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金像級大導演列尼史葛執導
《魔戒》系列金髮箭神奧蘭度布倫首度擔綱演出浪漫英雄
為愛，頂天立地
憑勇氣，成就傳奇
天國驕雄
Kingdom of Heaven
5月5日 浩瀚呈獻
故事大綱：
十字軍將領哥弗爾Godfrey of Ibelin（利安尼遜Liam Neeson飾）率領部隊返回耶路撒冷途中，巧遇喪失了妻兒的鐵匠巴利安Balian（奧蘭度布倫Orlando Bloom飾），並認出巴利安就是其失散多年的私生子。在連番波折下，巴利安無奈地跟隨生父返回耶路撒冷，並積極練習劍術，最終成為一個出色的騎士。
憑著個人才華，巴利安不單受耶路撒冷國王博杜安五世Baldwin IV (愛德華諾頓Edward Norton飾演)肯定及重用，更受郡主茜貝拉Sibylla（依花格蓮Eva Green飾）青睞。好景不常，被頑疾纏身的國王病逝，由郡主的夫君繼位。此時，耶路撒冷與鄰國起紛爭，好戰的新國王竟堅持開戰！大戰展開，兩軍交鋒，巴利安如何保衛處於弱勢的耶路撒冷？如何拯救生命危在旦夕的國民與愛人？
守得雲開 30年後拍十字軍片
著名導演列尼史葛鍾情拍攝關於武士或中世紀，尤其是十字軍時期的電影，而他心目中的英雄就是出身平凡但才華洋溢，飽經挫折及磨練的真英雄。史葛表示：「自古以來，武士是有關時代的代表人物，這些人物往往都擁有崇高的情操，對君王忠心耿耿，處事公正嚴明。」
皇天不負有心人，30年後史葛終於夢想成真，開拍《天國驕雄》，據聞更獲片商斥資1億3千萬美元拍攝。為了忠於史實，史葛邀請紐約時報資深記者威廉摩拿漢William Monahan作為編劇。對十字軍的歷史非常熟悉的摩拿漢，尤其是醉心於耶路撒冷國王博杜安五世的事蹟，他表示：「當博杜安五世在位的時期，基督教及回教正是和平共處，相安無事，而他與回教的統領撒拉丁Saladin亦能互相信任、互相尊重，當時任何人士都可以在耶路撒冷自由地進行宗教活動。」所以在電影的開端，有關的情景會再現眼前，彼此間的貿易頻繁，國泰民安，只不過某些人的貪婪、野心及狂妄令到此景不在。因此，史葛強調《天國驕雄》並不是一套紀錄片，而基於史實而創作的故事，一個關於人性的故事。
俊男美女+演技派高手壓陣
被導演選中擔綱演出浪漫英雄的奧蘭度表示極為興奮，說道：「我終於達成很多男士夢寐以求的宏願：成為武士；奪得美人歸；並做一個頂天立地的真英雄。」
對於選用奧蘭度，列尼史葛指出之前曾跟他合作過《黑鷹15小時》，覺得這位年青人很誠懇、外向、具魄力。史葛還記得當時命奧蘭度從直昇機跳下地面，他二話不說照做如儀，任勞任怨，非常專業。
有幸擔任史葛電影中的男主角，奧蘭度感到異常榮幸，他萬分欣賞史葛的智慧，可以將歷史及現代社會的概念融為一體，拍成精彩絕倫的電影。
至於女主角則選用了曾主演法國電影《戲夢巴黎》的依花格蓮。雖然廿歲出頭，史葛發掘到依花格蓮有一種成熟的韻味，再加上她有獨特的見解及富幻想力。依花格蓮對導演亦大有好感，她表示：「史葛很平易近人，跟他合作非常簡單及容易，因為他不斷創作一個安穩的環境來發揮演員的潛能，他的心境很平和，絕對不會流露半點憤怒或鼓譟。」
除了俊男美女，《天國驕雄》更請來一眾演技爐火純青的演技派壓陣，包括飾演巴利安生父的利安尼遜、飾演耶路撒冷國王博杜安五世的愛德華諾頓及飾演參謀泰比利亞斯Tiberias的金像影帝謝洛美艾朗斯Jeremy Irons等。
一萬五千套服飾 用料講究
在服裝設計方面，《天國驕雄》的服裝設計師珍娣也提絲Janty Yates異常講究，為求切合十字軍年代的服裝，她翻閱了不少書籍，並親自到大英博物館、凡爾塞宮及英國的圖書館中找尋珍貴的資料。為了在限定時間內趕製數量驚人的戲服，珍娣也提絲組成為數八十人的設計隊伍，穿梭西班牙及摩洛哥的拍攝場地，務求讓每位演員都能穿著稱身及符合角色的服裝。單是依花格蓮個人就有28件戲服，大部份的布料都是來自印度的絲綢，所有的褲及靴都在羅馬製造，她的晚裝更鑲有珍珠，並在印度由人手加工，穿起來令她顯得格外高貴優雅。
由於拍攝《天國驕雄》的演員陣容龐大，珍娣也提絲總共製造了超過一萬五千件的戲服，即使是替身每人均有七件戲服，而且每件服裝選料一絲不苟，單是布料便來自不同國家，包括印度、意大利、泰國、法國及英國。每套戲服至少由十五件服飾所組成，如外套、襯衫、褲、頭盔、靴、手套、劍套等。
武器數十萬件 重質重量
拍攝中古史詩式電影，武器總是少不了，武器專家西門雅頓Simon Atherton表示拍攝《天國驕雄》總共製造了成千上萬、各式各樣的武器，如箭、劍、盾牌等。雅頓更鑄造兩把特別的劍，分別是將領哥弗爾為其兒子封爵時所用的劍及回教統領撒拉丁的劍。其中哥弗爾的劍是由鋁鑄造而成，比用鐵較輕及安全，單是鑄造此劍已足足花了一個星期。
至於撒拉丁的刀，史葛本想製造一把半月形的彎刀，但是經過一番的研究及調查後，始發覺當時的刀是直身的，故撒拉丁的刀都是照樣製造為直身刀，而其刀柄是由骨製成的，並加上蛇頭，栩栩如生。
六千噸建材 重建聖城
導演列尼史葛可能太過鍾情於西班牙及摩洛哥，之前所執導的電影《帝國驕雄》、《黑鷹15小時》等均在兩地拍攝，今次列尼再度選取西班牙及摩洛哥，除了在當地名勝取景外，還搭建不少大型的建築物。負責美術的艾法麥斯Arthur Max及其羅馬的美術部透過參考書藉及實地參考後，繪畫了超過一千幅設計圖，將電影內的建築物一一勾畫出來
其中一項最艱辛的任務是重建十二世紀的耶路撒冷聖城，麥斯表示：「這可謂是不惜工本，是我所做過的工程中最大型的一個，亦是近年難得的大型電影布景設計之一。」
由於《天國驕雄》拍攝為期六個月，麥斯負責建立一個能配合當時太陽光線的聖城，讓太陽光線及陰影能自然協調，製造一個有利於拍攝的環境。經過電腦模擬及精密計算後，幸好聖城所建立的位置恰當，令到拍攝效果滿意。
當決定了聖城的位置後，製作單位亦僱用了超過三百五十個來自不同國國家的工人興建房屋，其中一部份是仿照其長約二萬八千平方米的城牆，動用了超過六千噸的建築材料建造，所用技術亦世界首屈一指的。
除了興建聖城外，城內的物品亦做得一絲不苟。為數80人的技工隊伍，他們分開不同的小組各展所長，如皮具工人，負責製造不少皮革用品，上至馬鞍下至皮藍都由他們一手包辦；木匠則負責製造傢俱、手推車；鐵匠工人則負責製造火盆、火把、璧燈架、戒子等；由外至內，每樣物件都俱細無遺照足當年的模樣，好讓十二世紀的耶路撒冷聖城展現於觀眾眼前。
上萬名臨時演員 場面浩大
《天國驕雄》電影中有不少戰爭場面，其中包括薩拉森Saracen率領萬軍進攻聖城的浩大場面。成千上萬的敵軍除了向城堡放箭，並推動高塔衝往城堡，且架起長梯爬牆進軍。為了抵抗敵軍，巴利安軍隊則從高傾倒滾油，並關了閘門，讓全身著了火的敵軍從高牆失足墮地。
為此，導演動用了接近二千名臨時演員，與及獲得摩洛哥軍隊的協助擔演騎兵。列尼史葛為此表示非常感激，並指：「若果沒有摩洛哥國王的協助，相信拍不成《天國驕雄》。」
拍攝當日，二千名的臨時演員清晨五點半已經要準備，特技人員亦要架起高塔及巨型長梯及檢察放箭的機器，並重覆測試，確保一切運作正常。萬軍攻城，爆炸場面總是少不了。為了拍攝震撼而具威力的爆炸場面，工作人員每次都會設置長一公里的油管及消耗三萬六千公升的易燃物丙烷。拍畢整個場面，總共消耗了十二萬公升的丙烷。
當正式拍攝時，為了捕捉每個重要的鏡頭，特別在不同的角度設置共六部的攝影機，其中一部更用於直昇機上空拍攝。有關的場面總共拍了三次導演史葛方肯「收貨」，如此龐大的陣容其實在電影中只出現少於一分鐘。
為了達到千軍萬馬的效果，除了動輒千計的臨時演員，還巧妙運用電腦特技，把二千名士兵變成為二十萬的軍團，形成了千軍萬馬的浩瀚場面。另外，還利用特技將三百呎的圍牆伸延多公里，使它變得更雄偉壯觀。
《天國驕雄》龐大製作一覽表
| 重要事項 | 內容 | |
| 製作費用 | 預計超過1億3千萬美元 | |
| 陣容鼎盛 | 導演：列尼史葛 演員：奧蘭度布倫 依花格蓮 謝洛美艾朗斯 利安尼遜 愛德華諾頓 |
|
| 拍攝場地 | 主要在西班牙及摩洛哥拍攝，地點包括Loarre Castle、Avila、Segovia、Seville的Casa de Pilotas、Alcazar、Timdrissit、Golgotha、Essaouira | |
| 服裝設計 | - 製作單位介乎40至80人 - 製造超過15000件戲服 - 布料來自印度、意大利、泰國、法國、英國等地 - 每套戲服包括15件組作，如外套、襯衫、褲、頭盔、靴、手套、劍套 |
|
| 武器製造 | - 超過數十萬件武器 - 種類包括劍、盾牌、箭等。 - 尤以領哥弗爾回教統領撒拉丁的劍最為特別 |
|
| 重建聖城 | - 繪畫超過一千張藍圖 - 350個來自不同國家的工人建造 - 任務艱鉅，其中建立長約28000平方米的城牆，動用了超過6000噸的建築材料建造 - 僱用了80名技工，包括鐵匠、木匠、皮革工人 - 製造大量物件，如火把、木頭車、火盆、傢俱，甚至戒子。 |
|
| 場面龐大 | - 動用了二千名臨時演員，當中包括摩洛哥軍隊的協助擔演騎兵 - 巧妙運用電腦特技，把二千名士兵變成為二十萬的軍團 - 利用特技將三百呎的圍牆伸延多公里，變得雄偉壯觀。 - 爆炸場面中，設置長一公里的油管及燒耗三萬六千公升的易燃物丙烷 - 拍畢整個場面，總共燒耗了十二萬公升的丙烷 |
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| 後期製作 | - 音樂由哈里格遜威廉斯Gregson Williams負責 - 混音則由米高明格那Mike Minkler負責，他曾為《芝加哥》及《黑鷹15小時》工作而兩度獲奧斯卡最佳音響大獎。 |
演員及導演介紹
奧蘭度布倫（Orlando Bloom）飾演巴利安（Balian）
奧蘭度布倫憑參演《魔戒》系列金髮箭神一舉成名，其俊朗的外表吸引了萬千少女，其後片約不絕，包括參演《木馬屠城》、《魔盜王決戰鬼盜船》。接演《天國驕雄》更是首次擔網成為男主角，能在荷李活影壇冒升得如此快速，其他人只能望塵莫及。
對於Kingdom of Heaven（指天堂的帝國）一詞，奧蘭度布倫有自己獨特的見解。他表示這並非大家所期望的地方，更不是關於死後的生活，而是一個你出生的地方、忠於自己的地方。這個帝國充滿著良知、希望及團結，是一個追求世界和平的理想地方。
奧蘭度為了演好巴利安的角色，不但閱讀關於那個時代的歷史書籍，更特別向一名英國的鐵匠專家學習如何成為一個鐵匠。除此之外，他還勤力練劍學武，希望一舉手一投足都能充份發揮一位武士應有的風采。他這種認真學習的精神，大受行內稱頌。
依花格蓮（Eva Green）飾演郡主茜貝拉（Sibylla）
出身法國巴黎的依花格蓮曾在英國倫敦演藝學校深造，返回法國後曾參演多個舞台劇。首次參演電影為貝蘭迪貝托魯奇執導的《戲夢巴黎》。《天國驕雄》是她參演的第二部電影。
利安尼遜（Liam Neeson）飾演哥弗爾（Godfrey of Ibelin）
實力派演員利安尼遜94年憑《舒特拉的名單》分別獲奧斯卡、金球獎及英國電影電視藝術學院提名最佳男主角，演技備受肯定，陸續參演過不少有質數的電影，包括《紐約風雲》、《轟天潛艦K19》、《真的戀愛了》及《引人入性》。
愛德華諾頓（Edward Norton）飾演國王博杜安五世（Baldwin IV）
耶魯大學畢業的愛德華諾頓自小鍾情於演戲，並報讀演藝學校不斷進修。終於守得雲開，愛德華諾頓首部的電影是夥拍李察基爾合演《一級恐懼》，結果他技驚四座，一致好評，並獲提名角逐奧斯卡最佳男配角。期後，諾頓更憑《American History X》獲奧斯卡最佳男主角的提名。諾頓亦參演不少電影包括《搏擊會》、《天羅盜網》、《沉默的赤龍》等。
謝洛美艾朗斯（Jeremy Irons）飾演泰比利亞斯（Tiberias）
活躍於電影界及話劇界的謝洛美艾朗斯，憑著個人的實力獲獎無數，除了經常獲得話劇界的東尼獎外，在電影界亦屢獲殊榮，90年憑《豪門孽債》做奧斯卡及金球獎的雙料影帝，奠定在影壇的地位。期後，艾朗斯繼續積極參與電影的工作，拍攝不少精彩電影如《虎膽龍威第三集》、《中國匣》、《鐵面王子》、《情迷祖莉亞》。
導演及監製列尼史葛（Sir Ridley Scott）
出生於英國的導演列尼史葛，是當今叱吒影壇的著名大導，他曾經執導不少叫好叫座的電影，包括《黑鷹15小時》及《帝國驕雄》，不但票房數字彪炳，史葛更憑兩部電影再度獲提名最佳導演，尤其是《帝國驕雄》更橫掃多個電影獎項，奠定了他在影壇藝術與商業並重的地位。回想當年史葛執導的第二部電影《異形》，成為恐怖電影新經典後，其後他均有執導一些驚心動魄的電影如《夜驚情》、《末路狂花》、《沉默的殺機》等。
