The Making of Alexander: The Official Guide to the Epic Film Alexander

by Robin Lane Fox

The Making of Alexander is a unique mixture of high-class, hilarious text and stunning photography of a great film in process. Popular and provocative, it gives moviegoers a brilliant portrait of the talent the film brought together. Fifteen years in planning, the Alexander movie is the major film epic of the decade, with a production budget of $160 million and in the United States alone, a Warner Bros. publicity campaign of $35 million. Three-time Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone has led a star cast in a spellbinding movie, premiering in the United States on November 24, 2004. Alexander sets new standards with unprecedented drama, history and emotional power. This book, endorsed by the studios Intermedia and Warner Bros., is the only official "inside guide" to the film. The author enjoyed unique access as the film's historical adviser for two and a half years and worked very closely with the director, the script and the stars. He also served as a cavalryman on location, riding with the stars in the film's spectacular battles and charges. Robin Lane Fox is the world's best-selling historian of Alexander. A professor at Oxford University, his own historical biography of Alexander has now sold more than a million copies and was the major source for the makers of the film. With Warner Bros.' backing, The Making of Alexander is planned to be publicized on the Warner Bros. Alexander web sites and interactive material, for which Robin Lane Fox is a consultant and historical writer.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Robin Lane Fox (born 1946) is an English historian, currently a Fellow of New College, Oxford and University of Oxford Reader in Ancient History.

Lane Fox was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford.

Since 1977, he has been a tutor in Greek and Roman history, and since 1990 University Reader in Ancient History. He has also taught Greek and Latin literature and early Islamic history, a subject in which he held an Oxford Research Fellowship, and is also New College's Tutor for Oriental Studies.[1] He is a lecturer in Ancient History at Exeter College, Oxford.

He was historical adviser to the film director Oliver Stone for the epic Alexander. His appearance as an extra, in addition to his work as a historical consultant, was publicized at the time of the film's release.

Lane Fox is also a gardening correspondent for the Financial Times.

He is the father of the internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, the founder of Lastminute.com.

They are not related to, and should not be confused with Robin Fox, anthropologist, and his daughter Kate Fox, social anthropologist.

Reviews

[Luru · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

A real "making of", focusing on what happened behind the scenes (scripting, locations, casting, boot-camp, shooting, costuming and such). Also, many important and interesting reflections from the point of view of a historian.

Informative more than entertaining.

[Rhode PVD · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would have been vastly more entertaining if he could have written it after the movie came out, and was so deservedly panned by critics and public. Perhaps then he would not have lavished so much interminable attention and detail on the movie's development stages, with various philosophical debates by all involved for decades behind the scenes. Nobody cares that much about the ins and outs of bad screenplay development. Also, some of the glowing, or at least solid, praise for the actors would have been mitigated. I don't want to hear about How brilliant a performance is bound to be, but rather who decided on Alexander's looks-like-a-bad-wig hair?

But the point of view Lane Fox brings, as a historian, to the filming itself is really fun. Various ancient warfare debates are nimbly settled - sometimes with unexpected revelations - by the reenactment for film. In effect, the film underwrote a historical research project, so thank you very much indeed.

[Kerry Hennigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the movie, despite it's directorial and editorial shortcomings. This 'Making of...' book is a cut above the average publication of this type because it is written by historian Robin Lane Fox, who even scored a small part in the film (on horseback!)