‘Troy’ Cast Then and Now, 20 Years After the Brad Pitt Epic Premiered
Twenty years ago, Troy and its cast made their mark on epic filmmaking. Director Wolfgang Petersen’s take on Homer’s Iliad featured an ensemble cast led by Brad Pitt and created a wildly entertaining, if not entirely accurate, movie.
Working from a script by future Games of Thrones showrunner David Benioff, the Troy cast brought to life legends like Achilles, Helen of Troy, and Hector. Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, and Diane Kruger were among those who joined Pitt in the impressive cast. While many of the actors haven’t made another film on Troy‘s scale, they continue to perform in blockbuster movies 20 years later.
Brad Pitt
A 40-year-old Brad Pitt starred as the de facto lead of the Troy cast as the hero Achilles. However, as Pitt admitted in 2019, he didn’t want any part of Troy.
“I had to do Troy because – I guess I can say all this now – I pulled out of another movie and then had to do something for the studio,” he told the New York Times. “So I was put in Troy. It wasn’t painful, but I realized that the way that movie was being told was not how I wanted it to be.“
Obviously, it didn’t have any adverse effects on Pitt’s career. After winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2019, he co-stars with George Clooney in 2024’s Wolfs.
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom was 27 and at the height of his fame when he was given the role of Paris in Troy. He’d made a name for himself with the Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings franchises. It may not be his favorite part, but at least he avoided major injury (unlike his co-stars).
In 2024, Bloom starred in the action thriller Red Right Hand. He also leads the Peacock series Orlando Bloom: To the Edge, where he explores the world and performs death-defying stunts.
Eric Bana
Troy is sandwiched between Hulk and Munich in Eric Bana’s filmography. The Australian actor’s role as Hector is another example of how Petersen’s epic managed to cast every part perfectly. Bana was 36 when he went head-to-head with Brad Pitt.
Bana returned to his role as Aaron Falk in 2024’s Force of Nature: The Dry 2, an Australian mystery thriller. Bana also stars in A Sacrifice, based on Nicholas Hogg’s 2015 novel Tokyo.
