New take on Spartacus focuses on the man

New take on Spartacus focuses on the man

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Every movie producer must be aware that if they remake one of the
grandest of Hollywood epic films, they must be prepared for high
expectations that the new film will outshine the old one -- and
for criticism.

Wolfgang Petersen reportedly spent US$175 million for his
version of Homer's Iliad in Troy so that he could recreate the
larger-than-life saga into an even more panoramic version than
his predecessor could have done in the fifties and sixties.

The movie was a commercial flop.

Executive producer Adam Shapiro was undeterred by the
potential for criticism and expectation when he decided to film
an updated version of Stanley Kubrick's 1960 epic, Spartacus. If
anything, he stayed away from trying his hand at a grandiose
production and took an entirely new approach to the critically
acclaimed film -- he has turned the epic into a made-for-TV
miniseries.

Spartacus is the tale of a slave who was trained as a
gladiator and led a bloody revolt against his Roman masters more
than 2,000 years ago. Kubrick's version was nominated for six
Oscars and won four.

In the miniseries, Shapiro said he stayed true to the original
book written by dissident writer Howard Fast in 1950.

"We stayed away from the original movie. We just didn't want
to have a remake. You will find that the miniseries is
significantly different, the things that happen, all the
characters are taken from the book," he said in a three-way
telephone interview with three Asian newspapers, including The
Jakarta Post.

He said that the original Spartacus, in which Kirk Douglas
played the lead role, did not tell the whole story and
interpreted the characters differently.

"In the original movie, the main character ... was very
gregarious. He was someone who could motivate a crowd by his
personality. In the miniseries, Spartacus is very brooding,
contemplative and very quiet. His actions speak louder than his
words," he said.

Shapiro said that unlike Achilles in Petersen's Troy, who
sought personal glory, the Spartacus of the miniseries was
portrayed as a straightforward individual: "He is a simple man
who wants simple thing -- freedom."

As part of his low-key approach to the epic, Shapiro said the
miniseries chose not to recreate the famous slave army cry "I am
Spartacus" from the original movie.

In the Kubrick version, the cry is actually a recording of a
crowd at a Michigan State (the Spartans) vs. Notre Dame football
game.

And if the new batch of epic remakes rely heavily on computer
generated imagery (CGI) to portray life during pre-modern times,
the miniseries kept its CGI use to the minimum.

"We only used CGI to portray the scene of Rome from a
distance, and if taken together, CGI only made up 10 percent of
the whole movie," Shapiro said.

For the miniseries, the production team built a five-acre
setting that was Ancient Rome in Bulgaria, only a couple hours
from the birthplace of the real Spartacus in southern Italy.

To recreate Spartacus, Shapiro cast Croatian-born actor Goran
Visnjic, who is widely known for his role as Dr. Luka Kovac on
NBC's E.R.

"He is recognizable, somebody that people like. He is also
somebody who is very physical (and can) do combat and can
actually act," Shapiro said, adding that it was somewhat a
difficult role to play, as it would gain Visnjic an inevitable
comparison with Douglas.

Shapiro also said that the miniseries had a different ending
compared to the original movie.

Spartacus is only one among several epic miniseries produced
by Shapiro. Previously, he successfully brought Helen of Troy and
Attila the Hun to the small screen.

Having long dreamed to become known as a producer of epic
films, Shapiro got a career boost at cartoon factory Hanna
Barbera, where he produced animated programs such as The Power
Puff Girls, Dexter's Lab and Courage the Cowardly Dog.

"Cartoon was just a side step ... My heart was always on
historical epics because I love the genre," said Shapiro who,
incidentally, majored in history at university.

Now, Shapiro has set his sights firmly on recreating -- and
creating -- epic movies, and is optimistic that the genre will
always gain currency.

"Although not all remakes of the genre are successful, we
believe that the sandal-and-sword genre will never go out of
style," he said.

Spartacus, the miniseries, will premier in Indonesia on Star
Movies on March 19 at 8 p.m. and March 20 at 1.30 p.m.