movie about hannibal of carthage

[luisfc1972]

unbelievable, they are considering denzel washington to play hannibal of carthage, what the hell is this world coming to. next theyll make a movie about jesus starring samuel l jackson. whatever

[susan]

I think it's a more important bonus that historical story is being retold, even if distorted, than if it's ignored - so I can't see what is wrong with this version of Hannibal.
I've seen many productions of Shakespeare set in non-English settings - Indian, Nazi Germany, Zulu - and they are very effective. If the film producer or script-writer is trying to get across a dramatic story such as the conflict between different civilisations, it seems reasonable to set it in a modern-day context, so that the audience appreciate the tensions. In general nowadays no-one takes much notice of religious tensions between Catholic & Protestant, which were extremely important on Shakespeare's day; it makes much more sense to portray it as tension between white & black, or between Christian & Moslem, as this is something the audience can understand and maybe learn from.Susan

[Tre]

Susan:Part of historical accuracy is portraying people as they were or at least some semblance of. It's one thing to play a fictional character, quite another to portray one who actually lived.

[Thalestris]

Hmmmmm, I thought Van Diesel was given the starring role as Hannibal? I remember reading that somewhere sometime, and I know I wasn't dreaming it.Historical accuracy in moviedom is not integral to movie ticket sales....that is why I hope in great earnest that the ATG movies do not come to pass. As for Washington portraying Hannibal...is this fact or tabloid?

[jorgios]

but i also heard that they have had their eye on Vin Diesel to play him as well. This may not be so bad.

[Tre]

There are two separate movies - one with Vin Diesel, one with Denzel.

[marcus]

I suspect that there will be the usual flummery that has been surrounding Cleopatra in recent years: "we don't really know what Hannibal looked like, and he came from Africa... so wow! waddya know... he was black!" I would put money on that coming out in pretty much every press release surrounding the movie.I remember watching some film of some high school kids in America being taught about Cleopatra, and the teacher's political agenda couldn't have been clearer. Her whole argument was: "we don't know the name of Cleopatra's grandmother; so she might have been a Nubian; which means that Cleopatra *was* black - oh my!".All the bestMarcus

[jan]

Sorry to get into this can of worms, but the comments about Cleopatra who is descended from Greeks cannot go without my saying, "Heavens! Save us all from politically correctness! There is a lot of difference between the Ethiopians who are dark, dark, and the Egyptians who are somehow or other related to the Palestinians and the Jews. Was Moses a Pharoah or not? Cleopatra is clearly Greek. All this is getting everyone a bit crazy, isn't it?I still like Robert Redford best to play Alexander too! But now he is too old! Such is life...

[davej]

Hi Marcus,I think Cathage was a Phonecian colony. I think Hannibal would have been dark skinned but not Negro. Not that it really matters, in my opinion. Should we pick actors who looked like the characters or those who can act?I just hope they make the movie. I believe the score so far is Mel Gibsons project (hybernation) George Clunnies (300 Spartan movie) all but gone last I heard and Two ATG movies both full speed ahead. If both are made there wont be much room for any other historicals I'd say. the movie going public grow tired of too much of the same thing.See YaCroc Hunter

[marcus]

Hi Dave,"Should we pick actors who looked like the characters or those who can act?"Preferably, of course, both! But ultimately I'd rather have people who can act. With regard to the casting of Mr Washington as Hannibal, I don't really care whether his skin colour approximates to Hannibal's or not - but I think there's a lot of emotional baggage at play, here, as I don't know as much about Hannibal, and I don't have the emotional attachment that I do to Alexander.But, I have to say that with any historical figure, the closer an actor gets actually to *looking* like the person he/she is portraying, the more credibility I give the film - to whit: Alec Guinness was a 'better' Marcus Aurelius than Richard Harris was, irrespective of whether the script of "Fall of the Roman Empire" was better than that of "Gladiator".It's just so darned hard to be objective.All the bestMarcus

[Thalestris]

That's it, Marcus! Emotional attachment to ATG! That's why I am chanting, praying, practicing VooDoo so these ATG films do not come to pass!Laughing and Playing,Amazon Queen

[Me]

Personally, all I want is a good enough actor (male or female) to make me experience the roles to the best possible level.
Interesting about Samuel Jackson as "Jesus".. when was the last time an ethnic Jew played the role?
Perhaps all that matters is acting ability.. while I agree with Marcus that accuracy in portrayal adds a bonus, I do not always assume a "politically correct" or "hidden" agenda for the selection of actors. Sometimes, it is done to create controversial publicity (those producers and casting agents and directors know human foibles and responses well), sometimes because a director or producer likes a particular actor (DiCaprio is an example of this), sometimes due to budget constraints...
"the play's the thing". If it is well-done, I don't particulary care WHO plays the part- just give me good actors and good scripts! Historical accuracy is a bonus I have long given up on.

[baacchor]

Yep,The Phoenicians came with Queen Dido from Greece to create Carthage. They inter-married with the north Africans who were populated with Numbians and so forth.Hannibal was semitic which in that period, meant of dark skin, he would have looked like Van Diesel--so casting is excellent.. As for Washington playing the part that is fine too. Othello was played by Sir Lawrence Olivie,Orson Welles & many other white actors.Let's give this movie a break since the casting is right on par with the reality of what the Carthagenians now known as Tunesians would look like today(though common sense says they would have been of darker skin,with more African blood 2,000 years ago).Get over it, its the most factual casting to date. As for Alexander,only A Dicaprio or an actor of that physical look can play him. They have some Irish actor,Collin Farrell, also up for the part and excuse me but one can see his Celtic features that have no bearing to the greek features that Alexander bore. How about casting Billy Zane, who is Greek?What a concept.

[9/8/03]

OK north ancient africa was black ok.
Go to alo.com and the physica appearance of ancient
Israel.And Samson had some lock's in his hair samson
was black,not to say he look like a rastafarian man.
Black people hair is like the wool of a lamb,and the people that live in north africa now and asia
are mixed with black and white.

[titus]

total bull.... all you have to do is look at the physical evidance. look at the coins that carthage created. all portraits are of white people. They look just like Greek coins. the ancient Phonecions were as white as any of the populations in the mediterrean. so were the peoples of north africa. the numidians were a berber people. I think the perfect person to play Hannibal would be my Spanish brethren Antonio Banderes. what do you think?