'Those About to Die' Interview: Director Roland Emmerich

Moviefone speaks with Roland Emmerich about 'Those About to Die'. "It's this wild mix of characters and that's always cool for a director to co-create."

Premiering on Peacock July 18th is the new 10-episode sword-and-sandal series entitled ‘Those About to Die’, which was co-directed, and executive produced by Roland Emmerich (‘Stargate’ and ‘Independence Day’).

Set in the world of gladiators in Ancient Rome, the series stars Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins ('The Silence of the Lambs'), Iwan Rheon ('Game of Thrones'), Jojo Macari ('Morbius'), Tom Hughes ('About Time'), Dimitri Leonidas ('The Monuments Men'), Gabriella Pession ('Crossing Lines'), Sara Martins-Court ('Paris, je t'aime'), Moe Hashim ('Ted Lasso'), and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson ('Atomic Blonde').

'Those About to Die' director Roland Emmerich.

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Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director and executive producer Roland Emmerich about his work on ‘Those About to Die', what interested him in making a series about the Roman Empire, navigating the multiple storylines, and creating the chariot racing sequences.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Emmerich, Iwan Rheon, Jojo Macari, Tom Hughes, Dimitri Leonidas, Gabriella Pession, Sara Martins-Court, Moe Hashim, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson.

Anthony Hopkins as Vespasian in 'Those About to Die'. Photo: Reiner Bajo/Peacock.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your attraction to the source material and why you wanted to set the series at this specific point of the Roman Empire?

Roland Emmerich: Well, it was about the first time a normal, regular general who had only success in war, became emperor, and there were four emperors, and they came and went, and at the end, Vespasian stayed. He was also the smartest, and he was smart because of what he did. Just to show the Roman people that he's a man of the people, he said, "I'm not building a golden house. I will build an amphitheater for you so everybody can watch much closer what's going on." That was for me, the starting point. Then I said, "Okay, so who could be in this show?" Then naturally you need somebody who is the inside of betting, which is Iwan Rheon. Then all these people come to Rome, from where do they come? All these gladiators came from far, far away. Also, there's these three brothers who are just so enamored by the Circus Maximus and Scorpus, so they kind of lie to their younger brother. So, all these kinds of people come to Rome and it's this wild mix of characters and ethnicities. That's always cool for a director to co-create.

Iwan Rheon as Tenax in 'Those About to Die'. Photo: Reiner Bajo/Peacock.

MF: Can you talk about the challenges of navigating all the different characters and storylines in the series?

RE: Well, I always had this idea to make a movie or a TV show, about the whole Roman Empire but concentrated on Rome. For that, you need different characters because also a lot of them die. So, for me, it was just interesting to kind of see how that develops.

Dimitri Leonidas as Scorpus in 'Those About to Die'. Photo: Reiner Bajo/Peacock.

MF: Finally, can you talk about shooting the chariot racing sequences? What were the challenges as a director shooting those scenes?

RE: That was the thing that I said, "Okay, so how do I do that?" We had luckily a volume stage. Now, a volume stage you can do endlessly what you want but there was always this one moment when we said, "How can we show a character or two characters, because there's a lot about pushing them to the wall, how can we shoot that?" Then actually after discussion with my DP we tried to film out an unreal engine, a background, and that was the only kind of thing what we had. Everything of these kinds of people, these charioteers, is done with that, with one shot.

Those About to Die

"Rise or die."

TV-MA1 SeasonsJuly 18th, 2024

Watch Those About to Die Online

What is the plot of 'Those About to Die'?

'Those About to Die' is an epic drama set in the corrupt world of the spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition, exploring a side of ancient Rome never told — the dirty business of entertaining the masses, giving the mob what they want most … blood and sport. The series introduces an ensemble of characters from all corners of the Roman Empire who collide at the explosive intersection of sports, politics, and dynasties.