早年實習美術設計，美藝的造詣甚高的史葛，尚未闖入影壇前，曾執導超過三千個電視廣告，其創新的廣告意念廣受業界一致推崇，並獲得不少國際性的獎項。
Kingdom of Heaven<天國驕雄>演職員表
二十世紀霍士呈獻
SCOTT FREE製作
列尼史葛作品
"天國驕雄"
主演：《魔戒》系列 奧蘭度布倫
《戲夢巴黎》依花格蓮
《豪門孽債》金像影帝 謝洛美艾朗斯
《哈利波特阿茲卡班的逃犯》大衛杜里斯
《木馬屠城》班頓基遜
《魔戒二部曲:王者再臨》馬頓高加斯
《舒特拉的名單》利安尼遜
音樂：《史力加》系列 哈里格遜威廉斯
服裝：《帝國驕雄》金像得主 珍娣也提絲
剪接：《未來戰士續集》杜狄多恩,A.C.E.
美術：《帝國驕雄》艾法麥斯
攝影：《帝國驕雄》尊馬費遜, B.S.C.
特別視覺效果：韋斯里史維爾
監行監製：《帝國驕雄》金像得主 賓高魯斯汀 麗莎艾莉薩
《帝國驕雄》泰利尼咸
監製：列尼史葛
編劇：威廉摩拿漢
導演：《帝國驕雄》列尼史葛
發行商：二十世紀霍士影片有限公司
"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Speak the truth, always, even if it leads
to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath…"
Director Ridley Scott is the master of epic cinematic storytelling with a deeply personal core, as he has shown in films like Gladiator, Blade Runner, and Black Hawk Down. In KINGDOM OF HEAVEN he now turns to the Crusades-that world-shaping 200-year collision between Europe and the East-to frame the tale of a young Frenchman who discovers his destiny as a knight, then lives out what that glorious title really means.
Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, a blacksmith who has lost his family and nearly lost his faith. The religious wars raging in the far-off Holy Land seem remote to him, yet he is pulled into that immense drama. Amid the pageantry and intrigues of medieval Jerusalem he falls in love, grows into a leader, and ultimately uses all his courage and skill to defend the city against staggering odds.
Destiny comes seeking Balian in the form of a great knight, Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), a Crusader briefly home to France from fighting in the East. Revealing himself as Balian's father, Godfrey shows him the true meaning of knighthood and takes him on a journey across continents to the fabled Holy City.
In Jerusalem at that moment-between the Second and Third Crusades-a fragile peace prevails, through the efforts of its enlightened Christian king, Baldwin IV, aided by his advisor Tiberias (Jeremy Irons), and the military restraint of the legendary Muslim leader Saladin (Ghassan Massoud). But Baldwin's days are numbered, and strains of fanaticism, greed, and jealousy among the Crusaders threaten to shatter the truce.
King Baldwin's vision of peace-a "kingdom of heaven"-is shared by a handful of knights, including Godfrey of Ibelin, who swear to uphold it with their lives and honor. As Godfrey passes his sword to his son, he also passes on that sacred oath: to protect the helpless, safeguard the peace, and work toward harmony between religions and cultures, so that a kingdom of heaven can flourish on earth.
Balian takes the sword and steps into history.
From Ridley Scott, the master of the modern epic, comes Kingdom of Heaven, which tells the sweeping saga of the Crusades through the eyes of one man caught up in an epic struggle for an ideal. Using historical events as a backdrop for an intimate human drama, Scott, who directed the Academy AwardR-winning Gladiator, puts flesh on the age-old mystique of the knight errant and brings to vivid life the titanic struggle between Muslims and Christians over the Holy Land that took place a millennium ago, and echoes into the present.
Working with Scott, screenwriter William Monahan has dramatized a fascinating episode shortly before the Third Crusade, when Jerusalem and much of the Holy Land were ruled by European knights, drawn to crusading by religious fervor and the promise of land and riches in an exotic realm. Their story centers on one of those knights, Balian of Ibelin, who becomes a hero, standing firm against treachery in the Christian alliance, and leading the people of Jerusalem in a gallant defense against Saladin's vast Saracen army.
Kingdom of Heaven stars Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as Balian, who undertakes the odyssey of his life for a just cause. Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Gangs of New York) also stars as Godfrey, Balian's father, who passes on to him both his barony and his legacy of knightly honor. The accomplished ensemble cast includes Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune) as Tiberias, military advisor to King Baldwin; David Thewlis (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) as the Hospitaler, Godfrey's spiritual counselor and military aide; and Brendan Gleeson (Troy) as the bloodthirsty Reynald of Chatillon.
In Jerusalem, Balian falls in love with the princess Sibylla, King Baldwin's sister, played by Eva Green (The Dreamers). She is the reluctant wife of the power-hungry baron Guy de Lusignan, played by Marton Csokas (The Bourne Supremacy). Syrian film star and director Ghassan Massoud (Haytham Hakky's Memories of the Forthcoming Age) also stars as the great Saracen general Saladin.
The film is executive produced by two-time Academy Award winner Branko Lustig (Gladiator, Schindler's List), Lisa Ellzey (In Her Shoes), and Terry Needham, first assistant director on such Ridley Scott films as Black Hawk Down and Gladiator. The creative team behind the scenes is led by the director's acclaimed collaborators, including director of photography John Mathieson, B.S.C. (Academy Award nominee, Gladiator), production designer Arthur Max (Academy Award winner, Gladiator), editor Dody Dorn, A.C.E. (Matchstick Men), costume designer Janty Yates (Gladiator), and composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Man on Fire).
