Orlando Bloom has expressed discontent with his character Paris in the 2004’s Troy, admitting that he “didn’t want to play” the villainous prince.
The 47-year-old British actor starred in the Brad Pitt-led historical war movie, loosely based on Homer’s Iliad about the epic battles between the two ancient kingdoms of Troy and Sparta.
While appearing on Variety’s “Know Your Lines” video series, Bloom was unable to identify one of the quotes said by his character Paris. Instead, he misattributed the line, guessing that it must have been from either 2005’ Kingdom of Heaven or one of his Lord of the Rings movies.
After being told the correct answer, Bloom said: “Oh my god, Troy. Wow. I think I just blanked that movie out of my brain by the way.”
“So many people love that movie, but for me playing that character was just like [slits throat]. Am I allowed to say all of these things? I didn’t want to do the movie. I didn’t want to play this character.
“The movie was great. It was Brad [Pitt]. It was Eric [Bana] and Peter O’Toole,” he added.
Explaining his initial hesitancy towards the role, he said he questioned how he was going to play the character.
“It was completely against everything I felt in my being. At one point it says Paris crawls along the floor having been beaten by somebody and holds his brother’s leg. I was like, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this,’” he said.
“One of my agents at the time said, ‘But that’s the moment that will make it!’ And I completely fell for that line of an agent. I think that’s why I blanked that from my mind.”
Released in cinemas 20 years ago, Troy raked in nearly $500m at the global box office. It also featured Diane Kruger, Rose Byrne, Brian Cox, Sean Bean and Brendan Gleeson.
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Bloom’s character, Paris, was the prince of Troy and the younger brother of Hector (Bana). Paris’s illegal marriage to the queen of Sparta, Hellen (Kruger), after kidnapping her from her husband, Menelaus (Gleeson), is what sets off the Trojan War.
In 2022, Kruger made headlines when she admitted that during her audition for the movie, she felt “like meat”.
“I remember testing for Troy and having to go to the studio head in costume. And I felt like meat, being looked up and down and was asked, ‘Why do you think you should be playing this?’” she told Variety at the time.
“I think when I first started out, it just felt like this is what it’s like. This is what Hollywood is like,” she continued, adding: “Also I come from modelling and, believe me, they have their moments.”