Armchair historians perk up! Rome: the Complete Second Season is now available on DVD. Rome: the Complete Second Season consists of a 5-disc collector’s set that picks up after the assassination of Julius Caesar. The set ends with Octavian Caesar’s triumphant return to Rome just after Mark Antony and Cleopatra’s tragic demise.
Rome: the Complete Second Season contains an exclusive excerpt from the official Rome hardback book also features illuminating audio commentary from cast and crew. Executive Producer Bruno Heller and Historical Consultant Jonathan Stamp share intriguing tidbits such as how long Caesar lay bleeding to death on the senate floor after his assassination, what professional mourners chanted during Caesar’s viewing, and why Caesar’s corpse was fed fresh breast milk during the viewing.
Also of note is James Purefoy’s devilishly keen insight into the series’ production. Having done extensive preparation for his role as Mark Antony, James Purefoy muses in his audio commentary about the kinds of drugs that might have been used during Antony and Cleopatra’s decadent reign and how Cleopatra might have been the source of inspiration for Madonna’s cone shaped bra. “As you can see, …[here is] Lyndsay Marshal sporting a very early version of that famous Madonna outfit,” Purefoy comments. “See, there is nothing such as originality, is there really?”
As an aside, one wonders how difficult it was to film such a decadent series. As Kevin McKidd put it during Barneys New York’s DVD Release Party over the weekend in Beverly Hills, “It was not difficult. I’m English and our culture is a bit more relaxed than [America’s]. I knew going in that I was doing a film about a pre-Chrisitian society lacking the kind of moral confines we now have and so I tried to understand that and adopt an appropriate mindset.” Fellow Englishman, James Purefoy, holding a similar position, stated that preparation required “extensive research.” He spent much of his preparation pouring over histories.
Rome: the Complete Second Season includes smart documentaries of the history of the Republic as wells as the making of the second season of Rome. It also contains an interactive onscreen guide. The interactive guide enriches each episode with details of characters’ motivations, the political climate, and Roman culture.
For more information on Rome: the Complete Second Season, go to HBO:Rome
