Roman Empire Epic, anyone?
I do like a good, gory historical drama. You know, when battles were bloody and nobody had access to personal hygiene. Grubby men are fun on film, where we don’t have to smell them.
Opening February 11th is just such an epic – The Eagle starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell. Joining them in 2nd Century Britain is one of my faves, Donald Sutherland. Ever since Eye of the Needle, Animal House, MASH and one of my guilty pleasures – Invasion of the Body Snatchers – I’m always happy to see his name in the credits of any project. he just recently got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. What the hell took so long, Hollywood? The man has been awesome for decades! That he sired Jack Bauer is just another feather in his cap.
But back to The Eagle. Sutherland plays the uncle of Channing Tatum’s Marcus, a soldier whose father disappeared with his entire 5,000 man legion in an incident that caused the Roman empire to erect Hadrian’s Wall marking the northern limit of civilization. When Marcus gets word that the emblem of his father’s legion (the titular eagle) has been spotted beyond the wall he takes his slave (Jamie Bell) and goes in search of the truth.
I’m guessing that during the course of this search, there will be men without shirts. One can only hope. This picture of Jamie Bell looks promising, but most of the stills have Channing Tatum fully clothed. I guess we’ll have to wait and see…
The movie is based on a novel by Rosemary Sutcliff and is directed by Kevin Macdonald with a screenplay by Jeremy Brock. I really liked Macdonald and Brock’s The Last King of Scotland, maybe they can draw me into this medieval world.
Here’s a cool “making of” featurette for you on this one. How fun is that? Enjoy!
Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.
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