Acclaimed for his visual artistry, complex heroes, and immersive attention to detail, director Ridley Scott has memorably created worlds on the screen, from reinventing science fiction with Alien to reimagining ancient Rome with Gladiator. Scott had been contemplating the myth and lore of the knight and all that figure personifies for the better part of two decades.
"I'd always wanted to make a movie about knights and medieval times, the Crusades especially," says Scott. The impulse was a natural one, given the kinds of characters that interest him. Scott's archetypal hero is an ordinary though gifted man (or woman) caught up in great events-a character who comes through hardship or tragedy to emerge as a real hero, someone who takes a stand and refuses to be moved off it. (Think Maximus, the up-from-the-ranks Roman general turned rebel in Gladiator; Deckard, the blade runner with a conscience; or Alien's Ripley.)
"Historically, the knight-like the cowboy or the policeman-represents a person on the leading edge of his culture at a particular time," Scott says. "These figures have always given us great opportunities to tell stories that carry the attributes of a hero. And one of the most important is that the character carries with him his own degrees of fairness, faithfulness, and chivalry."
It was screenwriter Monahan who suggested to Scott a story that focused on the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the reigns of Baldwin IV and Saladin, and a young knight who emerges as its defender.
"'The knight stands for an ideal," Monahan explains, "and the period that most illuminates that ideal would be the Crusades."
With the cry "God wills it!" Pope Urban II in 1095 urged Christian Europe into a frenzy to reclaim the holy city of Jerusalem, conquered by Muslim armies that swept through the Middle East in the 7th century. Thousands answered the call, from kings to peasants, and successive waves of Crusaders made their way eastward over the next 200 years, laying siege to ancient cities, founding kingdoms, and sowing the seeds of religious conflict for centuries to come.
Jerusalem was retaken in the First Crusade (there were eight in all), and several generations of Christian princes ruled there. But by the year 1186-when our story opens-the kingdom was rife with dissension, and Saladin's growing power threatened its very existence, maintained only by replenishing the garrisons with fresh forces from Europe. A king's vassal like Godfrey might return to his homeland to recruit new fighters for the Holy Land. Godfrey, of course, has another mission.
The story's focus is the young blacksmith Balian, whose talents go well beyond the crude forging of iron. "Balian is an artificer, an engineer," explains Orlando Bloom, whose roles in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Troy launched the young actor into global superstardom. "He has the ability to look at a castle and understand how it would best be protected, which becomes useful to him later in his journey."
As the story begins, Balian is in despair, what Bloom calls a "nihilistic state. He has lost his wife. He has lost his child. You meet a man who is in hell, essentially."
It is at this moment that a knight appears with his band of brothers. Liam Neeson stars as Godfrey of Ibelin, who left France to become a Crusader and whose bravery and integrity have earned him a place close to King Baldwin. "When these Crusaders took over Jerusalem, they became very powerful men," says Neeson. "They were given large grants of land. They became like little kingdoms within themselves. Godfrey is a leader and a soldier, and was given a large piece of land outside of Jerusalem."
Godfrey has returned to France to find his son. "He knows he has a son," says Neeson. "He has never met the boy because Balian came from an affair Godfrey shouldn't have had with Balian's mother. But Godfrey has come back to find Balian and ask him to come to Jerusalem."
"He doesn't offer him land," adds Bloom. "He doesn't offer him money. He offers him family. He offers him the chance to be his son, working for him in the Holy Land."
Though initially Balian resists Godfrey, circumstances leave him no alternative but to join his father. "Balian is lost, essentially," describes Bloom. "His sole purpose in going along is to find answers to the big questions hanging over his head. He is a young man on a journey of spiritual, personal, and political growth and discovery, trying to understand what life is about. He's seeking forgiveness and understanding. So he catches up with Godfrey and they set off."
Godfrey travels with other knights, some mercenaries, and the Hospitaler, a knight-confessor, played by David Thewlis. "The Hospitalers originated in the eleventh century," notes Thewlis. "They were a monastic brotherhood that catered to the needs of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land. Although the Hospitaler can be a fighter, he's essentially a pacifist."
Godfrey, says Thewlis, is troubled. "He has a very dark sorrow about him, but finds some redemption at the end of his life by finding Balian. He rediscovers some love within himself, some warmth, seeing how his heritage can be passed down to Balian for the future."
In an ambush on the journey, Godfrey is mortally injured in battle. As a final act of redemption, Godfrey knights his son, passing on to him his mission of keeping the peace in Jerusalem. "I try to convince him to go to Jerusalem-that there is a way forward for all of us, Christian and Muslim, to come together and be civilized together," says Neeson. "Godfrey has come to this realization only after many, many years of senseless killing."
The Hospitaler becomes Balian's companion and counselor after Godfrey's death. "He presents certain questions and lets Balian find the answers," says Scott. "He uses the words 'right action'-doing the right thing, no matter what. That's what he believes God is looking for. And the rest is folly. You don't have to hear voices. You don't have to kneel. It's about right action."
In Jerusalem, Balian meets the cast of characters that define the city at the time. His first significant encounter is with the King's sister, the beautiful princess Sibylla (Eva Green), who is mired in an arranged marriage to Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas). "She's quite exotic," describes newcomer Eva Green, who made her feature film debut in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers. "She has lived all her life in Jerusalem, brought up with Christians, Jews, and Muslims. But she has been living in quite repressive circumstances. Her mother put her into an arranged marriage against her wishes. She hates her husband; she doesn't respect his values or his pursuit of power. Sibylla and Balian are helplessly drawn to one another, despite political complications. "Balian is not looking for love," says Bloom, "but he falls very deeply in love, because Sibylla is this incredibly intoxicating, otherworldly creature to him. It's a very emotional relationship, something he's yearning for and yet is reluctant to fall into. Meeting this woman ignites a flame of hope for him."
Green believes that Sibylla finds some sanctuary in her relationship with Balian, and he with her. "At the beginning Balian is in a period of mourning," she says. "He's confused about his life, about his faith. And Sibylla is the other extreme. She wants somebody virtuous in her life. She wants harmony. When they meet, there is a strong attraction. He is so pure, so faithful, noble. He's the ideal man for her."
Sibylla is also very fearful for her brother, Baldwin. "She can't face the truth that he is going to die," says Green. "He's the only person she can really trust."
King Baldwin IV, like his namesake in history, is a good and just king doomed to die young from leprosy; the disease has advanced so far that he must hide his face behind a silver mask. "Baldwin was incredibly strong and stalwart, but he has been debilitated by this leprosy, and his death is imminent," says Scott.
When they meet, Baldwin makes it clear to Balian that, as the new Lord of Ibelin, he is to continue his father's mission of defending the road to Jerusalem so that it remains open to pilgrims of all faiths. "All are welcome," says Bloom, "not because it is expedient, but because it is right. "
Balian also meets Tiberias, the King's wise and tough military advisor, played by Jeremy Irons. "He is the marshal of the Jerusalem army," explains Irons. "His boss, King Baldwin, is a leper. It's a fairly advanced condition, and as a result he's not able to command the kingdom as he would wish, so he relies a great deal on Tiberias."
Tiberias makes known to Balian the tenuous peace under which Jerusalem exists, beset by conspiracies within and Saladin's 200,000 troops surrounding the kingdom. Tiberias has as much respect for Muslims as he does for Christians, notes Irons, and he often finds it necessary to remind citizens of the respect they must accord each other. "He is really a man at the end of his career who is tired of fighting and of the stupid behavior that surrounds him in Jerusalem."
The truce between Baldwin and Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) is constantly under threat by conspiracies within the kingdom. "There is an array of complex itineraries in Jerusalem, a lot of them self-serving," says Scott. Confusion, cross-politics, and corruption thrive, "all being delicately balanced by King Baldwin and Tiberias," he adds. "Everyone else is pushing and shoving after their own agendas."
The charismatic leader of the Saracens, Saladin is played by Syrian actor and filmmaker Ghassan Massoud, who has himself directed The Diplomats, a satirical play that touches on problems of leadership in the Arab world. Massoud sees Saladin as first and foremost a statesman. "And second, he is a man of war," says the actor. "Saladin is the winner of many battles. At the same time, he makes dialog with the enemy. It's a very important point for the leader at this time. He is a very charismatic character, yet very human. And very sweet from the inside. He believes in dialog with his enemy. "
"Saladin is revered as a great Muslim leader, as a politician, a gentleman, and a great strategist," adds Scott. "And it wasn't just the Saracens that adored him. He was very respected by the other side. " Adds Massoud, "Balian and Saladin come to respect each other in the story."
Guy de Lusignan, Sibylla's husband, is a member of the Knights Templar, a military/religious order. "The Templars are an extreme faction that do not want any relationship with the Muslims," explains Scott. "They don't want peace."
"Guy is a military commander in the army of Jerusalem," says the actor who portrays him, Marton Csokas. "The King is inept as far as Guy is concerned, because Guy is a military person. He wants to get out there and fight, if not for the sport of it, certainly for the power his achievements might win him. He's a glory hunter. His desire for power is enormous. He is in many ways the opposite of Balian."
Guy is also in love with Sibylla, though she detests him. "He's at a loss there, both politically-because they're not a unified force-and in his personal life, because he lacks what most of us need, which is love and domestic arrangements," says Csokas.
Guy's co-conspirator in extremism is Reynald de Chatillon, who has a massive fortress at Kerak. (Its ruins still stand today, in present-day Jordan some 50 miles southeast of Jerusalem.) "Reynald revels in mayhem," says Brendan Gleeson. "He is malicious and savage, but at the same time has this daft notion of chivalry. In a way, he is everything that was wrong with the Crusades. These were the people that made the Crusades a mad, imperialist, xenophobic kind of hedonism. Everything Reynald does is driven by avariciousness and lust."
With their impetuousness and urge for chaos and domination, Guy and Reynald set off a chain reaction that will inevitably lead Jerusalem into war with the Saracens. As the end of Baldwin's reign nears, Reynald is only too happy to fall in with Guy's scheme for taking power. The tipping point comes when Guy murders a Saracen messenger in cold blood. "That's pretty much the end, not just for Guy but for everything Baldwin and Saladin have been trying to maintain, which is a pluralism and a society of tolerance," says Csokas. "He gets what he wanted, along with the consequences."
