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| Louis de Berniers 'Captain
Corelli's Mandolin' was set and shot on the
island of Kefalonia. |
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Photo by N. Dessylas
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| Opening scenes from Lara
Croft Tomb Raider were filmed on the idyllic
island of Santorini. |
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Photo
by N. Kontos
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By Zia
Morales
Artists have fallen under the Grecian
spell before, and moviemakers are no exception.
Award-winning cinematographer Christopher Doyle
once said "Greek light is unique the world
over". And, during the last few years, the
world has been happy to bask in its rays. Storming
cineplexes in 2004 was an army of ‘Sword and
Sandal’ epics, which cast Ancient Greece in
a starring role. With stunning locales, an epic
history and a rich cultural heritage, there is no
bigger star than the Cradle of Western Civilization.
And with cameras zooming in on Hellas like never
before, Hollywood has pulled off the ultimate casting
coup.
The buzz may have reached a crescendo
in recent years, but Greece is no starlet gearing
up for her 15 minutes of fame. In terms of credentials,
the country is a bona fide Hollywood classic. Greece’s
unique landscape of sun-kissed beaches, dazzling
sunsets and stark cliffs has been stealing scenes
since the 1960s.
A reel
classic
In the war adventure The Guns of
Navarone, a powerhouse cast including Gregory Peck
and David Niven sabotage the German war arsenal
in the Mediterranean. The island is named Navarone,
but the thrilling exploits actually unfold against
the stunning backdrop of Rhodes, now a popular holiday
destination.
Shot in the aquamarine depths surrounding
the islands of Amorgos and Koufonissia, Luc Besson’s
Big Blue heated up the screens with a tale of two
divers battling for the world championship. And
in For Your Eyes Only, James Bond chased adventure
and intrigue amidst the smooth stone summits of
Meteora.
The larger-than-life quality of the
Greek experience has also captured the heart of
many a screenwriter. The romance of island living,
the dramas weaving through labyrinthine Athens,
the buoyant bouzouki melodies that stir tavern crowds
to their feet – all of this is fertile ground
for a writer’s imagination.
Showcasing the exotic allure of the
Greek islands, British flick Shirley Valentine tracks
an 80s-era desperate housewife whose resort vacation
brings on a life change. "I’ve fallen
in love with the idea of living," she declares,
as she finds romance – and a second shot at
youthful abandon - with a local named Costas Caldes
on the bronze sandbars of the Aegean.
Golden
Age
There is more to Greece than the
remote Old World, and in the 1960s, some of the
best it had to offer was immortalized on screen.
Hellenic cinema entered its golden age in that decade,
with films about con men hatching heists in the
streets of Athens, and unlikely friendships being
forged in the dusty villages of Crete. Films that
were born and bred in Greece grabbed the attention
of international cineastes, headlined glittery premieres
at Cannes and won raves at the Oscars. The bedrock
of civilization gained kudos as a hotbed of talent.
Greek actress Melina Mercouri lit up the screen
with her electric charm. Composer Manos Hatzidakis
had people around the world humming to his Oscar
winning song, Never on a Sunday.
One of the vanguards of Greek cinema’s
foray into Hollywood was Michael Cacoyannis, who
was at the helm of multi-awarded classics like Stella
and The Trojan Women. His biggest hit, 1964’s
Zorba the Greek, made thousands of movie-goers fall
in love with the Greek zest for life. Based on Nikos
Kazantzakis’ novel, the film follows the adventures
of a British writer who moves to Crete and learns
lessons in life and love from an earthy peasant
named Zorba, played by Anthony Quinn. This much-loved
classic clinched seven Oscar nominations and brought
home three statuettes.
American director Jules Dassin continued
Greece’s championship run. Following his marriage
to Greek actress and cultural ambassador Melina
Mercouri, Dassin set up shop in Athens and began
rolling out movies. Among the fruits of their partnership
was the crime caper Topkapi, about a small-time
Athens crook who gets embroiled in a plot to smuggle
jewels out of Istanbul’s Topkapi Museum.
Never on a Sunday, which scored five
Academy Award nominations and won one for best song,
had stuffy American intellectual Homer Thrace following
Aristotle’s footsteps in his quest for truth.
He finds it in the bustling port town of Pireaus,
with a prostitute he is keen to introduce to loftier
pursuits.
In vogue
Hollywood, the foremost arbiter of
what is hot, was and still is leading the bandwagon.
Over the last few years a Greek craze has had pop
culture in thrall. People could not get enough of
Greece - models sashayed down the runways in toga-inspired
fashions, the figure-conscious went on Mediterranean
diets, and Greek all-natural cosmetics made a splash
on the beauty pages.
And today Greece is still scorching on the silver
screen. The camera crews and klieg lights are returning
to paradise. Tomb Raider 2 featured an underwater
temple that was submerged in Santorini’s breathtaking
caldera. In the final scene of The Bourne Identity,
the fugitive spy escapes to the breezy party-island
of Mykonos.
Popular culture’s mythmakers
have also been turning to Greece for source material.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, a star-crossed
affair between a Greek village girl and an Italian
soldier, blooms during the Italian Occupation of
Greece. To this day, waves of tourists (and paparazzi
magnets like Madonna) descend on bustling Kefalonia,
only to end up falling in love with the idyllic
town that nurtured Corelli and Pelagia’s romance.
