Orlando Blooms Blocks Out One Epic From His Mind

When tasked with trying to see if he could remember lines from some of his most famous movies, Orlando Blooms came up blank when given a quote from his character Paris in the film Troy. When told what it was, Bloom admitted he did not think he was right for the role.

“Oh my god, ‘Troy.’ Wow. I think I just blanked that movie out of my brain by the way,” Orlando Bloom said when told the line was from Troy. “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.”

Orlando Bloom made it clear that his issue with Troy was his feelings of being miscast for the role, not against the movie. He was quite complimentary of his co-stars in the film, including Brad Pitt. “The movie was great,” he said. “It was Brad [Pitt]. It was Eric [Bana] and Peter O’Toole. But how am I going to play this character? It was completely against everything I felt in my being.”

Regardless of whatever inadequacies Orlando Bloom may have felt about his performance in Troy, it remains a movie that many fans look back on fondly. And it was no different at the time of its release, with Troy bringing in just shy of $500 million from the box office.

It certainly helped keep Bloom’s name in the public consciousness for big blockbusters during that period and likely played a part in him getting his first major starring role in Kingdom of Heaven the following year.

However, perhaps it was Orlando Bloom’s stint on Troy that spurred him to move beyond the action movie genre after he finished up obligations with the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. After 2007, Bloom branched out a lot from the roles he had become known for, wielding swords and bows.

He began experimenting with smaller films in more modern settings, like Sympathy for the Delicious, and The Good Doctor. However, these movies did not match the same financial success he had seen in his previous roles.

Bloom returned to the fantasy action genre years later, reprising his role as Legolas for Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies and even playing Will Turner once more as a cameo in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film. It is unlikely there will ever be a sequel or prequel to Troy, but if Orlando Bloom’s recent comments hold true, it is hard to imagine he would be eager to sign up for anything else Troy-related.

Orlando Bloom is not the only one who does not have entirely fond memories of working on the set of Troy. Diane Kruger played the character of Queen Helen, and in the past, she had called the set a circus due to all the paparazzi attention. Brad Pitt was at the height of his popularity at the time, so paparazzi were flying helicopters over the set to try and get a picture of the A-lister.

Krueger noted how the whole process upset her a lot, but Pitt consoled her and let her know she was doing well. It would be interesting to hear what words Pitt would have had for Bloom if he had also known the latter’s struggles.

Source: Variety