The Last Legion was by almost any standards a turkey. Which remains a shame. The book about Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor in the West, is entertaining - even if the English translation is not the greatest - and much nore nuanced than it is given credit for. An interview with the author Valerio Manfredi in today's Economic Times makes clear that the author remains unhappy, especially with Aishwarya Rai:
"My character of the leading lady (played by Aishwarya) was totally different. She was from a village but Aishwarya was totally different. She was the lover of the protagonist...but she acted as if the film was for kids," Manfredi told IANS here.
The film tells the story of emperor Romulus Augustus' journey to Britain in search of loyal legionaires to take on the "barbarian" invaders. The writer ended up befriending Firth, could not get around to meeting Ben Kingsley and was struck by Aishwarya's eyes.
"She has such strong expressive and beautiful eyes. Some little expression of love would have made the film more different. The editing was so much like a video game, so many passages were missing...I am not criticising," Manfredi said.