Troy (2004)

Composed by James Horner

In the short-lived early oughties resurgence of historical epics (undone by the dual box-office disappointments of this film and moreso Alexander), Wolfgang Peterson selected the ancient Siege of Troy for a film project. The movie seeks to be more realistic by ditching the mythological aspects in favor of a pure tale of Greeks against Trojans. Paris (Orlando Bloom) runs off with Spartan king Menelaus’ hot wife Helen (Dianne Kruger). Conquest-crazy King Agamemnon (Brian Cox) takes advantage of this outrage to gather a massive Greek force and assault Troy. The lead heroes of both sides are the Greek rumored demigod Achilles (Brad Pitt) and the Trojan’s Hector (Eric Bana). It’s not a bad movie and has plenty of great fight scenes (even if the armor is ridiculously useless).

The story of Troy’s musical score is one of the more controversial ones. Peterson had chosen Gabriel Yared to compose it and the composer approached the project with gusto, working on it for a full year. To create authenticity he hired a Bulgarian choir and Macedonian singer Tanja Tzarovska. Then the test screening came. Yared’s music had not been fully composed yet and the sound mix was not completed either. The test audience complained that the music was too loud and old-fashioned. Instead of giving Yared and he sound editor time to tweak and perfect the music and sound mix, the studio asked for his replacement. Previously enthusiastic about Yared’s musical choices, Wolfgang Peterson caved under pressure and booted the composer from the film.