgyn teams up with Wulfila and the Goths in an attempt to get Caesar's sword so he can consolidate his position as ruler of Britain. Vortgyn attacks a number of settlements, including Igraine's village, in an attempt to force the villagers to surrender Romulus. Aurelius, wielding Caesar's sword, and Romulus mobilize an army at Hadrian's Wall to confront Vortgyn. In the ensuing battle, Vortgyn confronts Ambrosinus in his old sanctuary while Wulfila's army quickly overwhelm Ambrosinus and Romulus' forces until the mobilized Ninth Legion arrives to help. The battle's tide is turned when Ambrosinus, who has killed Vortgyn, returns holding his golden mask. After severely injuring Aurelius in a fierce duel, Wulfila is killed by Romulus using Caesar's sword. Repulsed by the deaths in the battle, Romulus disposes of his sword, lodging it in a large stone.
Many years later, Ambrosinus, now known by his Druid name Merlin, takes a young boy to the battlefield where he tells him of the events following the battle; Aurelius married Mira and the two raised Romulus as their son, and Romulus became a wise ruler under the name "Pendragon" with Igraine as his wife. The boy recognises Romulus as his father and Igraine as his mother. In a final scene, Caesar's sword is shown embedded in the stone, with moss covering the original Latin inscription, now only reading "E S CALIBVR".
The film's producers include Dino De Laurentiis, Martha, his second wife, and Raffaella, his daughter by his first wife. Raffaella suggested director Doug Lefler due to his work on Dragonheart: A New Beginning , which she produced. Filming took place in Tunisia and at Spiš Castle in eastern Slovakia in 2005. [4]
Valerio Massimo Manfredi helped adapt his novel to the screen. In an interview, he states at least four hours of footage was shot but ultimately shortened or cut, including scenes of the heroes' journey through the Alps and the English Channel. [5]
For the role of Aurelius, executive producer Harvey Weinstein suggested Colin Firth, known for playing Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (1995) and more recently, Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones films. Firth accepted the role due to the story, which he liked, and that it was very different from previous roles. [4]
Thomas Sangster (Romulus) was one of the last to be cast. He had previously worked with Firth in Love Actually (2003) and Nanny McPhee (2006), and their familiarity with each other benefited both. [4]
Sir Ben Kingsley was cast as Ambrosinus/Merlin after one meeting with Lefler. Kingsley was drawn to the mystique of the character, whom Lefler describes as a "warrior shaman". Kingsley also found the story interesting. [4]
Aishwarya Rai was cast as Mira after the filmmakers decided "somebody that had a rare beauty... who could move very well", in Lefler's words, was ideal for the role. Lefler touted Rai's training in dance as an asset for her fight scenes. Like Firth, Rai took the role as a change of pace from her previous work. [4]
The film's costumes were designed by Paolo Scalabrino, who had worked on Gangs of New York and Troy . [4]
Lefler wanted each character to have a unique fighting style. Richard Ryan served as the film's sword master, helping him plan the fight scenes; he had worked on Troy and would work on Stardust as such. [4]
The film's score was composed by Patrick Doyle.
As of June 2020 [update] , the film had an average score of 37 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 12 reviews. [6] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 15% approval rating, based on 55 reviews with an average rating of 4.02/10. The site's consensus reads, "With miscast leads and unoriginal, uninspired dialogue, The Last Legion pales in comparison to the recent cinematic epics it invokes." [7]
Ambrosius Aurelianus was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, according to Gildas. He also appeared independently in the legends of the Britons, beginning with the 9th-century Historia Brittonum. Eventually, he was transformed by Geoffrey of Monmouth into the uncle of King Arthur, the brother of Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, as a ruler who precedes and predeceases them both. He also appears as a young prophet who meets the tyrant Vortigern; in this guise, he was later transformed into the wizard Merlin.
