South Asian Business news and information

Title: Last Legion

Director: Doug Lefler

Casts: Aishwarya Rai, Ben Kingsley, Colin Firth, Nonso Anozie, Robert Brazil,

Producer: Dino De Laurentiis, Martha Schumacher, Raffaella De Laurentiis, Tarak Ben Ammar.

 

 

Synopsis:
Based on the novel of famous Italian historical novelist, Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Last Legion tells the story of Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of Rome. The story takes off in Rome in 476 AD. Twelve year old Romulus Augustus’ coronation ceremony is going on. Odoacer, the chief of German tribe, arrives at the ceremony with a huge army of Germanic barbarians. He wants to make a treaty with Rome. He has been supporting the Roman Empire in the East. Augustus’ father Orestes does not agree with his demands.

Ambrosius(Ben Kingsley), the shaman and tutor of Romulus, is worried that something dangerous is going to happen. Aurelius (Colin Firth) and his soldiers are appointed as the personal body guard of Romulus. That night, the German army attacks the city and kills Romulus’ father, Orestes. Romulus and Ambrosius are captured and they are sent to the fortress of Capri. There Romulus finds 'Excaliburnus,' the legendary sword of Caesar with engravings, “One edge to defend, one to defeat; In Britannia was I forged…to fit the hand of he...who is destined to rule.” Romulus then decides to save Rome. With the help of his teacher, Ambrosius; faithful soldier, Aurelius; and a mystical Byzantine warrior, Mira (Aishwarya Rai); Romulus reaches Britannia, the last legion of Rome and also known as the Dragon Legion.

Official website:
Clicking on the homepage, you will see the trailer of the movie. However, you need to install the latest version of the Quick Time player.I think the producers of Last Legion spent all the money in making the movie. When it was time to make the website, all they could do was make a webpage and give a video trailer of the movie.

Trivia:

• The story of Last Legion starts from AD 460 but Romulus Augustus was born in AD 463 and became emperor in AD 475.
  
• The movie has four tag lines:(1)Before King Arthur, there was Excalibur.(2) The untold beginning of the King Arthur legend.(3)The end of an empire...the beginning of a legend.(4)The Roman world is in the throes of death, but a new myth, destined to span the centuries, is waiting to be born.

• Earlier the movie was given the title “The Enchanted Sword.”
• The movie connects the legend of Arthur with the story of the last emperor of Rome.
• In the movie, Aishwarya Rai’s character, Mira, comes from Kerala. During that time there was no such place called Kerala. For her character, she had to learn horse riding and sword fighting for her role. She also bought the distribution rights of the movie in India.
• A well trained British theater actor, Colin Firth, is a worked in films, television series and stage.  Firth first charmed the audience when he starred opposite Renee Zellwegger in the hit British comedy, Bridget Jones’ diary. 
  
• Sir Ben Kingsley is one of the most famous British actors. He gained popularity by acting in Gandhi, in 1982. Directed by Richard Attenborough, Kingsley played the character of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Ben Kingsley’s father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was from Gujarat.
• Director Doug Lefler studied character animation at the California Institute of Arts for two years. Then he worked in the Walt Disney Company. His major animation works include The fox and the hound, The Black Cauldron, The Little Mermaid. As story board artist he has worked in Total Recall, Shattered, Hard target and Friday the 13^th. 
  
• Raffaella De Laurentiis is the daughter of Dino de Laurentiis. In 1981, she produced Conan the Barbarian, the first major hit of Hollywood action hero, Arnold Schwarznegger. After four years, she produced sequel of the movie, Conan the destroyer.  It was Rafaella, who suggested Doug Lefler’s name. Lefler already worked in an epic movie Dragon Heart: A new beginning2 with Rafaella.
• Dough Lefler was in a book store when he got a call on his cell-phone from Rafaella. She told him about the movie that she and her father were working on. That night, Doug read the script and agreed to direct the movie. 
• Last Legion is the first action adventure movie of Colin Firth. Till now, Collin Firth has been successfully acting in various romantic comedies such as, Bridget Jones’ diary, Four weddings and a funeral, Shakespeare in love.
  
• Thomas Sangster played the character of young Romulus Augustus. He and Firth have already worked in two movies: Love actually, Nanny Mcphee. Both Sangster’s parents are actors and seeing them, he also decided to become an actor. Sangster is 15 years old but he played the character of Romulus Augustus, the twelve year old emperor. 
• Producer Martha De Laurentiis was worried about Thomas’s size and whether he would be able to carry a sword and fight with it. Thomas proved her to be wrong.
  
• Ben Kingsley likes anything related to magic, mysticism or mythology which is why, he decided to play the role of Ambrosinus.
• Last Legion is also a very new experience for Aishwarya Rai. In Hindi movies, she has been playing the character of an ideal wife or lady-love. For the first time, she is playing the character of a female warrior. "I've never done a character like Mira before and I like to give audiences something new with every film I do. I liked the idea of playing a warrior. We have reserves of strength and I guess the Mira in all of us comes out when provoked. She was a character I could identify with and I am sure other women will too."
• Though Collin Firth had to train for the fight sequences, he was already familiar with sword fighting. At the drama school, Colin learned sword fighting. According to him, it is like dancing.
• The movie has been shot for 14 weeks in 2005 in Tunisia (Rome), and Slovakia (Britannia). 
• The movie is financed by Martha De Laurentiis and Rafaella De Laurentiis, Quinta Communications (owned by Tarak Ben Ammar), Chris Curling and Phil Robertson. Quinta Communications also obtained the distribution rights of the movie in France.
• The North American rights of the movie are sold to Weinstein Co. The UK distribution rights of the movie are obtained by Entertainment Film Distribution. 
• The movie cost $67 million. In another report it was mentioned that the budget of the movie was $70million. 
• In 2006, when the trailer of the Last Legion was placed in the website of Hollywood TV, it received 1 million hits within twenty four hours.
  
