TROJAN HORSEPLAY

As one of only three female stars in a cast that includes The Lord of the Rings’ Orlando Bloom and The Hulk’s Eric Bana, Byrne couldn’t keep away from the warfare taking place on- and off-camera: “Garrett [Hedlund, who plays Achilles’ kinsman Patroclus] put bacon in air conditioners,” says Byrne. “People would come back to their hotel rooms and find all the furniture was gone.” The levity was a much-appreciated distraction from the grim set, where Byrne was typically preparing “for a scene where I’m watching someone get killed, or running from a burning city,” she says. “All the stakes were life or death—or just death, really. There’s not much comedy in the Greeks.”