Romulus Augustus, nicknamed Augustulus, was Roman emperor of the West from 31 October 475 until 4 September 476. Romulus was placed on the imperial throne by his father, the magister militum Orestes, and, at that time still a minor, was little more than a figurehead for his father. After Romulus ruled for just ten months, the barbarian general Odoacer defeated and killed Orestes and deposed Romulus. As Odoacer did not proclaim any successor, Romulus is typically regarded as the last Western Roman emperor, his deposition marking the end of the Western Roman Empire as a political entity, despite the fact that Julius Nepos would continue to be recognised as the western emperor by the east. The deposition of Romulus Augustulus is also sometimes used by historians to mark the transition from antiquity to the medieval period.
Year 476 (CDLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basiliscus and Armatus. The denomination 476 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
The 470s decade ran from January 1, 470, to December 31, 479.
Odoacer, also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus and became the ruler of Italy (476–493). Odoacer's overthrow of Romulus Augustulus is traditionally seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.
Julius Nepos, or simply Nepos, ruled as Roman emperor of the West from 24 June 474 to 28 August 475. After losing power in Italy, Nepos retreated to his home province of Dalmatia, from which he continued to claim the western imperial title, with recognition from the Eastern Roman Empire, until he was murdered in 480. Though Nepos' successor in Italy, Romulus Augustulus, is traditionally deemed the last western Roman emperor, Nepos is regarded by some historians as the true last emperor of the west, being the last widely recognised claimant to the position.
Zeno was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues. His reign saw the end of the Western Roman Empire following the deposition of Romulus Augustus and the death of Julius Nepos, but he was credited with contributing much to stabilising the Eastern Empire.
Uther Pendragon (Brittonic), also known as King Uther, was a legendary King of the Britons and father of King Arthur.
The term Western Roman Empire is used in modern historiography to refer to the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. Particularly during the period from 395 to 476 AD, there were separate, coequal courts dividing the governance of the empire into the Western provinces and the Eastern provinces with a distinct imperial succession in the separate courts. The terms Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire were coined in modern times to describe political entities that were de facto independent; contemporary Romans did not consider the Empire to have been split into two empires but viewed it as a single polity governed by two imperial courts for administrative expediency. The Western Empire collapsed in 476, and the Western imperial court in Ravenna disappeared by 554 AD, at the end of Justinian's Gothic War.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play Romulus der Große shows the demise of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century – taking place during the day of the Ides of March, 476.
Valerio Massimo Manfredi is an Italian historian, writer, essayist, archaeologist and journalist.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster is an English actor. He is known for playing Sam in Love Actually (2003), Simon in Nanny McPhee (2005), Ferb in Phineas and Ferb (2007–2015), Jojen Reed in Game of Thrones (2013–2014), Newt in the Maze Runner film series (2014–2018), and Benny Watts in the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit (2020), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
Orestes was a Roman general and politician of Pannonian ancestry. He joined the court of Attila the Hun in his native Pannonia, in which he reached a high position, becoming one of Attila's most trusted men. Orestes also held considerable influence in the late Western Roman Empire. His son Romulus Augustulus became Roman Emperor of the West.
The Sciri, or Scirians, were a Germanic people. They are believed to have spoken an East Germanic language. Their name probably means "the pure ones".
The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy, existed under the control of the Germanic Ostrogoths in Italy and neighbouring areas from 493 to 553.
The Turcilingi were an obscure barbarian people, or possibly a clan or dynasty, who appear in historical sources relating to Middle Danubian peoples who were present in Italy during the reign of Romulus Augustulus (475–76). Their only known leader was Odoacer (Odovacar), but he was described as a ruler of several ethnic groups.
Augustus was an ancient Roman title given as both name and title to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Rome's first Emperor. On his death, it became an official title of his successor, and was so used by Roman emperors thereafter. The feminine form Augusta was used for Roman empresses and other female members of the imperial family. The masculine and feminine forms originated in the time of the Roman Republic, in connection with things considered divine or sacred in traditional Roman religion. Their use as titles for major and minor Roman deities of the Empire associated the Imperial system and imperial family with traditional Roman virtues and the divine will, and may be considered a feature of the Roman imperial cult.
Odoacer's deposition of Romulus Augustus, occurring in 476 AD, was a coup that marked the end of the reign of the Western Roman Emperor last approved by the Western Roman Senate and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy, although Julius Nepos exercised control over Dalmatia until 480.