Peacock is releasing a new Gladiator TV show called Those About to Die before Paramount Pictures' highly anticipated Gladiator 2, and it's even getting plenty of comparisons to HBO’s Game of Thrones as well.
The show takes place in Rome's First-Century imperial era and follows the shady underbelly of the iconic ancient empire and how they worked to keep the masses entertained through gladiatorial bloodshed or brutal horse carriage races.
The project is truly an epic in every sense of the word. While it may not have dragons, there are dozens of interesting characters, a handful of squabbling factions, consistent backstabbing, and more.
Gladiator Fans Will Enjoy Peacock's Those About To Die
In an exclusive interview with The Direct's Russ Milheim, the cast of Those About to Die spoke about their upcoming ancient Roman epic on Peacock, its exciting action scenes, and the comparisons to Game of Thrones.
The first topic on hand was all the Gladiator sequences the show has in store for audiences, which should give viewers a good fill as they wait for Gladiator 2 to hit theaters.
Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, who plays Moe, shared how those scenes took "a lot of training" and that "it was a great time:"
"[It was] a lot of training with the stunt guys that are so good at what they do. And it's all choreography. So, you have to sort of condition your body to learn the movements. It was a great time we had with those guys."
Moe Hashim, the man behind Kwame in Those About to Die, added that they did not have stuntmen doing their action sequences for them:
"One thing that I want the viewers to understand when they watch this is not to think that we had stuntmen who kind of did our action sequences for us. [Producer] Roland [Emmerich] doesn't like doubles. He likes his actors to be the ones actually doing the action sequences, even when it comes to rehearsals, because it just gives him a better understanding of how he wants things to be filmed. So it was a lot of work physically. But also just preparation... a lot of preparation, and we hope it comes across on the show."
Those About to Die is undeniably epic in scale, leading many to compare it to something like Game of Thrones, despite Peacock's new show leaning closer to the side of non-fiction.
Jóhannesson is flattered by the comparison, noting how the former HBO series "is one of the greater shows ever:"
"Well, 'Game of Thrones' is one of the greatest shows ever. So that is a great comparison... This is more rooted in sort of reality and history. It's not a fairy tale. There's no magic, and we're dealing with our society that was there 2000 years ago, and we're diving into the underbelly of Rome, which is, to me really exciting and interesting."
Hashim admitted he gets "a bit awkward-ish" when such big comparisons are made but that he does feel like more "people can grasp" what's happening in Those About to Die due to it being closer to reality than Game of Thrones:
"For me, whenever I hear someone mention 'Game of Thrones,' for example, I get a bit awkward-ish because 'Game of Thrones' is such a huge show to be in comparison with. But with our show, of course, 'Game of Thrones' has, you know, dragons and stuff... But the story that we're telling in 'Those About to Die' are kind of like true stories and how things did run in the underbelly and behind the scenes of Rome, which people can grasp onto a bit more than 'Game of Thrones' because it's like, 'Oh, this is actually what really happened.'"
"It's very different," Those of us About to Die star Gabriella Pession (who plays Antonia) explained. Though she thinks "the comparison comes because it's such an epic world:"
"People bring it up, but it's very different. 'Game of Thrones' is based on a novel, first of all, so you have like writing that existed before the script. ['Those About to Die'] was really like a new show. Obviously, it's based on nonfictional [events]... But it's totally new storytelling. So, I don't think you can really make a comparison. I think the comparison comes because it's such an epic world. And because the gallery of characters is so vast, there are so many characters that kind of interfere with one another and corrupt one another, so that's similar. But I think they're two very different shows."
Dimitri Leonidas, who plays the competitive Scorpus, shared that what appeals to him about ancient Rome is how "it does feel a little bit like fantasy" simply due to it being "not how we live today:"
The actor went on to describe Those About to Die as "grounded, but it's levitating a little bit:"
"I've been watching 'House of Dragons,' and it's not--sometimes the dragons are the cool bit, but sometimes for me, just watching them, the ritual of waking up and having a certain room they go to worship or just the day to day differences that because it's 2000 years ago, it's not fantasy, it's real, but it's so removed from how we do... it's almost fantasy. It's grounded, but it's levitating a little bit is how I described it."
As for what his favorite moment on the production was, Leonidas shared how he was blown away when visiting "the original Circus Maximus and walking around the track:"
"My favorite moment, slightly away from the show, was being in Rome, going to the original Circus Maximus, and walking around the track. And thinking like, if you just go back 2000 years, at a certain point, Scorpus and his rivals would have been here in this very spot, riding around this track. That was quite strange and an odd thought when you're sort of playing this character… I thought that was quite cool. It's rare that you get to have such a timescale as 2000 years…"
For Pession, one of her favorite parts about bringing the time period to life was experiencing what the ancient Roman people might have lived like in their own homes:
"For me... it's like… how do they live as people? So, the beauty of the place with this pond in the middle of the house, these pillars, beautiful gardens, this beautiful light… First of all, another very interesting thing: the Romans never had a white wall. I just moved into my new house [and] besides this [one new] wall… everything else in the house is white. Because I love Parisian houses, they're very white. For the Romans, [that] would have been like putting a white canvas on the wall. So their houses were completely a blast of colors."
"That was like immersing myself into a totally different world on how they lived daily," the actress exclaimed:
"That was like immersing myself into a totally different world on how they lived daily. It was very interesting. They had like a portable stove because they moved where they were cooking and their bedrooms were very very dark and painted very dark because it was just to sleep... And then they had... the usual chair where they sat and talk and eat the fruit... because they just... relaxed in there."
All episodes of Those About to Die Season 1 hit Peacock on July 18.
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