Guy's final act of folly is to lead the Army of Jerusalem out of the city to confront Saladin's vastly superior force at the Battle of Hattin, where the Christian knights are annihilated. We don't see that battle, because the climax of the film's story occurs afterward, when Saladin brings his army to the walls of Jerusalem. Faithful to his knight's code, Balian takes it upon himself to defend the city, and with his skills as a leader and engineer, turns the city into a fortress. Ultimately it's a fight he cannot win, with only a small number of fighters to stave off an army 200,000 strong. But he triumphs in uniting the defenders and in negotiating their survival. "Before that," says screenwriter William Monahan, "the defenders within Jerusalem are in a state of disunity. And they're confronting an intensely unified enemy."
"Baldwin and Saladin would keep the peace if it were up to them," says Orlando Bloom. "If it weren't for the fanatics like Reynald and Guy de Lusignan, who are bloodthirsty and power-hungry, Jerusalem could have been a place where people come to worship, a place of peace, of mutual respect for other beliefs and practices, whatever they may be."
Balian is a man who takes the title of knight with a gravity that others do not, Monahan points out. "You're defined by your actions-not what you say, not what you claim to be, but what you do," he says. "The movie is built from the code of knighthood. As Ridley has said, the film is about using your head and your heart."
"The kingdom of heaven is not what you might expect," adds Bloom. "It's not in some afterlife. It's a place where you can be who you were born to be, where you can be true to yourself. It's a kingdom of conscience. It's a kingdom of hope and of unity. It's an ideal of a world we all should strive for, a world of peace."
FROM CONCEPTION TO PRODUCTION
Ridley Scott had been developing a project called Tripoli with screenwriter William Monahan when they began to discuss making a film about some aspect of the Crusades. "It's a very rich time in history," says Scott. "If you examine those 200 years historically, you see every possible shade of human behavior. You can go in and almost surgically choose the moment you want to explore."
. The sensitivity and perceptiveness of Monahan's script, in the hands of an admired filmmaker like Ridley Scott, attracted much of the talent that would populate and create the film. "It is an era which has a lot of parallels in today's world: how the Christians deal with the Muslims, how the Muslims deal with the Christians, how they use each other, what their real agendas are," comments Jeremy Irons. "This story has reverberations for today."
Scott stresses that he was creating a film story based on history, not a documentary. Kingdom of Heaven uses historical events as a canvas on which to paint a rich human drama. "We've chosen a point in history in which we see a state of peace, which we don't seem to be able to attain today," he notes. "That's what's fascinating about it. We try to show both sides in a balanced light. The hero, Balian, is a man concerned most with 'right action' and what that means. And one of the strongest characters in the film is Saladin, who is played by a Muslim."
Monahan had long been fascinated by the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, especially the reign of Baldwin IV. "It was a period of equilibrium between the Crusader state and the Muslims," he notes. "There is a balance of power. It is partly a practical truce, but there is also a kind of fascination between the cultures." The mutual respect for peace is maintained by King Baldwin IV and Saladin, who are both at odds with extremists in their respective camps.
Monahan worked from primary sources, using firsthand accounts (in translation) by people who were present while history was being made, and avoiding interpretations written over the subsequent centuries. His research revealed that King Baldwin and Saladin did indeed achieve an unprecedented truce between their societies, during which all three of the great monotheistic religions were practiced freely in Jerusalem.
"King Baldwin really followed the Muslims' lead, when they had controlled the city, in allowing those of other faiths to practice their religion," Scott points out. "Anyone could come and go as they pleased, and worship as they pleased."
At the time the film opens, the truce is working. "Trade is going back and forth," comments Monahan. "People are coexisting. The Latin Kingdom has stood for almost a hundred years at this point. And it's only a mistake-greed, ambition, fanaticism-that begins to shake it."
CASTING THE KINGDOM
"I got to live every boy's dream," says Orlando Bloom. "A knight, quite simply, gets the girl, gets to be everything he is meant to be. Balian is a reluctant hero on a quest, which is the best kind of hero, for my money."
Ridley Scott and Bloom had previously worked together on the director's film Black Hawk Down. "Orlando is a very honest, outgoing person," says Scott. "That's who he is. He's also very good physically in the field. He fell out of a helicopter for me in Black Hawk Down. He can do all the things that I required him to do, but I think his honesty and earnestness give him a distinct level of authenticity in the role of Balian."
"I felt so privileged to be surrounded by this cast and to work so closely with Ridley," says Bloom. "To see how he works and create something with him. He has this uncanny ability to take history and merge it with contemporary society's idea of what they want in a movie; he juxtaposes politics with truth, and if you come from truth you really get to the crux of the matter. His films are a feast for the eyes, but they also leave you questioning and wondering, with a sense of purpose. It's truly extraordinary and I feel incredibly lucky."
Eva Green was chosen to portray Sibylla because the film needed an especially strong female presence to stand out in this almost exclusively male world. "Eva is in her early twenties, but she carries an old soul, which I guess is maturity," comments Scott. "She has great judgments and fantastic intuition."
"Ridley is such a humble person," observes Green. "As massive in scope as this film is, he makes it very easy and very simple to work with him. He also understands how vulnerable an actor can be and creates an atmosphere of security around you. His calm and energy make you stronger. He never shows a moment of anxiety or tension."
Many in the stellar cast accepted character roles on the basis of Monahan's script and the chance to work with Scott. Jeremy Irons, who appeared in a commercial directed by Scott two decades ago, actively sought out the director after reading the script. "It was everything you want a big action movie script to be," he says. "I wanted to be a part of that. If you're going make a big movie, with heart and with enormous potential for huge things happening, the director you want to work with is Ridley. I think he is making a film unlike anything he's done before."
"Because of the extreme power and scope of Ridley's visual talent, people lose sight of the fact that he's a great actor's director," says screenwriter Monahan. "You see this from the earliest days with Alien, which is a masterpiece of ensemble playing."
Scott insisted that all the Muslim roles be played by Muslim actors. Ghassan Massoud and Khaled Nabawy, who portray Saladin and the fanatical Mullah, are major stars in the Arab world. "It is a very special experience for me to work with Ridley on this film," comments Massoud. "It must be a very special experience for any actor from the East to play with a director like Ridley Scott. We respect how he thinks about this film, about the characters and the story."
To play Guy de Lusignan, who comes closest to being the villain of the piece, Scott sought an actor who could credibly portray ruthlessness fueled by a wayward love. Guy's shocking acts of violence are always tempered with a vulnerability that inspires some empathy. New Zealand-born Marton Csokas feels that what makes this epic so powerful is its intimate view of the characters. "You have to begin with the interpersonal stories," says Csokas. "Otherwise it would just be a big show-and-tell of much bluster. Ridley knows it's far more interesting to examine the lives that go on in that world."
All the actors undertook their own research about the era, about the characters they're playing, the customs and culture. Massoud had studied Saladin's life extensively through Eastern and Western sources, reading thousands of pages on the subject. "A lot of people will watch this film because Saladin is history," says Massoud. "He is a very rich memory for Islamic culture and the Arab world, but also in the West, in England, France, and America. When people see this film, they will wonder, who is this man?"
Massoud feels that the character was painted by the screenwriter and director with great balance. In some cases, they and Massoud discussed making adjustments to the story based on what he knew of Saladin and Muslim customs. "In my discussions with the director I learned that the English have a great deal of respect for Saladin as a noble foe to Richard the Lionheart," he says.
Liam Neeson was always in Scott's mind to play Godfrey of Ibelin, the hero's father. The role he took on in the film carried over naturally into the cast interactions as they made their way across locations in Spain and Morocco. "When you have this many actors, they form a community very quickly," Scott notes. "Liam was always a kind of leader to that little group. Even though he's not that different in age from a lot of the cast, he was very much a father figure to many of them."
To convincingly recreate the medieval world, Scott populated it with a vast array of extras. In one scene alone, at King Baldwin's palace, the extras included beggars, Hospitaler knights, Army of Jerusalem knights, guards, palace nobles, priests, monks, the Muslim Grandee's bodyguards, musicians, mullahs, Saracen clerics and soldiers, servants, and grooms.
BRINGING THE PAST TO LIFE
The massive production effort that brought Kingdom of Heaven to the screen involved months of meticulous research, painstaking design work, and tight coordination of crews in several countries. But it all grew out of sketches on scraps of paper.
A supremely visual filmmaker, Scott storyboards in his head as he reads the script. "When you're working with Ridley, when you're talking about a script or story, he draws almost continually," comments Monahan. "He'll draw a frame, draw what he intends to see inside it. If you're paying attention when you see the little bits of paper on the table, you can piece together what it's going to look like. But nothing can really prepare you for something of this scale. Its magnitude was enormous. It was like some sort of a military operation."
"Ridley's canvasses seem to be getting bigger and bigger," comments production designer Arthur Max. "But it seems like the stories are getting more intimate. A seemingly ordinary person is suddenly swept up into a huge historical tableau where he is surrounded by historical characters that we all know, but it's seen and told through the eyes of someone who has been living a very normal life."
Scott called on an experienced cadre of creative heads, including Max, to help him create fully realized medieval worlds on a short schedule. "There's an automatic ethic of research," says the director. "Everyone leaps in and is very well prepared."
After location scouting and assembling a massive library of references, Max created models of the main set pieces that he could look at with Scott to decide the final shape of what they were to create. Then the drawing phase began, with over 1,000 drawings being created by the art department in Rome.
"It's a game we all like to play, to create worlds out of not only the research, but out of the imagination," Max continues. "It's not just the facade of a building. We try to make this a kind of labyrinth-a piece of old Jerusalem, or a piece of the fortress of Kerak, or a piece of the village at Ibelin. Whether it's a palace or a simple village environment, we try to give them a kind of common reality, so that you're carried away with the telling of the story and the context in which the story takes place.
"Also, I think the actors feel the period more if they can meander through a total environment, where you have real life taking place on lots of different levels, not just a big, impressive wall, devoid of any texture or smell. The set is a living place. We try to give the streets of Jerusalem a variety of life as it would have gone on at the time of our story."
