At least Eric Bana looks whatever part he´s given. He´s half-Croatian...

Even more ridiculous than Brad Pitt playing Achilles is Peter O´Toole playing Priamus (I presume?).

If they wanted to show some ancient Greeks were blond they should of picked some blond Greek actors and actresses such as John Aniston( Jenifer Anniston's Father).

Jennifer Aniston should play the role of ATHENA or Helen.Olympia Dukakis HERA.Sylvester Stallone could have played one of the Achean heros since his features are GRECO ROMAN.

The roles should of been played by only peoples Greek or Italian decent with Grecoroman features.

I think we are looking to much into this. It probably has less to do with a deliberate attempt to "nordicize" than with the fact that the vast majority of Hollywood actors/stars are of a "nordic" type and the majority of the main audience (the U.S.) is the same way.

It would be nice to have more Greek actors but I don't even think there is enough of them.

Regarding a slightly different aspect of the Trojan War, the detailed geography of the place -- Homer's account and Strabo's surmises have apparently been confirmed:

"Geologists show Homer got it right: Trojan geography in Homer's Iliad matches sediment record of Dardanelles coastline."

http://www.nature.com/nsu/030127/030127-4.html

>> It probably has less to do with a deliberate attempt to "nordicize" than with the fact that the vast majority of Hollywood actors/stars are of a "nordic" type and the majority of the main audience (the U.S.) is the same way.

The "nordic" type is the minority both of the white US population and of Hollywood. Of course, there are not enough Greek actors to fill the roles in a production of these size, but if they could find room for a Turk and a Negro in their cast, I think they could at least find one Greek-LOOKING individual.

Hmmm,

I guess I was too specific when I said "nordic". Would WASP qualify?

Is this more accurate?

Usually these productions have at least one "token" Greek though (Like Irene Pappas in the made for T.V. "The Odyssey".

I've heard the theory that the Irish are considered to be "the lost remnant of Troy". I'm not saying that I buy that, but certainly there is the possibility that the Greeks of today are not identical in physical appearance/coloring to the Trojans of ancient history. Time = migrations = changing genotypes = changing phenotypes. This is not to deny the importance of maintaing a cultural heritage. It is simply to suggest that we idealize our heroes of the mythic past, and part of that idealization is the belief that they looked like the modern carriers of ancient myth and tradition. I'd like to label this the myth of "phenotypic continuity".
But we are dealing with Hollywood, and Hollywood promotes the values of American society, despite its political mandate to embrace racial and ethnic diversity (which it often does in a cynical and trite fashion). Within the context of the myth of phenotypic continuity, old money America (those who still run the show) identifies itself with a Greco-Roman tradition (our founding fathers and their Enlightenment pretentions).According to my theory, Greeks and Romans will therefore be portrayed as "Nordics"(Anglo-Saxon/Germanic types consistent with the phenotypic self-idealization of America's "founding fathers")

Who is Jennifer Anniston's father?

i agree if hollywood wanted to tell the story of troy then they should've casted greek or italian actors, more greeks though. i doubt that paris and king priam and athena and odysseus had blonde hair and blue eyes. and if there is not enough of greek actors in hollywood working then go find them. hollywood prides itself on bringing the past alive, in these movies, but yet they cant quite get the appearance part correct. if this movie was about the potato famine then orlando bloom and those blonde blue eyed people would be perfect for the roles, but then that would be a totally different movie

I honestly feel Hollywood tries to ANGLOSIZE the whole world. Americans fail to realise their are many races, not just two! Civilized society started in the Meditereanean and the Middle East, not England or the U.S.. Why is every ancient and Biblical Character portraied as fair haired and Anglo looking. How accurate is this? This Helen of Troy Movie is offensive to every person of non anglo decent. It should be pulled from the shelves and remade with an authentic Mediteranean cast. Perhaps more Hollywood film makers and Americans need to travel around the world and educate themselves and realise not every person in the world is of Anglo decent. I am of Slovak Russian decent and am in amased in America how the only nationality that is acknowledged in this country is of British Ancestry. Even American Indian Culture is becoming nullified. Other cultures, especially Eastern European cultures are rarely ever mentioned in Hollywood films. `