There once were warriors

By Susan Wloszczyna
USA Today

Clive Owen rules his Camelot in the upcoming "King Arthur." Touchstone Pictures

We need a hero. A whole lot of them.

The pictures may be big again as a slew of post-"Gladiator" neo-epics continue to invade the screen. But the current popular male stars seem puny next to their noble sword-and-sandal counterparts from the '50s and '60s.

What is a Tinseltown titan to do if he wants to find a 21st-century heir to the throne for a grittier version of the Arthurian legend? After all, Richard Burton and Richard Harris, those majestic King Arthurs of yore, have gone to that great Camelot in the sky.

He could check out such usual suspects as Matt Damon, Tobey Maguire, Keanu Reeves or Ben Affleck. Yeah, right. Sure, most of them can pull off contemporary action heroes in a snap. But save England from the Saxons? With those baby faces? The only royals these kids are qualified to play are prom kings.

That's why Jerry Bruckheimer, the action-whiz producer, took a chance on Clive Owen, an art-house regular barely known to the multiplex hordes, for his summer spectacle "King Arthur."

"I felt he could be a king in a more realistic tale," says Bruckheimer about the relatively untested Owen, a brooding Brit whose battered sensuality was put to use in "Croupier" and "Gosford Park."

"We didn't want someone who was terribly familiar. The studio felt as I did, that Clive is a guy on the come. He brings an authenticity to the film."

Authenticity is an applause-worthy attribute in any story that contains historical matter. But the ability to put under-30 behinds in theater seats too often proves a more persuasive argument when casting an epic these days.

Exhibit A: Brad Pitt as Achilles in "Troy." In "Fight Club," he's fierce, feral and sexy as hell. On the "Troy" poster? We wouldn't kick him off our bedroom wall. But transfer him to ancient Greece, ask him to stalk about in a leather miniskirt, and he feels as out of place as a wooden horse inside of the walls of Troy.

You gotta believe

Now before all the Brad worshippers take up arms, let us make clear that while striking warrior poses, Pitt is bronze, buff and downright beautiful. What this magnificent male specimen lacks, however, is believability.

Believability counts less than box-office appeal when your epic bears an estimated $200 million price tag.

Eric Bana, who exhibited greater emotional heft in the secondary role of Hector, might have been a better Greek half-god. But in terms of launching a thousand tabloid covers, he's only a Hollywood half-star compared with Pitt.

Says Stephanie Zacharek, a film critic at Salon.com: "These big-concept movies cost so much money, you have to have an actor who is a known draw. It's not so much of a stretch to think that Brad Pitt could fit the part with a few hair extensions. He looks good in a miniskirt. It doesn't matter what he can or cannot do with his face, voice or body."

Youth rules in today's re-creations of the past. Irish scamp Colin Farrell sports bleached Beach Boy locks as the mighty Macedonian king in Oliver Stone's "Alexander" this fall. Leonardo DiCaprio has been drafted for Baz Luhrmann's competing Alexander the Great project, still in the works.

Age is no problem. The military boy wonder died at 32. But will these boyish actors be convincing when they conquer the known world?

Then there's Orlando Bloom, the lithe elf Legolas of "The Lord of the Rings," rumored to require a chest wig to portray a blacksmith-turned-knight in 2005's "Kingdom of Heaven," a Crusades-era adventure directed by Ridley Scott.

20th Century Fox assured inquirers that the British actor sported no faux body fur. But that didn't stop the media from gleefully spreading the too-juicy-to-ignore gossip.

It can't be a good sign that so many were willing to cast doubts on Bloom's virility.

Youth is served

Part of the problem: Our standards have shifted.

"If you look at the magazine ads from the '40s and '50s, the desire of young people was to look mature," notes film historian and critic Leonard Maltin. "The goal was to become an adult. Then came the societal revolution in the late '60s and early '70s when youth culture took over. Everyone wants to look young forever. Sometimes, when contemporary male stars take on these parts, I get the idea that they are wearing their big brother's clothes."

Anyone with a gym membership can build bulging biceps. But how does one achieve a pumped-up sense of leadership, authority and dignity? There is no steroid-like pill that enhances acting muscles. Otherwise, Arnold Schwarzenegger might have an Oscar.

Among those pining for a different style of man at the movies is comic actor Andy Dick. "You know who I always thought was really cool? James Garner. There's that ultra-hip, laid-back, nothing's-gonna-faze-me thing about him. I didn't see 'Troy,' but I'm guessing it's a guy full of testosterone running around with a sword trying to prove himself. Garner has been around the block. He has his sword in the shed. We need to see more leading men, not leading man-boys."

Joining in the chorus is director Frank Darabont, creator of the manly "Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile." "I miss the days when you'd get 'The Wild Bunch' or 'The Dirty Dozen,' these guys who were really crusty men who had lived lives," he says. "I miss Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw, Bill Holden. Probably the closest we have like that today is Russell Crowe."

Crowe, who inspired the current run on derring-doers with 2000's "Gladiator," could easily flesh out almost any historical role. "He certainly has a heroic presence," Zacharek says. "He has masculinity as opposed to machismo. There's also something else going on there, a certain amount of gravitas and brains. Maybe the brains is the main thing that is often missing."

The 'Alan Alda effect'

Of course, notorious casting blunders were made back in the last golden age of the epic. Paul Newman took out a full-page ad in Variety to apologize for his 1954 toga turkey, "The Silver Chalice." But back then, there were plenty of more appropriate choices to fill out the ranks — Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas.

The lack of such actors can be traced to what Bill Newcott, host of AARP's "Movies for Grownups" radio show, calls "the Alan Alda effect."

"They're not breeding them anymore," he says. "These kinds of movies haven't been in vogue for 15 or 20 years."

There are signs that others besides Bruckheimer are willing to take a chance on a lesser-known actor if he best fits the bill.

Director Peter Jackson originally tapped a not-yet-30 Stuart Townsend to portray worldly warrior Aragorn in his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. But it quickly became apparent that the actor was too unseasoned.

Jackson instead went with Viggo Mortensen, an unsung supporting player. Not anymore.

Thanks to Jackson, who was man enough to own up to his mistake, a studly star was born.

Donna Freydkin and Mike Snider contributed to this report.