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01.08.2007 | KEVIN MCKIDD AND RAY STEVENSON, THE ODD COUPLE OF HBO'S EPIC EMMY®-WINNING DRAMA SERIES ROME, TRADE PLACES WHEN THE SECOND SEASON KICKS OFF JAN. 14
For the second season of the Emmy®-winning HBO series ROME, the behind-the-scenes creative team encountered different challenges than the ones that faced them in the first season. This time around, it wasn't necessary to build an entire ancient world from scratch - much of the five-acre set at Rome Cinecitta's Studios could be reused and repurposed, as could the thousands of pieces of wardrobe and props. There were more subtle concerns for season two, including refreshing the look of sets and wardrobe to reflect the passing of time, creating new sets for new storylines and continuing to look for innovative new ways to capture the feel of Rome in a time of relentless change.
For the first season, Billy Budd, a former British Royal Marine of 15 years, signed on as the military advisor. Coming to ROME with a resume that included similar duties on such projects as "Saving Private Ryan," HBO's "Band of Brothers," "Alexander" and "Kingdom of Heaven," Budd put dozens of Italian extras through a two-week boot camp to teach them how to act like soldiers, as well as working closely with the lead actors to school them in authentic techniques.
"We didn't have to conduct another boot camp this time," notes Budd, who adds that many of the current extras are alumni of the first season. "We spent about five days with the new actors. Every day they went to the gym and then spent time with me and with the sword master. If an actor is playing a soldier, you have to know how to hold a weapon."
One of the keys to portraying an officer effectively, says Budd, is presentation. "It's about how they carry themselves, their bearing," he observes. "When to raise your voice, when not to raise your voice. We trained them in costume every day to get used to it - there's nothing worse than an actor rehearsing in a track suit!"
Budd adds that he's as much a motivational trainer as a military instructor when working with actors who play leaders. "It's about building natural leadership skills. I don't want to shout at people all day long; I want to praise them. In my 15 years in the marines, some of the strongest leaders I encountered were the quiet ones."
Production designer Anthony Pratt, a newcomer to the ROME crew, succeeds Joseph Bennett, who received an Emmy® for his work on the first season of the series. "It's been great fun," says Pratt, whose previous credits include HBO's "Band of Brothers," the feature-film version of Andrew Lloyd Weber's "The Phantom of the Opera," and such Neil Jordan films as "The Butcher Boy" and "Michael Collins."
Notes Pratt, "I didn't have to start from a blank sheet of paper they way Joseph Bennett did the first season. That would have been quite daunting." But there was still plenty to do, he adds. "The Roman Forum is not as prominent in the second season, and we needed an alternative center for much of the action. I created an indoor and an outdoor set for the Aventine Collegium, which is the scary neighborhood, the bad part of town where the gangs live."
Among Pratt's other major creations is the Jewish section of Rome, reflecting the increased importance of monotheism in the show's second season. "We took an existing street and turned it into the Jewish quarter, as well as adapting a Roman temple for a synagogue." In addition, he adds, "Because the previous one was no longer available, I created a new Egyptian set for Cleopatra" - whose story comes to the fore in the second half of the season — "and used lots of the color gold."
While Pratt relies on extensive research in preparing his sets, he stresses the importance of achieving the correct feeling, favoring authenticity over accuracy, rather than rote adherence to period detail. "I will look in various places for guidance, but ultimately we try to get something that suits the dramatic theme. I feel like it's turned out well," says the soft-spoken Pratt. "I'm very keen on seeing the new shows myself!"
Costume designer April Ferry, who took home an Emmy® for her contributions to the first season, had a head start when she returned to work on the new episodes of ROME. "I've continued on with what we started last year," observes Ferry, whose work on the feature film "Maverick" previously brought her an Oscar® nomination. "Because all these costumes were previously worn, I think they look more real this time.
"Last year we made 4,000 costumes and many of them have been re-dyed and re-trimmed and used in different ways for the new season, although I always start from scratch with the principal characters. Many of them are rich people who wouldn't be wearing the same clothes year after year. In addition, we started out last season with 750 pairs of shoes and we've added a couple of hundred more this year."
Ferry is more than just the costume designer on the show. She's also a fan of the series and the era it depicts. "I never stop researching. I'm reading a book on Julius Caesar right now, even though he's no longer in the story.
"I'm hooked on the show," concludes Ferry. "Every time a character dies, I'm weeping!"
Returning set dresser Cristina Onori follows up her Emmy®-winning work on the first season of ROME by tweaking and updating existing sets to reflect the passage of time, as well as fashioning new settings where required by the plot. "This a really big production, and it can sometimes feel a little crazy, but it's more fun this season," she says. "We've got a lot more experience now, and we've done extensive research already, so we feel like we can add different things. It's still a lot of work, but we're enjoying it more now."
Among Onori's new assignments is dressing the new set for Cleopatra. "I try to reflect the personal side of the characters and show how they lived closer to the natural world than we do in the Western society today. In Cleopatra's case, we created a throne room that was more like what you might call a lounge today and a little less exotic than some of the movies about her." Color is a key part of her work, she adds, noting that the Cleopatra set features "a lot of gold. It's a very rich setting."
Notes Onori, "I am a perfectionist, so the first thing I see when I look at a scene is something that's not perfect. But I feel very proud of the job we've done here."
Last September, ROME received four Emmy® awards, the most of any HBO series, including: Outstanding Costumes for a Series, Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series, Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, and Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.
HBO's Emmy®-winning epic drama series ROME kicks off its ten-episode second season SUNDAY, JAN. 14 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.
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