WARDROBE AND WEAPONS
Costume designer Janty Yates also did extensive research on the period to create the costumes for the diverse company of players in Kingdom of Heaven, some of which represented a blending of West and East. As she notes, "You need to know everything about every single tiny Saracen bootstrap. And we had to make five thousand of them."
Yates began her journey at the British Museum, at other museums and libraries in the UK, at Leeds Armory, and at the Salle de Crusades in Versailles, where she found a priceless touchstone for her work on the film. "Just as we were leaving, having fought to get in there, I noticed there were family crests all around the room, framing the pictures," she recalls. "I begged for more time, ran around, and found Balian of Ibelin's 1180 crest, which we didn't know even existed. We thought we were going to have to invent it. That's what research is all about."
For Yates, who previously worked with Scott on Gladiator, the joy of a production is working with the actors to create character through costume. One of the most important aspects of costuming this cast was color, particularly of the garments identifying different military allegiances. "All our knights are in different tabards according to their heritage," she explains. "When I found the crest of Ibelin, we noticed that it was burgundy and gold, and we translated that into burgundy and sand for the Ibelin livery. The Army of Jerusalem is entirely in cornflower blue, so the king also wears cornflower blue, with gold. Jeremy Irons, who is marshal of Jerusalem, is in cornflower blue. So is Marton Csokas, who plays Guy De Lusignan. The blue is a very strong color. For the Saracen army, we went with a palette of reds and sand and ambers and golds to denote the desert environment. For Saladin, though, we stayed with silver and gold and black."
As Eva Green is the only woman in a leading role, Yates took special care with her costumes. "I had great fun creating her 28 outfits," she recalls. "Her riding outfits are something to behold. I had a lot of silks embroidered in India, so her cloaks flow. She wears harem pants and boots I had made for her in Rome. And her dinner outfits are stunning. She's drenched in pearls. Everything's jeweled and embroidered by hand in India. I had turbans made for her, embroidered with jewels and pearls and veils."
Yates and her team created approximately 15,000 costumes worn by actors and extras in the intense conditions of the Moroccan desert. "Our biggest extra day would be about two thousand," as she describes it. "First you'll get one group fitted, then you have to have extra costumes to fit the next bunch, and the next bunch. And the stunt people all have seven costumes each."
Fabrics were brought in from India, Italy, Thailand, France, and the UK. Each costume had thirteen to fifteen components: jacket, shirts, pants, tabards, multiple pieces of chainmail, helmets, boots, gloves, cloaks, scabbards, and sword belts. The chainmail was made by WETA Workshop of New Zealand, which had perfected the craft for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. "It's so light it could float away, and it looks so realistic," Yates declares. "All our helmets are made of rubber, so they're very light. Everything has been made for the utmost comfort of our actors, and our extras as well."
Yates, along with her team of 40 to 80 costumers based in Spain and Morocco, ran her operation much like a military campaign. As the production moved from location to location, she created "costume villages" to wash, break down, distress, make, and fit the various costumes.
Weapons master Simon Atherton was charged with creating tens of thousands of weapons, but two swords were of special significance: Godfrey's sword, which is inherited by his son, Balian; and Saladin's sword. "The hardest thing to make on Godfrey's sword was the scabbard and the belt," says Atherton. "I created the handle in walnut and covered it with animal skin. It has little dragons as well as a cross. The blades were made in aluminum, which is lighter and safer than other metals. It took me a solid week to make the first one, and there are five in all, different weights and sizes."
For Saladin, Scott wanted big curved scimitars, but Atherton's research showed that Saracen blades were straight during this period. After some negotiating back and forth, Saladin's final sword was straight in shape. "We split the end because I thought it looked menacing," he describes. "The handle is bone and has snakes' heads on it. This took a lot longer to build; each item was sent away to be cast."
\SEEKING HISTORY IN SPAIN AND MOROCCO
Two Mediterranean nations served as the locations for Kingdom of Heaven. For 12th-century France, Scott and his production designer Arthur Max chose Spain, and standing in for the Holy Land is the kingdom of Morocco. Some of the Jerusalem interiors were also shot in Spain.
Both countries are familiar to Scott, who shot much of 1492 in Spain and used Morocco for parts of Gladiator and all of Black Hawk Down. That experience aided the choice of many locations that contribute to the film's visual tapestry.
Scott and his filmmaking team formed a crew of 436 to begin production in Spain. Another 443 Moroccans joined the production in Morocco. At its height, the production utilized 25,000 to 30,000 extras, sometimes augmented by the Moroccan army. "They have discipline and are great riders," comments Scott. "Without the help of the Palace of His Majesty, Mohammed VI, we could never have made this movie."
Shooting began in northern Spain. Spain itself is an amalgam of faiths, and its greatest monuments are mosques and churches. Loarre Castle, which was used for Godfrey's family castle, is one of Europe's best-preserved 12th-century fortresses. Standing in the shadow of the Pyrenees, it was built on the border between Christian Spain and Muslim Spain at a time when Arab forces were retreating. Scott cloaked the impregnable castle in the winter gloom of snow flurries and scudding clouds. Balian first appears in the village at the foot of the castle, before he begins his pilgrimage of redemption.
Next the unit moved to Segovia, a jewel in the crown of Spain's great medieval towns, to shoot an ambush sequence. Valsain Forest is normally an idyllic wood in which wild boar and antlered deer reign. Forty years earlier, the forest was the site of the World War II film The Battle of the Bulge.
Production then moved to the great walled city of Avila, where Scott used the magnificent 12th-century Romanesque cathedral for one scene of coronation panoply and another of Christian defeat.
Six hours to the south, near Cordoba, is the small town of Palma del Rio, famous as the birthplace of legendary matador El Cordobes. In the city's center sits Pontocarrero Palace, built by Sultan Abu Yacub in the 12th century. In 1989 a new owner initiated renovations that continue today. The palace appears in Kingdom of Heaven in a variety of guises, from a courtyard in Ibelin, Balian's inherited barony, to a hospital where a hero dies.
Next came Seville, the capital of Spain's Muslim past. Scott's choice of Andalusian backgrounds was his way to salute Arabic art, in the place where it reached its apogee. Two important sites were used to visually enrich Scott's recreation of the 12th century: the Casa de Pilatos (Pilate's House) and the Alcazar. Both are places surrounded by legend. Pilate's House, reputedly a recreation of the infamous Roman praetor's residence in Jerusalem, reflects the Christian adaptation of Muslim art following the reconquest of Spain. Long neglected and now fully restored to glory, the sprawling complex contains gardens and patios of surpassing beauty.
The Alcazar has been a royal residence for a millennium. Actually a collection of palaces, it houses one of the world's most impressive examples of Arabic art. The furniture and tapestries rival those of Versailles. Fully one-quarter of the patios that make up the Alcazar were used in the film, the majority representing King Baldwin IV's palace in Jerusalem.
If Spain donated interiors, Morocco was home to the picture's principal exterior location. Here, landscapes stretch from horizon to horizon, punctuated by mesas and buttes that resemble the American Southwest. The company resided in Ouarzazate, known as the gateway to the Sahara and an administrative center of 40,000 people. (The city's name in Arabic means "without problems.")
Timdrissit was an important stopover for the huge camel caravans that once traded between sub-Saharan Africa and Marrakech. Today a half-dozen giant casbahs-the medieval equivalents of roadside inns that accommodated both camels and drovers-loom over a seldom-used oasis. Time and wind have softened their contours so that they resemble sandcastles, lending them a sense of mystery. In the midst of these impressive formations, Max built the Holy Land manor that Balian inherits. The set and its surrounding farm are crucial in the tale to establish the young hero as both a leader and an engineer.
Another key location represented Golgotha. This hill, where Christ is said to have been crucified, juts from a warren of alleys in Jerusalem. It is here that Balian buries the crucifix of his late wife in an attempt to put his own torments to rest. The hill and the casbah at its base are known as Ait Ben Haddou; the site has been registered by UNESCO as belonging to the patrimony of mankind. Other locations in the film that merit inclusion in this legendary registry of monuments are Loarre Castle, Avila, Segovia, and Seville's Casa de Pilotas and the Alcazar.
The final Moroccan location was Essaouira, on the Atlantic coast. Once noted for a dye derived from local shellfish, known as Tyrian purple and a favorite for Roman togas, the town later became a major trading port linked to Marrakech. In 1969 and 1970, Jimi Hendrix headquartered here and actually tried to buy the town, whereupon it became known as the hippie capital of Morocco. For the film, its streets and old walls were used to create details of medieval Jerusalem, and a beach down the coast served as the coastal backdrop where Balian fortuitously is washed up after being shipwrecked.
Earth, wind, and fire are elemental ingredients in this film's stunning pageantry. Scott worked with director of photography John Mathieson, B.S.C. to create shots in which the audience will literally see the air in every exterior scene, whether drenched in smoke, rain, snow, sand, or mist. Never invisible, it is always a tangible presence. Wherever possible, those elements are enhanced by light. Wind enlivens flags and banners.
RECREATING JERUSALEM
Ridley Scott, who had worked with production designer Arthur Max on earlier films, notes that Max was trained as an architect, and thus brings a degree of functionality to the environments they're creating. "I find that a very useful thing," Max says.
Of his recreation of 12th-century Jerusalem on the back lot of Atlas Film Studios, he says, "Jerusalem is definitely the biggest set I've ever worked on, and one of the larger sets constructed in recent years. Our set is an amalgam of the real Jerusalem combined with research."
One challenge in envisioning the sets to be built for production six months hence was determining the position of the sun in relation to the set at that time of year. "There's something like twenty degrees of change both horizontally and vertically in the path of the sun, but we seem to have gotten it pretty right," says Max. "We did some digital predictions and computer pre-vis models for casting shadows and finding out the alignment of our sets." This was important because Scott wanted light to strike the walls of Jerusalem at a certain angle in his shots.
To design Jerusalem, "we looked at the real city, the real gates, and the citadel area, which has the Tower of David, and we modeled our walls on those elements," says Max. "There are over 28,000 square meters of wall. We used 6,000 tons of plaster. The plastering skills of our crew are probably some of the best in the world."
