Maltese actors impress in mini-series

As many as 80 of the 100 speaking parts in the USA Cable TV mini-series Helen of Troy, currently being shot in Malta, are being played by Maltese.

Locals are also playing major roles and have been described as "sensational" actors by producer Ted Kurdyla.

"Besides being good-looking, the Maltese offer a good cross-section for casting," he said, speaking of the advantages of filming in Malta.

"Usually, in other countries, few speaking parts can be cast."

The local actors are working with the likes of Rufus Sewell (A Knight's Tale), starring as Agamemnon; Matthew Marsden (Black Hawk Down) as Paris; Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting) as Theseus; and Sienna Guillory (The Time Machine) as Helen - the face that launched a thousand ships.

The production involves 6,500 extras (in terms of man days). They have had to contend with sweltering heat, which nobody seems to be too fazed by, as well as howling "demon" winds when filming a supposedly "windless" scene on the cliffs of Mellieha, where Agamemnon and his men are about to sail for their siege of Troy.

The two-part, four-hour mini-series stars a predominantly British cast, says executive producer Adam Shapiro, who describes the actors as "superb, professional and talented..."

Filming of Helen of Troy, which rides the wave of the surging interest in history, started on July 22 and continues until the end of September.

The production is being shot in its entirety in Malta, which is doubling as Sparta, Athens, Troy and Mycenae, using a number of locations, including the Mizieb woods, Rdum id-Delli between Mellieha and Manikata, Fort Campbell in Selmun, Villa Bologna in Attard and Comino.

Vittoriosa Gardens, with its olive trees and limestone walls, is the ideal Sparta; "magnificent" Ghajn Tuffieha is the site of the Greek invasion, with Troy being digitally imposed on the escarpment; and San Anton is Athens.

"Malta is able to offer different locations, which could go 2,000 years back in time, and could be reached in the space of 30 minutes.

"It is also one of the two places in the world where the water sequences can be shot in the safety of a man-made enclosure (the Rinella water tanks), with the horizon as the background, so that it doesn't look like a tank," Kurdyla points out.

Although it depicts ancient Greece, he maintains that Helen of Troy is to be a "travelogue" for Malta.

"The vistas are magnificent, particularly Comino's Blue Lagoon - the scene where the two shipwrecked lovers experience the only happy moment in their lives. Audiences are going to ask: 'where is that? I want to go there'."

Of course, finding an area that looks 2,000 years old because it is undeveloped has a price - inaccessibility. However, even that problem was surmounted.

The forts and the limestone walls are perfect, according to Kurdyla, and the lack of vast fields of greenery is compensated for by the public gardens.

"Malta is unique in that it can double as so many places in the world. Different towns have a different look and feel, which can be adapted to suit different ages. Depending on the time of the year, Malta could be anywhere in the Mediterranean."

Malta is on Kurdyla's agenda for other productions. However, he would like to see similar incentives to the ones that are offered in other countries such as Canada, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic.

"Malta has 10 times more to offer than Luxembourg, yet it is the latter that offers tax incentives.

"In many countries, I could walk away with an 18 per cent return on my investment, which is not insignificant if you calculate spending around $10 million on an average production...

"That money is spent in the space of five months. Who else drops that kind of money and leaves? And that does not even include hotel accommodation, the buying of gifts and going to restaurants."

The production company is using the services of 250 Maltese companies, Kurdyla adds.

The fact that Malta is an island could be considered a drawback in that everything has to be flown in from Rome and, if equipment needs to be repaired, things could get complicated.

Having said that, about 75 per cent of the required equipment was found.

"We managed to utilise companies that had what we needed without even knowing it."

Another slight hitch is that when filming in July and August - the height of the tourist season - weekend evenings are alight with fireworks, which are not ideal for shooting scenes like funerals.

For Kurdyla, however, there is always a plus side - in this case, invitations by staff members to their village festas.

"We cannot afford to offend anyone," he says, only too keen on enjoying the festivities.

"When we have time off, Malta is a wonderful place to relax. The people are warm and welcoming."

The Malta Film Commission, and its attempt to create one-stop shopping, is probably the main reason Helen of Troy is being filmed in Malta.

"They were responsible for answering our questions truthfully, letting us know where the strengths are and where the manpower lies."

Fort Ricasoli, where shooting is currently under way, was also the "dangling carrot". It is here that Troy has been recreated, complete with the looming gateway through which the notorious Trojan horse, still in meticulous design stage, enters.

Maltese construction workers on the set include 100 carpenters, with as many as 80 plasterers at the peak. They have been working round the clock, building replicas of Sparta and Troy in the space of six weeks - a procedure that would normally require six months.

"Maltese are the most talented workmen... the best talent we have ever come across," said production designer Jim Allen, who is currently inundated with sketches of 'a Trojan horse with a difference'.

The idea is to drift away from the traditional, rough-hewn, static, wooden horse, which is being fashioned from the remnants of the Trojan camp, including shields and armour. Only parts of the "snarling, ominous, stylised beast" are being constructed and the rest is the work of computer-generated imagery.

"We did not just take the Roman sets (from Julius Caesar) and call them Greek," stresses Shapiro, explaining that the Roman arches have been squared off.

"The general perception is that the only Homer Americans know is Homer Simpson and that they cannot tell the difference between ancient Greek and Roman architecture," but Shapiro is out to prove the contrary and defend his compatriots, rectifying the "uncultured, ignorant" image they may have.

Shapiro is the former USA Network senior vice-president of long-form programming, and producer of Andre, as well as a number of other children's films.

New sets were designed and the façades of the Julius Caesar structures, depicting ancient Rome, were altered, meaning that once Helen of Troy is complete, Malta is to have at its disposal both Roman and Greek backdrops - a plus for production companies, intending to shoot a period film on the island.

"It is such a great feeling to come on set and see that what you could only visualise a mere 18 months ago has materialised," says Shapiro.

The mini-series, originally penned by Ronni Kern, was altered by director John Kent Harrison. Characters have been motivated and motivations simplified, relationships between them have been intensified and others brought to the foreground, the executive producer points out.

Although attention is being paid to historical detail, Helen of Troy, which is premiering in the US in April, is not only targetting a discerning, intellectual audience. The production is not masterpiece theatre, but a "rousing, spirited love story, set against the tapestry of the ancient world," says Shapiro.

The script has strayed from the original and focuses on the love story, rather than the meddling and conspiring of the gods with each other and the mere mortals.

Helen of Troy traces the story of how a savage war was raged over the beauty of one woman, who risked everything to be with her lover, the young warrior Paris of Troy. She was the most beautiful woman in the world and her husband and his allies quickly realised that her beauty could cause a devastating war. Spurred on by the villainous Agamemnon, they vowed that no one would ever sleep with Helen, not even her husband.

Unfortunately, Paris, a young Trojan warrior, knew nothing of the vow. The minute he and Helen saw each other, they fell in love and risked everything to be together, sparking ancient history's greatest war.

After countless people lose their lives, history's most infamous trick - the Trojan horse - brings the incredible story to an end.