Rome-related slash frustrations resolved
Enough with the serious analysis, let me indulge in shallowness for this entry. Now, more than a year ago, when I looked back on two seasons of Rome, the HBO series, I mentioned as an aside that while I see the heart of the show in the bond between odd couple Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus as much as the next fangirl, and definitely think they come to love each other deeply, I just can't see it as anything but fraternal love, as their scenes lack any kind of sexual vibe in the eyes of this spectator. Whereas I do see the slash in basically each and every scene Vorenus has with Marc Antony. Alas, I am in a distinct minority in this regard, if fanfic is anything to go by, as there only about two Vorenus/Antony stories in existence, set very early on the show before any of the interesting characterisation I found inspiring has happened. (If you ask me, Egypt would be the obvious location, but hey.)
HOWEVER. Recently I got out my Rome dvds and listened to some of the audio commentaries. Kevin McKidd (aka Vorenus) does the one for the first season episode Spoils, Lindsay Duncan and the director do the one for season 2's Death Mask, and James Purefoy does the one for the last but one s2 episode Not even a god can stop a hungry man. Of the three actors, Purefoy is the one best read on the historical background of the show; I was delighted he mentioned the anecdote from Plutarch's Life of Antony I always thought was one of the best, about Antony and Cleopatra going fishing, Antony having a bad day at fishing and hence ordering a slave to secretly attach fish under water, Cleopatra deducing this and sending a slave of her own to attach boiled fish instead, which when Antony pulled it out revealed the game but made him laugh as well. Purefoy also makes a crack about the "stunted growth" of the Vorenii kids who in the 20 odd years that pass between the end of the Gallic War and Actium age only about four years (which I think is almost literally a comment vaznetti made in her reviews), and says he always especially looked forward to his scenes with Kevin McKidd, praising him as a generous actor who always brought several layers to those scenes. The director-and-Lindsay Duncan commentary rapidly falls silent once Servilia is dead because they become caught up in the episode, and before deals with the actual filming. The Kevin McKidd commentary has a lot of thought about Vorenus' and Pullos' arcs (they both hit rock bottom in The Spoils but in different ways, Pullo outwardly and Vorenus inwardly, until the climax of the episode, etc.) but also some fun anecdotes from filming (in the scene where Vorenus is with Caesar and Antony in the Senate, he, Ciaran Hinds and James Purefoy had "a girly argument" about who had the prettiest toga, and McKidd won)...and the following background info. "Some years ago, in a film called Bedrooms and Hallways, I played a gay man who falls in love with a straight man who eventually loves him back. The straight guy was James Purefoy. So I have kissed James Purefoy. It was a pleasant experience."
Apparantly, someone with access to YouTube shared my reaction to hearing this news and uploaded the pleasant experience. Voilà:
HOWEVER. Recently I got out my Rome dvds and listened to some of the audio commentaries. Kevin McKidd (aka Vorenus) does the one for the first season episode Spoils, Lindsay Duncan and the director do the one for season 2's Death Mask, and James Purefoy does the one for the last but one s2 episode Not even a god can stop a hungry man. Of the three actors, Purefoy is the one best read on the historical background of the show; I was delighted he mentioned the anecdote from Plutarch's Life of Antony I always thought was one of the best, about Antony and Cleopatra going fishing, Antony having a bad day at fishing and hence ordering a slave to secretly attach fish under water, Cleopatra deducing this and sending a slave of her own to attach boiled fish instead, which when Antony pulled it out revealed the game but made him laugh as well. Purefoy also makes a crack about the "stunted growth" of the Vorenii kids who in the 20 odd years that pass between the end of the Gallic War and Actium age only about four years (which I think is almost literally a comment vaznetti made in her reviews), and says he always especially looked forward to his scenes with Kevin McKidd, praising him as a generous actor who always brought several layers to those scenes. The director-and-Lindsay Duncan commentary rapidly falls silent once Servilia is dead because they become caught up in the episode, and before deals with the actual filming. The Kevin McKidd commentary has a lot of thought about Vorenus' and Pullos' arcs (they both hit rock bottom in The Spoils but in different ways, Pullo outwardly and Vorenus inwardly, until the climax of the episode, etc.) but also some fun anecdotes from filming (in the scene where Vorenus is with Caesar and Antony in the Senate, he, Ciaran Hinds and James Purefoy had "a girly argument" about who had the prettiest toga, and McKidd won)...and the following background info. "Some years ago, in a film called Bedrooms and Hallways, I played a gay man who falls in love with a straight man who eventually loves him back. The straight guy was James Purefoy. So I have kissed James Purefoy. It was a pleasant experience."
Apparantly, someone with access to YouTube shared my reaction to hearing this news and uploaded the pleasant experience. Voilà:
Click to view