The filmmakers also had to manufacture most of the objects used in the course of a city's daily life. "Those things were just not available, but we were fortunate in Spain and Morocco," says Arthur Max. "The ceramic, metal and leatherworking industries are still alive and well there."
Like so much about recreating this world, the small details were crucial. "With period films you inevitably end up making most things because it's very hard to find a 12th-century bathtub, for example. We had half a dozen in this movie. We made a dozen different forges, not to mention the flags, the armor, the thousands and thousands of weapons. Arrows, swords and shields were all scrupulously made by a lot of craftsmen."
Authenticity colored every facet of the production, from massive sets to the smallest hand prop. Set Decorator Sonja Klaus, with a staff of 80 craftsmen, went directly to the source in some cases. A dozen thatch roofers joined the film's crew of 450. The thatchers, a small band of craftsmen, work in the same way their ancestors did in the 12th century. A single British blacksmith was hired to teach Orlando Bloom how to manage a forge in the way it was done a millennium ago. An 11th-century horseshoe found near the Tower of London was used as a model. Hired from Madrid were three women who have preserved and still prepare recipes from the time of the Crusades.
"A lot has been made from scratch by our leather, drapery, paint, and dyeing departments," says Klaus. "Our model makers sculpt, spin plaster, fashion molds, do fiberglass and metal work. Our leather workers can make anything from a leather bucket to a saddle. Our carpenters make furniture and carts. The metal workers create braziers, torches, brackets, hinges, and rings. We also have a man who works in bamboo and wicker." Dressing the cavalry horses was yet another challenge. "We have over 850 pieces of horse tack," notes Klaus.
"It's interesting to turn the clock backward," comments Max. "Part of the process of recreating a period is to create an atmosphere with the smallest objects that people don't think about-wasp-catching jars that are hung in rooms, for example. Research turns up a lot of strange items. You have an incredible amount of detail in common objects, in the way that people cook their meals and make their bread, in the way that water is carried. All these give a kind of density to the dream and more reality to the storytelling.' That's why we do it."
The nationalities of the various crews were a challenge. In Morocco, there were some 350 construction people, Moroccan, Croatian, Italian, Spanish, and English. "I think the mix was very healthy," says Ridley Scott. "As in the Crusades, our crew was a mixture of different cultures coming together."
ENHANCING REALITY
As large as it was built, the extraordinary Jerusalem set has been expanded to life-size by CGI. "The part of the production design process that I enjoy most is confusing the issue of what's existing, what's real, and what's been added on, where the edges are, with the computer-generated part of the sets," says Max. "Blurring the lines, so you can't really tell what we've done, what was there before, and what's been generated in a computer afterwards. The design is imperceptible. That's when you know you've done your job well, when you can't see where the edges are."
Twenty-five years ago, during the production of Blade Runner, visual effects pioneer Doug Trumbull gave Scott a piece of advice that informs his work even today. "He said, 'Can you do this live?'" recalls Scott. "I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Do it live. Believe me, it'll be better and it'll be cheaper.' I always remember that, and I always stick with making it all as real as possible."
But Scott is more than willing to use VFX when there's a good reason to. Notes Visual Effects Supervisor Wesley Sewell: "Jerusalem is large now, but not the size of a city. Our challenge was to enhance it into a thriving metropolis capable of housing a million people."
Describing the siege in which Saladin's forces seize the city, Sewell explains, "Technology allows us to create people that not only look real but move with realistic reactions. In The Lord of the Rings, their technology was quite state-of-the-art, but later techniques take this film to a higher level of reality. We have more refinement of movement and interaction. We can now create many attitudes in the same scene."
The Saracen army, for example, comes from many parts of the Arab world. "We have mixed it up a bit, people from Syria, Egypt, and North Africa," Sewell describes. "We photographed the costumes in a controlled environment to later change the color of a turban or a tunic."
Kingdom of Heaven's climactic battle scenes depict Saracen forces pushing huge siege towers up to the walls of the city; as wood touches stone, the bridges fall, allowing Muslim troops access to the ramparts. Ladders topple into place against the walls, and hot oil is poured over the invading army. As Saracen arrows fill the sky, Christian defenders fight back to close the breach. Men on fire plummet from the walls.
Six cameras captured the action, one of which was in a helicopter hovering above the scene. The sequence was repeated three times until director Ridley Scott shouted his approval. It all will take less than a minute of screen time, but it took military-like organization to have everything in place that morning on the outskirts of Ouarzazate.
Two thousand extras arrived at 5:30 a.m. and donned multiple layers of costumes before moving on to hair and makeup. Dozens of special effects technicians had built the siege towers so that they functioned exactly as they would have a millennium earlier. The giant ladders falling into place were not left to chance, but were motorized and swung up into place like those on a fire engine. Fires burned throughout the 300-meter-long walls. Cardboard boxes were hidden to break the falls of some of the 120 international stuntmen on hand. Armourers collaborated with special effects men to aim and launch batteries of arrows. They had earlier fashioned authentic "scorpions," period weapons of mass destruction that combined the technology of a crossbow with the power of a catapult to launch lethal harpoons.
Visual effects artists measured and photographed the sequence so that the 2,000 soldiers taking part on this morning would realistically appear as 200,000, and the 330-yard-long walls would stretch to over a mile in length on screen.
Another important veteran in the Scott camp is Special Effects and Prosthetics Supervisor Neil Corbould. "One of the biggest challenges for us is just the sheer volume of the effects. We had siege weapons firing, siege weapons blowing up, a lot of explosions throughout Jerusalem. They shot with five to eight cameras, and we had to get an effect for each camera. And this was quite a big fire set. We put in a kilometer of gas pipe and had 36,000 liters of propane at any one time. We burned 120,000 liters of propane in all."
Close work between Corbould and Stunt Coordinator Phil Neilson allowed the scene to proceed without a single broken collarbone, even though "we set 56 people on fire, who are falling from 45-foot siege towers. I think we broke a new record," muses Scott. "With both Neil and Phil it's about care and attention, with both excitement and safety in mind."
SCORING AND THE FINAL MIX
Ridley Scott had not worked with composer Harry Gregson-Williams prior to Kingdom of Heaven. "Harry comes from a rather classical background, which for this film is essential," he describes. "But there is a way to mix it up."
The film opens in France, in a desolate, frigid setting. "Not a very emotional place," says Gregson-Williams. In these earliest moments of the film, he employs the chilly sound of a consort of viols. By contrast, once Balian arrives in Jerusalem, "and he's experiencing smells and colors and sounds that he hasn't experienced before, I can hear an oud, a kanoon (or qanun), or a kamancha, which is an Arabic violin. These colors start coming into the score just as Balian discovers them."
In Studio 3 at Abbey Road studios in London, Gregson-Williams augmented his orchestra with a 123-voice Bach choir as well as a small group of Turkish musicians from Istanbul. "The color of this score is going to come from the Turkish musicians I brought in," he says, "as well as the hurdy-gurdy player, the consort of viols, and the Bach choir, singing very quietly at times. That's an extraordinary sound. I feel this power like some ocean liner behind the orchestra.
"But there are a lot of flavors," he continues. "I've done many percussion sessions, playing on the drums of the era, exact replicas of the real thing."
Rather than create a theme for Balian, the composer began with the father, Godfrey of Ibelin. Then Godfrey's theme evolves into Balian's music as he hands over his sword and responsibility to his son. "Godfrey disappears but we've kept him alive," notes the composer. "His theme becomes Balian's theme."
For Sibylla, Gregson-Williams created music that is delicate and exotic. By contrast, Reynald is accompanied by a theme that is "prowling around downstairs in cello, bass, tuba, and trombone."
Gregson-Williams created a motif for the Saracen leader Saladin based on a double-stopped flute-a rare instrument that has only a handful of notes, always played in the same order, "which puts you in mind of his presence and his nobility."
For the doomed King Baldwin, Gregson-Williams chose sonorous midrange brass, "some French horns and trombones," he says. "His theme is the most conventional and regal. There is a certain sadness to him, but he's got enormous integrity. His lines are beautifully written."
When the two cultures clash, Gregson-Williams begins each battle with orchestration, and it reaches its climax with ferocious sound effects. To mix the sound for the film, Scott brought in Michael Minkler, who has been nominated for nine OscarsR and won two (for Chicago and Scott's Black Hawk Down). "I've done a couple of films with Mike before," he says. "Black Hawk Down was a challenge to mix, and his work was brilliant."
ABOUT THE CAST
ORLANDO BLOOM (Balian) made his feature film debut starring as Legolas in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a role he continued to play to great acclaim in the second and third installments of the trilogy: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Bloom previously worked with director Ridley Scott on the award-winning Black Hawk Down. Recently Bloom starred opposite Johnny Depp in Jerry Bruckheimer's hugely successful blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, directed by Gore Verbinski. He is currently filming its sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Bloom starred as Paris, opposite Brad Pitt, in Wolfgang Petersen's epic Troy; in Gregor Jordan's Ned Kelly, with Heath Ledger; and in The Calcium Kid; and he recently wrapped Frank E. Flower's independent film, Haven. He will next be seen in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, opposite Kirsten Dunst.
Born in Canterbury, England, Bloom at age 16 moved to London, where he joined the National Youth Theatre for two seasons. He then gained a scholarship to train with the British American Drama Academy. On completing his scholarship, Bloom played the lead in the play A Walk in the Vienna Woods, and made his screen debut in the feature film Wilde, based on the life of Oscar Wilde.
Bloom was accepted to Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and chose to put his film career on hold for the opportunity to further his education. While at Guildhall, Bloom performed in several productions including Little Me, A Month in the City, Peer Gynt, Mephisto and Twelfth Night. After graduating from Guildhall, Bloom appeared in the BBC television series Midsomer Murders.
EVA GREEN (Sibylla) made her feature film debut starring as Isabelle in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers, released by Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Born in Paris, Green spent three years at the Eva St. Paul School before attending a London workshop at the Webber Douglas acting school. After returning to Paris, she appeared in two theater productions: Didier Long's Jealousie 3 Fax, and Gerard Deshartes's Turcarcet. In 2003, Green starred in the film Arsene Lupin for director Jean-Paul Salomé.
JEREMY IRONS (Tiberias) works in both theater and film. He began his career on the English stage at the Bristol Old Vic and then debuted in London in Godspell, as John the Baptist. His work in the West End and at Stratford-Upon-Avon culminated with his performance of Richard II for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, opposite Glenn Close, for which he won both the Drama League Award and Tony AwardR for Best Actor.
