Mel Gibson To Produce 'Boudicca' Film Epic

NewsScotsman ^ | 28 April 2004 | Mark Sage

[Hal1950]

Flush from the success of The Passion Of The Christ, Mel Gibson is looking back in time once again – to produce an epic about Boudicca, who led Britain against Roman conquerors.

Dubbed “Braveheart with a bra”, the film will chronicle Boudicca’s rise from peasant girl to a military leader who united the Celtic tribes of Britain.

Gibson’s production company, Icon, appears keen to cash in on further historical tales, after The Passion netted hundreds of millions of pounds at the box office.

The film will be directed by Gavin O’Connor who told the Hollywood trade paper Variety: “What drew me is that she was driven by personal revenge.

“Her goals were never political and never went beyond avenging her slain husband and child.

“She managed to bring together all of these warring tribes to stand against the Roman Empire.

“It is a masculine story with a female point of view.”

Brian Klugman, who co-wrote the script with Lee Sternthal, said: “We spent over a year researching Queen Boudicca, Celtic Britain and the Roman Empire, and another year writing the script.”

[SauronOfMordor]

If he REALLY wanted to do something great, why not a movie on Hannibal and the Second Punic War?

Gibson would have a choice between being historicly accurate and making Hannibal black.

[Burkeman1]

I think I liked it the first two times I saw when it was called "Braveheart" and "The Patriot."

Kidding. Should be a good flick. Fascinating story.

[ZULU]

O.K. I get your point. There are always pictures out there even trashier than I could imagine.

But, having seen Patriot, Braveheart, and the outtakes and reviews on The Passion, I'll have to reserve judgement on Boudicca.

But I read the original story - can't remember if it was Tacitus or another ancient source, but I'm sure Gibson will dwell on Boudicca and her daugthers' treatment by ANOTHER corrupt and venal Roman politician and his thugs, AND the revenge of the Iceni.

Like the Passion, this will, I'm sure, be presented as a "snapshot" in time - the Evil Romans, the wronged Iceni and other Britons, etc.

The fact is the entire Roman empire was controlled by a remarkably small number of legions, most of which were involved in guarding the borders. If itwas such a miserable place to live in, a much larger army would have been needed.

Britain became a relatively calm place after the native tribes realized the taxes they paid were hardly more than they paid to their own former overlords and the Romans were far more effective in controlling the Picts and other unsavory people.

Besides, they found themselves in the largest free trade market until relatively modern times.

With the exception of Judaea, which is still a hotbed of problems, most residents of the empire were relatively better off than people beyond the frontier. Nobody ever tried to break OUT of the empire, but as today in the U.S., many people were always trying to break in.

Pax tecum.

[ZULU]

Well, we both know that Hannibal was a Carthaginian, and that made him a Semite. Hardly your milk-white, blue-eyed Norweigan, but not a black either.

Nonetheless, Hannibal DID have African troops with him like the Numidians, but they probably looked like modern day Berbers rather than Nubians.

Personally, I think Hannibal was one of the greatest generals who ever lived. For over ten years he fought a war against a bitter and implacable enemy on foreign soil, hundreds of miles from his home base. His army was composed of various peoples with different languages and religions - Numidians, Balearic Islanders, Iberians, Gauls, Latins, Italic peoples, and he kept them going - beating the Romans again and again. If he was fighting any other people, he would have won.

The Romans owed him a debt of gratitude - he MADE them tougher and smarter than most other military forces they ever ran up against. You learn from fighting the best.

[nopardons]

She wasn't a " peasant girl",she was the QUEEN of her tribe,the Brits have made at least TWO recent programs/movies about her(not to mention a bunch of earlier ones),the story is just full of torture,rape,and blood for Mel to lovingly film it all in slow motion...hanging breathlessly on every grimace of pain,and he'll probably makes it more fiction than fact;unfortunately. <~p> Time was,when most well educated people, all over the world,who took Latin in school,knew this story well.Now? I bet there are few people in America,who know this bit of ancient English history.

The bit I liked,whilst translating the story,was that shes ordered her men to attach swords/blades to the wheels of their chariots,to disable the Roman legions,they were fighting.And yes,they damned near beat the Roman army! :-)

[kb2614]

Yeah, I do. Sounds intriguing.

[SunkenCiv]

Just adding this to the GGG catalog, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[gnarledmaw]

"Lots of stuff happened in history - but he seems to continually to zero in on the most brutal.

Because people pay for action, generally brutal. No one pays to see the 2 hour story of Leoripedes, the Greek grain merchant, squatting behind some shrubberies after eating bad squid.

[Plutarch]

What happened to the Mayan project?

[Clemenza]

Mel Gibson To Produce 'Boudicca' Film Epic

For a second there, I thought he was doing a Boricua film epic. Not enough Boricua film epics if you ask me (J-Ho films don't count).

[Plutarch]

Ooh, ooh, pick me!

[isom35]

grrrr, enough of the historical stuff...we demand Mad Max IV!

[beaver fever]

"Anna K. for lead role!!!"

Mmmmmmmmmmm AK

Down Belvedere!!!!

Get down boy!!!!!!!

[faithincowboys]

Sounds to me like he might harbor a secret reverence for the insurgents. We must remember Mel isn't big on Israel... the Neocon theory might be most attractive to him... Mel wanted to produce Fahrenheit 911, but he chose the Passion over it. He knew if he did F911, the Christian Right voters wouldn't go see his film.

[B-Chan]

Then we can watch vengeful hords of Bretons crucifying Roman civlians in retaliation.

I doubt it. Bretons would be living in their own land, Bretagne (Brittany), not in Great Britain, homeland of the Britons.

*****

King Arthur: How do you do, good lady? I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Whose castle is that?
Woman: King of the who?
King Arthur: King of the Britons.
Woman: Who are the Britons?
King Arthur: Well, we all are. We are all Britons. And I am your king.
-- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

[JRios1968]

J-Ho films don't count

Maybe so, but she can't deny her ... background.

[MikefromOhio]

LOL

background

LOL

[Recovering Hermit]

As long a Mel doesn't play the lead role, I'm cool with it.

[Clemenza]

Puerto Rican and Brazilian girls have some wonderful, uh, assets. ;-)

[JRios1968]

You know both P Diddy and Ben Damon said neither of them had it easy leaving that behind...