HOLLYWOOD’S MOST BOMBASTIC DIRECTOR MAKES HIS TV DEBUT WITH THE EPIC THOSE ABOUT TO DIE
“THE ROMAN ENTERTAINMENTS make Vegas look like nothing,” states Robert Rodat, creator of epic new show Those About To Die. “There has never been anything in history in which the size, scale, scope and allocation of resources has come even close. So it’s a marriage made in heaven: the grand entertainments and Roland Emmerich.”
Over the course of his career, Emmerich has rebuilt the pyramids (twice), blown up the White House (twice), and ended the world (three times). He doesn’t just bust blocks. He obliterates them. So it should come as no surprise that his first directorial venture into prestige TV should focus on how one of history’s most powerful civilisations entertained the masses —with thrilling chariot races at the Circus Maximus, and brutal combat at the Colosseum.
“I had the feeling you could only tell the story of Rome through sports,” says Emmerich, who was inspired by historian Daniel P. Mannix’s 1974 book Those About To Die. “I constantly said that during the writing process: ‘More sports!’”
Of course, this being Ancient Rome — specifically the last days of Emperor Vespasian (Anthony Hopkins) in 79 CE —these are sports in which the contenders can, and often do, die horribly. Given the show’s scale, setting and foregrounding of violence and sex (not to mention the casting of Iwan ‘Ramsey Bolton’ Rheon as an ambitious race-fixing crime boss), an obvious comparison springs to Empire’s mind… “Game Of Thrones is my favourite TV show,” confirms Emmerich. “I’m definitely a student of that work.”
Using a combination of Roman sets in Italy’s Cinecittà World theme park (where Emmerich raced real horse-drawn chariots) and a huge virtual stage, his production spanned a 228-day shoot and cost about the same as one of his blockbusters. “Our budget is g