Irons has played many roles for television, most notably in Love for Lydia and Christopher Hampton's Tales from Hollywood. His performance in Brideshead Revisited brought him worldwide acclaim and nominations for an EmmyR Award, the British Academy, and the Golden GlobeR Award for Best Actor. In 1996 he directed and co-starred with his wife, actress Sinead Cusack, in Mirad, A Boy from Bosnia, a Channel 4 Television film about refugees written by Ad de Bont.
On the big screen Irons has starred in such films as Jerzy Skolimowski's Moonlighting, Harold Pinter's Betrayal, Volker Schlondorff's Swann in Love, and The Mission, with Robert De Niro. Irons played opposite Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant's Woman, for which he received the Variety Club Award for Best Actor and a BAFTA nomination; and opposite his son Sam in Roald Dahl's Danny, Champion of the World. His performance in David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers brought him a Best Actor Award from the New York Film Critics Circle and a Canadian Genie. Irons starred again with Glenn Close in the film based on the retrial of Claus von Bulow, Reversal of Fortune. For this performance Irons received the 1990 Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.
Irons went on to work in such films as Steven Soderbergh's Kafka, David Cronenberg's M. Butterfly, and Bille August's The House of the Spirits, with Streep and Close again. In 1994, Irons created the voice of Scar for Disney's The Lion King. He followed that with the action film Die Hard with a Vengeance, opposite Bruce Willis; and Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty, co-starring Liv Tyler.
Irons's more recent films include Wayne Wang's Chinese Box; and The Man in the Iron Mask, in which he co-starred with Gerard Depardieu, Leonardo DiCaprio, and John Malkovich. He played Humbert Humbert in Adrian Lyne's controversial adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita; and also co-starred in Longitude, an A&E Granada film that premiered on BBC. Irons was in production with four films in 2001, including And Now...Ladies and Gentleman, directed by Claude Lelouch; The Time Machine, based on the H. G. Wells novel; Callas Forever, directed by Franco Zeffirelli; and Last Call, a Showtime Original Picture directed by Henry Bromell, co-starring Neve Campbell. Irons also played Colonel Pretis in Nina Mimica's Mathilde.
In 2003, Irons debuted in the role of Frederik in the New York City Opera production of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, directed by Scott Ellis. He also starred opposite Annette Bening in Being Julia. Irons most recently played Antonio in a Michael Radford film production of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, co-starring Al Pacino. Irons recently shot Casanova, a film by Lasse Hallstrom, in which he plays Cardinal Pucci.
DAVID THEWLIS (Hospitaler), among the most versatile of British actors, first won critical and public acclaim for his powerful performance in Mike Leigh's Naked. He recently starred as Professor Lupin in Alfonso Cuaron's highly lauded adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
His other credits include Nick Love's Goodbye Charlie Bright; Paul McGuigan's Gangster No. 1; Peter Hewitt's Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?; Bernardo Bertolucci's Besieged; the Coen Brothers' The Big Lebowski; David Caffrey's Divorcing Jack; Jean-Jacques Annaud's Seven Years in Tibet, and John Frankenheimer's The Island of Dr Moreau.
Other film credits include Agnieszka Holland's Total Eclipse; Rob Cohen's Dragonheart; Mike Hoffman's Restoration; Caroline Thompson's Black Beauty; David Jones's The Trial; Paul Greengrass's Resurrected; Beeban Kidron's Vroom; as well as the Mike Leigh films Short and Curlies and Life is Sweet.
Thewlis's many television credits include Dinotopia, Endgame, Dandelion Dead, the award-winning Prime Suspect III, Frank Stubbs, Journey to Knock, Filipino Dreamgirls, Skulduggery, A Bit of a Do, Road, and The Singing Detective, opposite Michael Gambon.
In addition to his film and television work, Thewlis has also starred in Sam Mendes's The Sea at the Royal National Theatre; Max Stafford-Clark's Ice Cream at the Royal Court; Buddy Holly at the Regal in Greenwich; Ruffian on the Stairs/The Woolley at Farnham and Lady, and The Clarinet at the Kings Head.
Dublin-born actor BRENDAN GLEESON (Reynald de Chatillon) had a desire to act from early childhood and began his career by appearing in local plays and concerts.
At the age of 18, Gleeson auditioned-with disastrous results-for the famed Abbey Theatre. Discouraged, he abandoned acting for a career as a high school teacher. After ten years in the classroom, Gleeson decided to return to his dream and pursue acting full-time.
Following small parts in films such as The Field, Far and Away, Michael Collins, and The Butcher Boy, Gleeson came to the public's attention as Hamish, the hulking ally of William Wallace (Mel Gibson), in Braveheart.
Gleeson co-starred in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain; Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, and Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. His numerous other film credits include Ron Shelton's Dark Blue; John Boorman's The Tailor of Panama; A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, directed by Steven Spielberg; John Woo's Mission: Impossible II; and I Went Down, directed by Paddy Breachnach. On television, Gleeson appeared in The Treaty, The Snapper, and Kidnapped.
In 1998 he starred in The General for John Boorman, winning international acclaim for his performance as the Irish mafia figure Martin Cahill. This performance earned him Best Actor awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics, the London Film Critics, and the Irish Film and Television Association.
Gleeson's most recent credits include playing Menelaus in Wolfgang Petersen's Troy; as well as starring in M. Night Shyamalan's thriller The Village; and his third film with John Boorman, Country of My Skulls. He will next be seen in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
MARTON CSOKAS (Guy de Lusignan) was born in New Zealand, and attended Canterbury University in Christchurch. He was accepted into the Te Kura Toi Whakaari/New Zealand Drama School. With a grounding in Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Brecht, he starred in the acclaimed 1996 film Broken English, which brought him a New Zealand Film nomination for Best Actor. For an episode in the popular television series G.P., he was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Performance in a Drama. He was also seen internationally in the highly praised television movie, The Three Stooges.
Csokas has worked nonstop in recent years. He co-starred in Richard Donner's Timeline, based on Michael Crichton's bestselling novel. In quick succession he co-starred in the hit thriller The Bourne Supremacy; completed the Italian independent film Evilinko, opposite Malcolm McDowell; starred opposite Sir Ian McKellen and Natasha Richardson in Asylum; and appeared in John Dahl's The Great Raid, with Joseph Fiennes. He was last seen opposite Vin Diesel in Rob Cohen's action thriller XXX; in Jerry Bruckheimer's production of Down and Under; followed by Alex Proyas's Garage Days; and Rain, a film from New Zealand that screened at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight. Upcoming is the science fiction adventure Aeon Flux, starring Charlize Theron.
LIAM NEESON (Godfrey of Ibelin) has twice been nominated for Tony Awards; first for his Broadway debut in 1993 in the Roundabout Theater's revival of Eugene O'Neill's 1921 drama Anna Christie; and second in March of 2002, for his Broadway role as John Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, opposite Laura Linney.
For his highly acclaimed performance in Steven Spielberg's watershed film Schindler's List, Neeson earned Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA nominations. Neeson's recent film roles include starring as sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, again opposite Linney, who portrayed his wife, in the highly acclaimed Oscar nominated Kinsey, directed by Bill Condon. Recently Neeson has been seen among the ensemble cast of Love Actually. He also starred in Martin Scorsese's epic Gangs of New York and appeared with Harrison Ford in the nuclear submarine film K-19: The Widowmaker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
Neeson starred as the archetypal Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Additional motion picture credits include Gun Shy, opposite Sandra Bullock; and the role of Jean Valjean in the screen adaptation of the Victor Hugo classic Les Misérables.
In 1996, Neeson starred as the Irish hero in Neil Jordan's Michael Collins, for which he received Best Actor honors at the Venice Film Festival, a Golden Globe Award
nomination for Best Actor, and London's prestigious Evening Standard Award for Best Actor.
The Irish-born actor joined the prestigious Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast in 1976 and made his professional acting debut in Joseph Plunkett's The Risen People. After two years with the Lyric Players he joined the famed repertory company of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.
In 1980, John Boorman spotted him playing Lennie in a stage production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and cast him in Excalibur, the epic saga of the Arthurian legend. Since then Neeson has appeared in more than 30 films, playing a wide range of characters. These include: Dino De Laurentiis's epic remake of The Bounty, opposite Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins; the critically acclaimed Lamb, for which he received an Evening Standard Drama Award nomination for his haunting portrayal of a priest tormented by doubts; Andrei Konchalovsky's Duet for One with Julie Andrews; A Prayer for the Dying, opposite Mickey Rourke and Bob Hoskins; Roland Joffe's The Mission, opposite Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons; the courtroom drama Suspect, with Cher; The Good Mother, with Diane Keaton; Sam Raimi's fantasy-thriller Darkman; and David Leland's boxing drama Crossing the Line. Subsequent films include Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives, Before and After with Meryl Streep, and Rob Roy, opposite Jessica Lange.
Neeson's passion for the classics was again rewarded critically in the PBS American Playhouse production of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. Neeson's theater work also includes portraying Oscar Wilde in David Hare's critically acclaimed The Judas Kiss, which opened in London's West End and subsequently on Broadway in 1998.
Neeson next stars in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, opposite Christian Bale.
Syrian film star GHASSAN MASSOUD (Saladin) has appeared in numerous films in his native Syria, including Haytham Hakky's Memories of the Forthcoming Age, and Unshudet al-Matar (The Chant of Rain), a romance set in rural Syria during the 1940s, directed by Basil al-Khatib.
He recently wrote and directed a satirical play, Diplomasiyyoun ("The Diplomats"), which touches on the problems of leadership in the Arab world and played as part of the Syrian Ministry of Culture's National Theater's 2002 season.
In the theater he also appeared in Jawad el-Assadi's production of August Strindberg's Miss Julie.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
SIR RIDLEY SCOTT (Director/Producer) earned his third Academy Award nomination and second Directors Guild nod as Best Director for his stunning recreation of the Mogadishu battle in Somalia in Black Hawk Down, one of 2001's biggest hits. The preceding year he received his second Academy Award nomination for Gladiator, which won five Oscars out of a total 12 nominations, including Best Picture, and earned Scott additional nominations from BAFTA and the Directors Guild. Gladiator also won Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards for Best Picture, further solidifying Scott's reputation as one of the industry's most innovative, influential, and versatile stylists.
