By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Brad Pitt is, without a doubt, one of the biggest movie stars in the world. One of the reasons he grew so popular is that he (a character actor stuck in a leading man’s body) took on so many different types of movies. He had already dominated the ‘90s with very different roles in breakout films like Seven, 12 Monkeys, and Fight Club. Heading into the early aughts, he kept the momentum going with movies like Ocean’s Eleven and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Between those last two films, though, he headlined a largely forgotten blockbuster: Troy.
This 2004 film was a huge deal at the time. Not only did it star big names like Pitt, Sean Bean, Eric Bana, and Orlando Bloom, but it was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the mastermind behind hits such as The NeverEnding Story and Air Force One. However, this huge production ground to a halt for six weeks due to the most ironic injury in film history. You see, he managed to get injured in literally the only place that his onscreen character was vulnerable: his Achilles’ heel
Blessed By The Gods
If you slept your way through English back in high school, you may need a little context for this mythic movie tale. In Greek mythology, Achilles was an accomplished warrior born to a goddess, Thetis. There are multiple myths about Thetis attempting to make her son immortal. The most popular is that she held him in the river Styx, and everything the water touched became immortal. But she held him by the ankle, which was still mortal and, therefore, left his heel vulnerable. Eventually, he is shot in the heel and ultimately killed by Paris, the man who started the Trojan War by stealing Helen.
In case you never knew, that’s where the expression “Achilles’ heel” comes from. Colloquially, this term is typically used to describe a single vulnerability (often a hidden or surprising one) on someone who otherwise seems impossible to defeat. The film Troy takes great liberties with many aspects of Greek mythology, but it keeps most of the biggest ones in place. For example, Brad Pitt’s Achilles is presented as a warrior who seemingly cannot be beaten on the battlefield. However, he is ultimately defeated after Paris fires a skillful arrow shot directly into this demigod’s heel. Long before they filmed that scene, however, Brad Pitt ground production to a halt due to his own unexpected weakness.
Life Imitates Art
After training for six months to get into demigod shape for Troy, Brad Pitt was happy to do many of his own stunts. In fact, his epic onscreen duel with Eric Bana was filmed without the use of any stunt doubles. Normally, this is a good thing; a sign that the actor is taking a role very seriously and wants to give every scene a personal touch. Unfortunately, during one of his stunts, Pitt actually injured his own Achilles tendon. It took him time to heal, and production of this $175 million movie stopped entirely while he recovered.
Looking back on the incident, Pitt had a sense of humor, saying that he injured his Achilles heel “in a bout of stupid irony.” Director Wolfgang Petersen was reportedly far less happy. Any delay of a blockbuster production schedule is bad, and production had previously been delayed when a hurricane destroyed many of the film’s props. It’s easy to sympathize with an acclaimed filmmaker having to deal with these delays, but he really should have seen it coming. After all, who would know better than the director of Troy how casually cruel the gods can be?
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