Video
(fictional):
As on the list, R
means I've read or seen it and recommend it.
There
are now a ton of information sites about the new Alexander films on the
horizon, but here's a list of other films that might be of interest,
plus the recent batch and some links.
1956: United Artists, Alexander
the Great, starring Richard Burton as Alexander ... a young
Burton
in a very bad wig.
1964: never-bought TV
pilot,
Alexander
the Great, starring William Shatner (!) as Alexander and Adam
West
as "Cleander" (essentially Hephaistion)--was aired once on ABC in
1968.
I almost recommend this just for the camp factor!
1980: Greek director
Thodoros
Anghelopoulos filmed O Megalexandros, which won the
Leone
d'oro for Best Movie at the Venice Film Festival. "The story
tells
about an old bandit, who has adopted that nickname, escaped from
Athens'
prision the night of the turn of the century and followed by some noble
Englishmen, becomes a people's hero." (thanks Giuseppe)
1992/94: The
Swordsman
and
Gladiator Cop, a film and its sequel in which Lorenzo Lamas
plays a reincarnation of Alexander, seeking the Gross One's special
sword,
a magicked weapon from Apollo (?!). Didn't anyone tell them
Greeks preferred the spear
and Apollo used a bow? But
really, there's little 'history' to this pair besides the name of
Alexander
and a cameo appearance of the exhibition catalogue from The Search
for
Alexander.
2003 Alexander
Anime? Apparently so. The same artist who created Aeon
has decided to try his hand at Greek 'history.' Looks more like
Alexander meets Star Wars, frankly, and the episodes I saw had
absolutely excruciating dialogue.
2004 Alexander the Great,
directed by Oliver Stone with Colin Farrell playing the conqueror,
Jared Leto playing Hephaistion, Angelina Jolie plyaing Olympias, Val
Kilmer playing Philip, and
Anthony Hopkins playing Ptolemy, and music by Vangelis.
2004 Alexander the Great of Macedonia,
directed by Jalal Merhi with Sam Heughan to play the (boy)
Alexander. This film apparently concentrates on his youth and is
listed by the Internet Movie Database as "filming."
2004? Alexander the Great,
directed by T. Atcheson with Steven Stratos. No further
information except that the start date was supposed to have been
October 2, 2002, so I'm dubious that it will go forward.
2005 Alexander Project,
directed by Baz Luhrmann with Leonardo DiCaprio as Alexander, and
Nicole Kidman as Olympias, with a rumored Mel Gibson as Philip.
Countdown
to (Stone's) Alexander
(fancy flash intro)
To bypass the flash, go HERE, site also
has information about Troy
Official Warner Brothers Website for Stone's Alexander
Baz
the Great (fansite with updates)
Books of Related Interest:
1958: R
L.
Sprague
de Camp,
An Elephant for Aristotle (Although set during
Alexander's reign, he appears only at the very beginning. Most of
the novel has to do with transporting an elephant from India to Greece.
Still, it's a good read.)
1966: R
Mary Renault, The Mask of Apollo (Alexander has a
walk-on
cameo near the end) - IP
1966: Uriel Akavya, Achelev
Azhochek (The Laughing Dog; juvenile fiction about the
Cynic
philosopher Diogenes; Alexander has a cameo [Hebrew])
1986: (Alison)
Spedding:
The
Road and the Hills (A pseudo-Alexander called Ailixond, Lord of
Safi. Fantasy: two sequels)
1980s: Alexander is a
recurring
character (along with Caesar, etc.) in the "Heroes in Hell"
series
of braided novels, edited by Cherryh and Morris, et al. (SF/F)
1991: Gillian
Bradshaw,
Horses
of Heaven (Set in the Greco-Macedonian Baktrian kingdom of the
Hellenistic period; her prose is pristine, and I loved The
Bearkeepers
Daughter, but for some reason, this book didn't do as much
for
me.)
1999-200?: R
Thomas
Harlan, Oath of Empire: Shadow of Ararat, Gate of Fire, Storm
of
Heaven (Fantasy series of four proposed volumes. I
wasn't sure which list to put this on, since Alexander is indeed a
character
in the novels. But since the time-frame of the story takes place
in an alternate history of the 7th century AD Roman Empire, not
Alexander's
world, and he's only a tertiary character, it goes here for now.
The link goes to Harlan's website on the series. Although I'm no
real expert in the details of late antiquity, the social
history
aspects don't seem too bad. It's certainly far better
than
David Gemmell's
Lion of Macedon series.)
2004: Arthur C. Clark-Stephen Baxter:
Time's Eye (SF/fantasy)
Alexander appears in this first book of the A Time Odyssey
series. In some ways it's not a terribly flattering portrait of
either he or Hephaistion, but the authors have done some homework, to
be sure; has The Gross One allying with Genghis Khan. They do not
appear in the second volume, but may reappear in the third.
September, 2000: R
A.
B. Bosworth and E. J. Baynham, Alexander the Great in Fact and
Fiction
- Collection of essays edited by two established Alexander scholars,
this
is new from Oxford University Press (who can usually be trusted not to
publish junk <g>).
The
link goes to Oxford's page with a listing of the contents.
1994: D. M. Kratz, Alexander
the Great in Literature and Legend - an academic exploration
of
fictional Alexander throughout history. Begins with antiquity and
follows through to the present. (I've never actually seen this or
been able to lay hands on it, and others who have looked for it haven't
found it either. But I did see a publishing announcement for it,
so I don't know what happened.)
Music:
1986: Iron Maiden
(hard-rock
group) "Alexander the Great," Somewhere in Time (sound
recording)