His most recent release is the acclaimed comedy-drama Matchstick Men, starring Nicolas Cage.
Born in South Shields, Northumberland, England, Scott grew up in London, Cumbria, Wales, and Germany before returning to northeast England to live in Stockton-on-Tees. He excelled in graphic design and painting at West Hartlepool College of Art, strengths that would later serve as his screen signature, and studied at London's Royal Academy of Art, where he completed his first film. Upon graduating with honors, Scott was awarded a traveling scholarship to the U.S., where he gained valuable experience working with award-winning documentarians Richard Leacock and D. A. Pennebaker while employed at Time-Life. Returning to the U.K., he joined the BBC as a production designer and within a year graduated to directing many of the network's popular television programs.
Three years later he left to form his own company, RSA, which soon became one of the most successful commercial production houses in Europe and subsequently added offices in New York and Los Angeles. Scott directed more than 3,000 commercials, including Chanel's captivating "Share the Fantasy" and a memorable Apple Computer spot that aired during the 1984 Super Bowl. His work collected awards at the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals and was honored by the New York Art Directors' Club. RSA still maintains a high profile in the global marketplace, representing some of the most acclaimed directors in film and advertising.
Scott leaped from commercial production to movies in 1978 with The Duellists, a Napoleonic War saga that brought him the Jury Prize at Cannes. His second film, the groundbreaking sci-fi thriller Alien, switched gears from the past to the frightening future and earned an Oscar for Visual Effects. Scott's next feature, the landmark masterpiece Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, is still considered a milestone of contemporary filmmaking. Nominated by the Academy for art direction and visual effects, it became a cult classic and the youngest film to be honored by inclusion in the National Film Archives. In 2003 the director re-edited Blade Runner for DVD release. Scott also re-cut Alien, which was released in 2004 to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Scott went on to direct the big-screen fantasy Legend, starring Tom Cruise; the urban thriller Someone to Watch Over Me, with Tom Berenger; and the cross-cultural gangster epic Black Rain, with Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia. In 1987 he formed Percy Main Productions to develop and produce feature films. Its first project, which he helmed, was Thelma and Louise, starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. The film received five Academy Award nominations, including Scott's first as Best Director, won for Best Original Screenplay, and picked up BAFTA nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. He followed with the historic epic 1492: Conquest of Paradise and The Browning Version, produced by Scott and starring Albert Finney and Greta Scacchi.
In 1995, with brother Tony (also a successful filmmaker), he formed Scott Free Productions, which produced White Squall, G.I. Jane, and the blockbuster sequel Hannibal, all directed by Scott, as well as Clay Pigeons and Where the Money Is, a caper comedy starring Paul Newman.
The company produced Showtime's CableACE-winning anthology series The Hunger, adapted from Tony Scott's 1983 film, and the Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning HBO telefilm RKO 281, starring Liv Schreiber as Orson Welles. For HBO, Scott Free executive produced The Gathering Storm, an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning telefilm depicting the life of Winston Churchill. Scott Free Productions recently signed a two-year development deal with CBS.
Scott is co-chairman of Mill Film, one of the largest digital production and post-production houses in London. Founded in 1987, Mill Film helped create visual effects for such features as Shakespeare in Love, Babe: Pig in the City, Pitch Black, Cats and Dogs, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and dozens more. Mill Film was recognized with an Academy Award for their visual effects on Scott's Gladiator. He is also co-chairman of Pinewood-Shepperton Holdings, Ltd., a London facility where Alien was filmed and that provides 42 stages, backlots and locations plus award-winning post-production and support services. The Scott brothers (as part of a consortium) purchased Shepperton Studios in 1995, which merged with Pinewood Studios in 2001.
In recognition of his contribution to the arts, Scott was awarded knighthood in January 2003.
WILLIAM MONAHAN (Screenwriter) won early notice for his short fiction and literary essays before publishing the satirical novel Light House in 2000. A year later, he sold the original screenplay Tripoli to Twentieth Century Fox. This led to a commission from Ridley Scott to write an original film set during the period of the Crusades, which became Kingdom of Heaven. Monahan has also written The Departed, his reinvention of the Hong Kong hit Internal Affairs, to be directed by Martin Scorsese; a Jurassic Park sequel; and the epic war film Mazar-e-Sharif. Future projects include a drama based on Louis Begley's novel Wartime Lies; The Child in Time for Jeremy Irons, and the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian for Ridley Scott.
BRANKO LUSTIG (Executive Producer) is the winner of two Academy Awards for Best Picture of the Year, one in 1993 for Schindler's List and the other in 2000 for Gladiator. His association with Scott continued with the Academy Award-winning Black Hawk Down. He is the winner of many prestigious awards, including BAFTA and DGA prizes, an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Born in Osijek, Croatia, Lustig survived two years in Nazi concentration camps. Following the war, he began his career as an assistant director at Jadran Films, Croatia's largest film and television studio. He subsequently worked as a production manager on such European location films as Sophie's Choice and Fiddler on the Roof.
He went on to serve as assistant director on The Tin Drum and as assistant director, associate producer, and European production manager for the miniseries The Winds of War and its sequel War and Remembrance. He was also producer and assistant director on the Emmy-winning film for television Drug Wars: The Camarena Story and the sci-fi thriller Deadlock. He was producer of the miniseries The Great Escape: The Final Chapter and The Intruders.
LISA ELLZEY (Executive Producer) is president of Ridley Scott and Tony Scott's film and television company, Scott Free Entertainment. As a producer, her recent credits include Curtis Hanson's In Her Shoes, with Cameron Diaz; Kevin Reynolds's Tristan and Isolde, with James Franco; and the television movie The Gathering Storm, the story of Winston and Clementine Churchill, starring Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jim Broadbent. Nominated for nine Emmy awards, the film received three, including Best Made for Television Movie; it also earned two Golden Globes and three BAFTA awards. Ellzey is also executive producer of Tony Scott's new film, Domino, starring Keira Knightly and Christopher Walken.
TERRY NEEDHAM (Executive Producer) has been a close collaborator with Ridley Scott for many years. His credits as first assistant director to Scott include Black Hawk Down, Hannibal, Gladiator, G.I. Jane, and 1492: Conquest of Paradise. Other credits include The Avengers and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
JOHN MATHIESON, B.S.C. (Director of Photography) has worked with many leading directors in both commercials and feature films. His first collaboration with Ridley Scott was in 1998 on Gladiator, for which he won the 2001 BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography, an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography, and the Cinematography Award at the Madrid Imagen Film Festival in 2000. His credits since then include Scott's Hannibal and Matchstick Men; K-Pax; Marc Evans's Trauma, and Joel Schumacher's Phantom of the Opera. In 1996 he was accorded the title Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France's Ministry of Culture for his contribution to French cinema.
ARTHUR MAX (Production Designer) has spent most of his career designing for the world's top commercial directors. Two of them, Ridley Scott and David Fincher, have worked extensively with him on film. Fincher asked Max to design Seven when it was still a small, independent project. When Brad Pitt was signed, things changed, and Max found himself a hot name in Hollywood. He repeated his assignment with Fincher several years later with The Panic Room, starring Jodie Forster.
For Scott, Max designed the films G.I. Jane, Gladiator (for which he won Academy Award and British Academy Award nominations), and Black Hawk Down, all of which garnered him kudos from numerous critics and guild organizations. He prepared Tripoli for Scott before taking on Kingdom of Heaven.
DODY DORN A.C.E.'s (Editor) credits include Christopher Nolan's groundbreaking film Memento, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing; Insomnia, starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams; and Michael Lindsay-Hogg's Waiting For Godot. Most recently she edited Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men, starring Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell. She received an Emmy nomination for Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.
Formerly a noted sound editor, she had a long-term collaboration with director Alan Rudolph.
JANTY YATES' (Costume Designer) most recent design credit was for Irwin Winkler's De-Lovely, a musical portrait of Cole Porter, starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd. Kingdom of Heaven is her third collaboration with Ridley Scott, after working on Hannibal and Gladiator. Her other notable credits include Charlotte Gray, With or Without You, and Plunkett & Macleane.
HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS has created the scores for a long and extremely varied list of films, both animated and live-action.
On the live-action side, he most recently composed the scores for Man on Fire, directed by Tony Scott, and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, starring Renée Zellweger. Gregson-Williams' live-action credits also include Veronica Guerin, Phone Booth, Spy Game, Enemy of the State, The Match, The Borrowers, The Replacement Killers, Deceiver, Smilla's Sense of Snow, The Rundown and Return to Sender.
Gregson-Williams recently composed the music for the blockbuster film Shrek 2 and he won an Annie Award for the score to the original Shrek. His other animated films include Team America: World Police, Chicken Run, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Antz.
Born in England to a musical family, Gregson-Williams, at age seven, earned a scholarship from the music school of St. John's College in Cambridge. By age 13, he had been a soloist on over a dozen records. He then earned a coveted spot at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Gregson-Williams started his film career as an orchestrator and arranger for composer Stanley Myers, and he went on to compose his first scores for the veteran English director, Nicolas Roeg.
Gregson-Williams' introduction to Hollywood film scoring was facilitated by his collaboration and friendship with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer. Gregson-Williams provided additional music for the Zimmer-scored films The Rock, Broken Arrow, The Fan, Muppet Treasure Island, Armageddon, As Good as it Gets and The Prince of Egypt.
Upcoming projects for Gregson-Williams include Tony Scott's Domino and Andrew Adamson's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe.
NEIL CORBOULD (Special Effects and Prosthetics Supervisor) has had a 26-year career in special effects, half that time as supervisor. His awards reflect his reputation. He won an Academy Award for Gladiator; two British Academy Awards for Saving Private Ryan and The Fifth Element; British Academy Award nominations for Gladiator and Vertical Limit; and Golden Satellite Award nominations for Saving Private Ryan and Gladiator.
His recent films include King Arthur, The Day After Tomorrow, Timeline, Black Hawk Down, and Four Feathers.
WESLEY SEWELL (Visual Effects Supervisor) was most recently Visual Effects Editor on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Gladiator. He was Associate Visual Effects Editor on Black Hawk Down and Hannibal.
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