It may be apocryphal, but I’ve heard second-or-third hand a story about Japan in the present day: a young Japanese person visited the US or some other western country and remarked how strange it was that all the public facilities had accomodations for disabled people. When asked if it wasn’t the same in Japan, s/he replied: oh, of course not, we don’t have any disabled people in Japan. Kind of chilling when you think about it (and of course assuming it’s true).
He had a pretty full head of hair in this scene. I always thought it was a wig - he’s pretty bald by Excalibur, which was only 5 years later.
It was a wig – Steward offered to wear one again when he was cast in STTNG, but the producers liked him without one.
IC was a very good series. I always think ancient Rome was inhabited by englishmen…partly because of this.
IC portrays Claudius as a well-meaning, ethical man…was the real emperor like this?
One must admit, Claudius accomplished quite a bit-he conquered England, and rebuilt thye city of Rome.
I have always wondered if the premise of Robert Graves’ novel was correct-thet Claudius regretted his role, in strengthening the tyranny of the imperial rule
In the documentary on the miniseries on YouTube, Derek Jacobi says that Charlton Heston was considered for/interested in the role. I can see him as just about any other male character from Augustus on down, but as Claudius… just… no. (Jacobi was very disappointed when he got the role- he’d auditioned for a production of Hamlet as the title character and when told he was wanted for Claudius he thought they meant Hamlet’s stepfather.)
Another great British actor’s screen test for the role.
Not according to most biographers. Claudius does seem to have been more intelligent and more sane than Tiberius/Caligula/Nero, but he also had a cruel and vicious streak. (Also, unlike the Graves version, he LOVED gladiatorial games.)
Still, the primary sources weren’t written to be objective, so who knows. (I don’t believe any of the books written by Claudius survived, but I may be wrong.)
What was Claudius’s most likely diagnosis? I would guess a form of CP perhaps.
A funny thing I noticed is when Claudius is offered a bust of Sejanus in the market, the bust appears to be of a bald Stewart. I guess someone didn’t know he was going to have a hairpiece when they made the bust.
That’s in the documentary? I once read an interview with Jacobi where he talked about how hard he worked to convince the producers to give him the role of Claudius. (In the same interview he said that many people have since believed that he actually has a stutter.)
Haven’t seen Rome, but as others have said – if you’re interested in watching a series with brilliant acting, knife-sharp wit, chilling suspense, kinky sex, fully-realized characters (for all her perfidy, Livia has her vulnerabilities) and all-round smart writing, you can’t do better than I, Claudius. One of the best miniseries ever, anywhere.
The cast is just … off the charts talented. Derek Jacobi, John Hurt and Siân Phillips go without saying, but also Brian Blessed (yes he’s a deceptively avuncular Augustus, but he’s in the later part of his life and we primarily see him dealing with family, not as a leader/warrior); Margaret Tyzack (as Claudius’s cold-as-a-stone and twice as strong mother Antonia); Patrick Stewart’s cruel Sejanus; George Baker’s dissolute loser Tiberius; Patricia Quinn as spoiled sicko Livilla; Fiona Walker as one of the few laudable characters Agrippina; sexy John Castle as noble, flawed Postumus; even sexier James Faulkner as Claudius’s sly & savvy Jewish pal King Herod Agrippa; John Rhys-Davies as ambitious (but that rather goes without saying since just about everyone’s ambitious!) soldier Macro; and Sheila White as ultra-slutty, ultra sadistic Messalina. And those are only the absolute highlights – the bench goes much deeper.
Full marks to extraordinary script by Jack Pulman. For a taste, here’s Livia’s speech to the gladiators before a bout:
He also stammers in “Dead Again” and as Alan Turing in “Breaking the Code.” Because of this, my friends and I refer to him as “D- derek.”
Ayup. It’s in either Part 1 or Part 2 (of 10).
Jacobi is apparently very good friends with Phillips in real life. Leastwise, according to one article she attended his wedding when he married his partner of 28 years. (Speaking of The Jacobian Gayness, Sir Ian McKellan said he and Jacobi had major crushes on each other when students in RADA together but would never address the matter as neither was ready to come out.)
I loved Jacobi as the world’s worst Shakespearean actor on an episode of Frasier. I’m guessing he had a lot of fun with that part.
Oh, and I suppose I should add that Derek Jacobi absolutely owns the role of my namesake, Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael.
It’s really a topic for its own thread but I don’t think so! Jacobi never convinced me as the old Welsh soldier/sailor who had been on Crusade and knocked around the Holy Land for years. Every time he was on screen he just seemed like the middle aged Claudius without the stutter. Too posh and not hard enough.
Traditionally, it was seen as polio, but nowadays, most people say cerebral palsy, with some suggesting Tourette’s