Helen of Troy (TV miniseries)

Helen of Troy
Written by	Ronni Kern
Directed by	John Kent Harrison
Starring	Sienna Guillory Matthew Marsden John Rhys-Davies Emilia Fox With Rufus Sewell and Stellan Skarsgård
Theme music composer	Joel Goldsmith
Country of origin	United States, Malta, Greece
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Ted Kurdyla
Cinematography	Edward J. Pai
Editor(s)	Michael D. Ornstein
Running time	177 minutes
Production company(s)	Fuel Entertainment
Distributor	Universal Home Entertainment
Release
Original network	USA Network
Original release	April 20, 2003

Helen of Troy is a 2003 television miniseries based upon Homer's story of the Trojan War, as recounted in the epic poem, Iliad. This TV miniseries also shares the name with a 1956 movie starring Stanley Baker. It stars Sienna Guillory as Helen, Matthew Marsden as Paris, Rufus Sewell as Agamemnon, James Callis as Menelaus, John Rhys-Davies as Priam, Maryam d'Abo as Hecuba, as well as Stellan Skarsgård as Theseus. The series was entirely shot on location in the islands of Malta.

The film is placed in the early classical period rather than the correct late Bronze Age: the Greeks are shown with Iron Age classical hoplite dress and arms. Made on a relatively low budget, Helen of Troy was released at a time when interest in the subject was high due to the soon-to-be-released Troy.

The film also focuses more on the life of Helen herself rather than simply the Trojan War. The entire first half deals with Helen's life before Troy and includes a number of mythological facts that other versions either gloss over or omit, such as Helen's abduction by Theseus and the actual agreement of the Greek kings to use her marriage as their peace agreement.

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Wikipedia