Immortals

Eons after the Gods won their mythic struggle against the Titans, a new evil threatens the land. Mad with power, King Hyperion has declared war against humanity. Amassing a bloodthirsty army of soldiers disfigured by his own hand, Hyperion has scorched Greece in search of the legendary Epirus Bow, a weapon of unimaginable power forged in the heavens by Ares. Only he who possesses this bow can unleash the Titans, who have been imprisoned deep within the walls of Mount Tartaros since the dawn of time and thirst for revenge. In the king’s hands, the bow would rain destruction upon mankind and annihilate the Gods. But ancient law dictates the Gods must not intervene in man’s conflict. They remain powerless to stop Hyperion…until a peasant named Theseus comes forth as their only hope. Secretly chosen by Zeus, Theseus must save his people from Hyperion and his hordes. Rallying a band of fellow outsiders–including visionary priestess Phaedra and cunning slave Stavros — one hero will lead the uprising, or watch his homeland fall into ruin and his Gods vanish into legend.

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Production Notes and Cast Quotes

Producer Mark Canton knew they’d found their Phaedra in Pinto, who at the time was a young Indian actress who had just made her film debut in the Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. “It was time for her to step up and be a real movie star,” he says. “She’s phenomenal looking. She’s very dedicated and a real professional. She felt like the most natural part of the movie for us. There was no question that we wanted Freida Pinto.” Co-produver Gianni Nunnari agrees: “There are certain actors or actresses that grow within the time of the shooting and that was Freida,” says the producer.

Pinto’s striking beauty and otherworldly air won director Tarsem Singh’s immediate approval. “Phaedra needed to be exotic compared to most of the people in her world,” says Singh. “People might expect that because it’s a Greek film, she would be Greek, but that’s not what I envisioned. When I met Freida I just said, she’s it.”

Pinto had been a fan of Singh’s since seeing his 2006 fantasy, The Fall. “I was impressed by the way it appealed to all the senses,” she says. “I thought this film had the potential to do the same. When I first met him, I did not know what to expect. He explained the reason behind doing this film, what he expected the film to look like, and what was expected of me and the other actors. It all sounded larger-than-life and fantastical. I really wanted to be part of it.”

Phaedra has lived all of her life in the company of her fellow priestesses and is reputed to have an especially strong gift for clairvoyance. But her visions, while accurate, are ambiguous. “It’s a very disturbing experience for her, because she dsn’t know exactly what will happen,” explains Pinto. “She first sees Theseus in a vision, but she dsn’t know who this person is. He is holding the emperor’s belt, which means he could be the savior. But she dsn’t completely trust him, because she dsn’t know what the vision really means. It’s only as things progress that she begins to believe he is going to save the people.”

For her first big studio film Pinto says she feels lucky to have had Singh to guide her. “Tarsem is one of the most encouraging directors you will ever meet,” she says. “Working on a big-budget project like this, time is literally money, but he was always patient and open to suggestions. When you work on a film like this, the emotions that you go through are so explosive. I’m just so excited, and that’s exactly what I want the audience to feel.”

The Japanese costume designer, Eiko Ishioka, who studied design and art before she started working in film, says she approached the costume design for Immortals as a creative collaboration set in a fantasy world. But she realized that her flights of fancy needed to be based in physical reality and enjoyed collaborating with the actors to make her ideas work in a practical sense. “During the fitting process, my ideas are pretty crazy,” she says. “To make sure the costumes are functional, I ask the actors for help. I feel the actor and designer should collaborate.”

Freida Pinto found the process exhilarating and ultimately essential to the creation of her character. “Eiko designed these beautiful costumes for everybody,” says Pinto. “But it took some effort to make them your second skin. You had to maintain a certain posture in order to make them look that beautiful at all times, but they were essential to taking the film into that larger-than-life realm. I wear this amazing red corset with a sheer red skirt and a black veil. When I put it on, I felt it against my skin and I was very confident about it. There was nothing vulgar about it. It was revealing in the right spots and just the way it needed to be. Her idea of female sexuality and sensuality is so beautiful.”