• The actors and actresses in the spare time of their shooting used to read books about Roman military strategy.
• In the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, the movie impressed the audience very much and Harvey Weinstein bought the North American distribution rights of the movie.

 

Pictures andwallpapers:

Filmspot.com:
This website contains 12 photos of Last Legion. Clicking on them will open up a small size picture. If you want you can see the images in full size. 

Firth.com:
So far, this is the best place to look for still pictures of Last Legion. The website contains five picture galleries and a poster gallery. There are lots of still pictures of the shooting of the movie.

          On location Slovakia: Contains 12 pictures of shooting in Slovakia.

          2005 preview on BBC: Contains 11 photographs from the preview of the

movie broadcast in BBC in 2005.

Italian Television preview: This gallery contains 34 images of the movie.

They are actually video stills from Italian Television preview.

Animal planet: Contains 20 video stills of the movie.   

Production photo: So far this is largest picture gallery of the movie. It contains 54 photographs. You can see the larger version of the images.

Poster gallery: This gallery contains five pictures of the posters of the movie.

Ekjut.com:
This website contains two controversial movie stills from of the movie. A huge hoopla started with Aishwarya-Hrithik kissing scene but here Aishwarya’s body parts are visible through her wet dress. 

 

Comingsoon.net:
This website has a photo gallery with seven pictures of Last legion. Clicking on the pictures will open up a small size photo. You can use the high resolution pictures as your desktop wallpaper.

Mooviees.com:
The picture gallery of this website contains 29 photographs of Last legion. The images include production photos. 

Actors and actresses:

Ben Kingsley:
The first image that comes to mind with this name is the image of Mahatma Gandhi. It was Gandhi that not only made Ben Kingsley famous but also won him many awards and critical acclaim. Ben Kingsley was born in 1943 to Ann Lyna Mary and Rahimatulla Harji Bhanji. His father was a Kenyan born Indian who hailed from Gujarat. Kingsley was born and brought up in England. Kingsley started his acting in stage dramas at Manchester Grammar School. He landed with his first film in 1972 in a supporting role in Fear is the Key. Kingsley continued acting in various small roles in movies and soap operas. In 1982, he got his major role in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. In this movie, he played the central character, Gandhi. He won Academy award for his performance in the movie. Kingsley always tried to avoid being type casted. He acted in various types of roles. 

Colin Firth:
Firth was born in 1960 to academic parents. His father, David Firth, was a lecturer in Winchester University College and mother in Open University. Both his parents were born and raised in India. Firth gained his first taste of acting in infant’s school. Firth spent two years at the Drama Center in Chalk Farm. His first professional stage play was Another Country by West End Production. His major movies includes: Bridget Jones's Diary, Shakespeare in Love, Pride and Prejudice, Love Actually. Firth gained popularity in 1995 for his performance in the BBC television’s mini-series, Pride and Prejudice. Bridget Jones Diary followed by Pride and Prejudice turned Firth into a major film star. His major movies include: The English Patient (1996), Fever Pitch (1997), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Love Actually (2003), What a Girl Wants (2003). 

 

Thomas Sangster:
All movie portal quoted Thomas, "I thought I'd give it a go as it looked like fun," he says. "So, I had a couple of photos done and sent them off to their agent and started getting auditions. I got my first part and it just escalated from there."  Born in 1990, Thomas Sangster comes from an acting family. Both his parents are in acting profession. His mother, Tasha Bertram, is a dancer and characterist worked in several movies produced by BBC. His father, Mark Sangster worked in a musical in Germany. Sangster was born in South London. He has one sister named Ava. Thomas had a natural interest for acting since childhood. He first landed with a role in a movie produced by BBC, The Adventures of Station Jim. Then he worked in few television films Bobbie's Girl, The Miracle of the Cards, and Stig of the Dump. For his performance in Love Actually, he was nominated for Golden Satellite Award. Though he was older, he played the character of twelve year old Romulus Augustus in Last Legion. Sangster and Firth already worked in two movies: Nanny McPhee and Love Actually.

Rupert Friend:
Rupert got his formal training in acting from the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Famous actors such as Hugh Bonneville, Matthew Goode, Minnie Driver and Julian Fellowes studied in this institution. His notable roles include Mr. Wickham in the 2005 remake of Pride and Prejudice and Billy Downs in The Libertine. In 2005, he was named “outstanding new talent” at Satellite Awards. His relationship with Keira Knightley also brought him lots of media attention. 

 

Aishwarya Rai:
The most beautiful woman in the world and the highest paid actress in India, Aishwarya Rai started as an amateur model. Born in Mangalore, Rai was studying architecture in Ruparel College and working as a part time model. However, her life changed after she won Miss World in 1994. Aishwarya Rai’s first worked in a Tamil movie, Iruvar. In the movie, she was paired up with one of the renowned Tamil actors, Mohanlal. Her debut Hindi movie was Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya, released in 1998.That same year, Jeans was a huge success and she won Filmfare Best Actress Award South. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in 1999 established Aishwarya Rai as Bollywood star. In April this year, Aishwarya Rai married Abhishek Bachchan, son of famous Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Video clips:

This is a trailer video clip of the movie. The length of the first trailer is 2 minutes 24 seconds.