Starstruck fans can still relax with a cappucino
at one of the Corelli Cafes in the port town of
Sami, where much of the filming took place.
Producer Tom Hanks (who is married
to Greek-American Rita Wilson) took a gamble on
a script about a big, fat, Greek wedding and got
big, fat returns at the box office. My Big Fat Greek
Wedding won-over audiences with its affectionately
comic look at a Greek American’s attempts to
bridge the gap between her gyro-loving family and
vegetarian fiancé. Quirky fathers, Mediterranean
feasts, family gatherings turbo-charged with passion
and warmth – a heady Greek mix. Ian Miller
could not resist the lure of his fiancé’s
wacky Greek family, and neither could the audiences
who made it a surprise blockbuster.
Swords,
sandals and skirts
When Troy premiered in 2004, director
Wolfgang Petersen declared that men in skirts were
back. He was referring to his adaptation of Homer’s
Iliad, a brawny take on the Trojan War. Troy led
the onslaught of the Ancient World comeback with
its big budget take on the war between the Greeks
and the Trojans. Starring Brad Pitt as the immortal
Greek hero Achilles, the film pulled in blockbuster
audiences. Homer’s hometown crowd was less
enthusiastic. Intensely proud and possessive of
their classics, Greeks were dismayed by how unfaithful
the film was to Homer’s masterwork - Gods that
ruled in the Iliad were nudged out of the drama
and the decade long war was reduced to a whirlwind
three-week skirmish.
Oliver Stone’s Alexander fared
little better. The conqueror who built one of the
world’s greatest empires inspires rabid devotion
in his descendants. Stores in the tourist quarter
of Plaka teem with his marble busts and Alexander-inspired
nick-knacks. The inaccuracies that riddled the script,
which was written with Hellenic Studies expert Professor
Robin Lane Fox on board, also rankled Greek audiences.
The Battle at Gaugamela, while bombastically staged,
wrongly showed Darius’ troops as turbaned and
disorganized.
Still, Ancient Greece continues to
inspire celluloid mythmakers. Swords will be drawn
once more for a film inspired by Leonidas and his
history-making stand at Thermopylae. Based on Steven
Pressfield’s Gates of Fire, George Clooney
and Bruce Willis are pegged to star. Greek film
is enjoying a resurgence.
Brides, a Martin Scorsese-produced
period drama about Greek women who were shipped
off to arranged marriages in the new world, was
recently in theatres. And once again, Greek talent
is raring to make a go of it internationally. As
famous Greek actor Constantinos Markoulakis explains
"Greeks love Greece. Everybody loves Greece,
and [visitors] usually don’t want to leave.
My generation is the first in recent years to start
thinking that we might have other possibilities."
Emboldened by the possibilities his white-hot home
country has ignited, he himself is off to the United
States.
Tinsel-town
and tourism
If the Greek National Tourism Organization
can help it, the cameras will not stop rolling for
Greece anytime soon. Hollywood speaks an international
language, and the GNTO is looking to win tourists
through the silver screen. Greek Minister of Tourism
Dimitris Avramapolous was in Los Angeles recently
to pitch Greece to Hollywood producers. At a Beverly
Hills Hotel cocktail party, Avramopolous met with
movers and shakers like Oscar-winner Alexander Payne
(a Greek-American and regular visitor to Greece,
he has expressed interest in making a film in his
ancestral country) and 20th Century Fox President
Jimmy Giannopoulos.
Also hot on the agenda of his tinsel
town trip was the upcoming Gates of fire. The Hollywood
adventure may get a jolt of authenticity –
discussions are underway to have the filming done
in Greece.
Producers in the past have been put
off by the high rate of the euro, the lack of infrastructure
and studio facilities, and the red-tape that trips
up film shoots. As Markoulakis observes: "I
don’t know exactly why they [Hollywood] are
not coming here, but I think we are not giving them
a good reason to come and shoot the film in Greece".
But all that is ancient history. The Greek government
has made moves to transform the holiday hot spot
into a prime shooting destination.
Leading the effort is the newly established
Greek Film Commission, which has mounted an aggressive
campaign to court foreign productions. Their first
order of business? To streamline the muddled and
complicated bureaucracy that tripped up movie shoots
in the past.
As the new one-stop shop for handling
all foreign production requirements, the Greek Film
Commission has made it easier than ever to capture
Greece’s stunning vistas on camera. And a handy
new guide to filming in Greece puts Hollywood crews
in touch with a pool of skilled local talent. The
‘Shooting in Greece’ guide, which was
launched in Los Angeles, details relevant services,
authorities and contacts. The commission is also
making recommendations on legal reforms regarding
VAT rebates, subsidies and tax breaks to lure foreign
producers with financial incentives.
Greece is ready for her close-up like never before.
And with its diversity of landscapes, vibrantly
sunny weather and a deep pool of Greek talent to
draw from, Hollywood is set to continue living –
and creating – its myths in Greece. As for
the legions of starstruck fans? No doubt they will
be doing the same.
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Greece 
