The Dying Gaul: Killer Writing and Tour De Force Acting

Hollywood Runs Amok, Updated

It's the same old story the taste for love and glory, a case of do or die. But who is doing it to whom? 2005's The Dying Gaul asks and answers some intriguing questions about three people who have all made their deal with the devil but pay for it in different ways.

Three people intersect but this is far from a conventional love triangle. Each player in the drama has a stake in what will happen, what could have happened, and what is happening. But when the stakes are high games and become a very serious and lethal business. Who is the defeated gladiator of this battle? By the end we know.

The Dying Gaul or Dying Trumpeter is an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost ancient Greek statue, to honor Attalos of Pergamon's victory over the Galatians. The identity of the statue's sculptor is unknown but possibly Epigonus, the court sculptor of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, may have been its author.

The statue The Dying Gaul, depicts a dying Celt with remarkable realism. The statue serves both as a reminder of the Celts' defeat, thus demonstrating the might of the people that defeated them, and a memorial to their bravery as worthy adversaries. In the film "The Dying Gaul" worthy adversaries square off, and a signifier of that victory is commemorated as worthily.. 

Homosexuaity, an ancient bugaboo, is depicted both in the story between characters and as a piece of subject matter driving the plot. Robert Sandisch, (well-played by Peter Sarsgaard) a gay screenwriter, opens the film by arriving at a famous Hollywood studio. Amidst the glorious backdrop of the amazing historic lot, Robert is presented with a window of opportunity; the studio might buy his screenplay, "The Dying Gaul".

Campbell Scott is the mover and shaker that meets with Robert. A key studio executive, he is poised to acquire the screenplay, but with a few sweeteners that will make the story of homosexual lovers more marketable. Within the cat and mouse of the interview, Jeff Tishop (Scott) baits and mocks an off-balance Robert by turns.