The HBO series 'Rome' is the most explicit and expensive period drama in TV history.
The Independent: Thursday, 27 October 2005
A co-production between the BBC and HBO (the producers of The Sopranos and Sex and the City) that features no fewer than 350 speaking parts, this spectacular 11-part series about the ancient civilisation comes with an eye-watering price-tag of £60m. That makes it the most expensive British television drama of all time.
Already a huge hit in the USA, where a second series has been commissioned, Rome presents a compelling picture of a culture where casual cruelty is the norm. The film-makers believe we cannot be too judgemental about the Romans, who they say had no concept of shame, so nothing was taboo. "The mores we have today just didn't apply in those days," says Ray Stevenson. "They didn't see their behaviour as cruelty. In their minds, the Romans were so far advanced of the people they were enslaving that they could do what they liked with them.
The series's creator, Bruno Heller, explains that the brutality of Roman life endowed it with a tremendous vibrancy which lends itself very well to serial drama. "Life back then was lived in very vivid colours. It was very cheap, but for that reason it was also lived to the full." This is mirrored in the down-and-dirty look of the drama. The blood-spattered buildings are far from the pristine white-marble portrayals of Rome we are used to.
The producers constructed a five-acre replica of Ancient Rome on the expansive back-lot at Cinecitta, on the outskirts of the Italian capital. The life-sized recreation of the Forum, with the Senate, the Treasury and the Temples of Jupiter, Venus and Vesta, is a thing of gigantic beauty. The producers hope it will remain standing for at least five years, so it is built out of solid concrete. The star of this show is Rome itself.
As well as being a feast for the eye, Rome provides food for thought. It offers, for example, many modern-day political echoes. Viewers will not have to look far to find parallels between Rome then and the US now. McKidd, who has headlined in films such as Trainspotting and Kingdom of Heaven, says that "Rome developed its power and influence across the world. Once the Romans had got a stranglehold on a country and reaped the benefits, they just moved on. And as soon as there was a sniff of anything that Rome didn't like - boom! - they'd lay waste to your country. The parallels with the US today are scary."
ROME was filmed at Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy.