[Idea] TROY (2004) - Replace Score in Director's Cut

[Corewolf]

If anyone can send me a link for this I'd appreciate it.

One of my favorite Sword and Sandals movies and the DC was *ruined* by the music change. I'd love to see this

[Rossarian]

@NL197 - Hello! Another person eagerly seeking a link to this re-score.

I was hoping someone would do this and now the 4k director's cut version is out I would love to see it with this score.

Your heroic work will be much appreciated! Thanks in advance to you or anyone that can send me a link.

[Evok]

@NL197 hello, im quite eager to see this version too. May i please have the link as well? Thank you

[rext09]

I decided to stop waiting and went ahead and made an edit myself.

This is the very first time I have ever attempted anything like this and was well outside my wheelhouse. But youtube and AI (perplexity by Comet) assisted in instructing me so I gave it a go.
This was very fun to try to do.

Although I generally disagreed with the rejection of Gabriel Yared's score, they did have a point. There were times where the score overwhelmed the scene and needed either a dramatic reduction in volume (which sometimes ruined the scene too) or needed to simply left with Horton.

I started with the 1080p MKV of Troy Director's Cut, first pre‑trimming the movie’s audio with ffmpeg and then running that split audio through a stem‑separation tool to isolate elements for mixing. I brought these stems into Reaper and built a 5.1 project around the film, preserving the original dialogue and effects while selectively replacing and augmenting James Horner’s score with Gabriel Yared’s rejected music. I left Horner’s score intact for a large portion of the non‑action and non‑sex scenes so the film still retains much of its familiar musical identity.

For the intimate sequences, I used “Achilles and Briseis” for their sex scene and “Helen and Paris” for theirs, allowing Yared’s romantic writing to carry those moments. In the Sparta feast, I laid in Yared’s “Sparta” cue for a substantial part of the scene—but not all of it—blending it with Horner to keep the pacing and tone consistent. In the major set‑pieces where Horner felt underpowered, I stitched in Yared’s larger, more dramatic cues: “1000 Ships” for the armada, “D‑Day Battle” for the beach landing, “Battle of the Arrows” for the large‑scale assault, “Hector, Hector!” and “Achilles and Hector Fight” for Hector’s key battle and duel, and “The Sacking of Troy” from roughly the early middle through most of the sack, intercut and blended with Horner’s material where needed.

I also replaced Horner’s music for Hector’s funeral and the Greek funeral pyre with Yared’s corresponding cues. In the opening, the first ten or so seconds remain Horner before the score transitions into Yared and continues until the two kings meet, with Yared’s cue landing perfectly just before Agamemnon speaks. Achilles’ fight with Boagrius is handled as a stitched compilation of both Horner and Yared, favoring Yared for the actual combat and Horner for the build‑up and aftermath. The result is a hybrid Troy cut in which Horner remains the musical backbone for quieter stretches, while Yared’s score takes over the emotional and action high points in a way that feels cohesive rather than jarring.

I am working on making a copy available for those that want it. Pm me if you are interested.

Intriguing. Could I have a link? Thanks

[rext09]

Obviously the directors cut cannot fit the score as written, therefore I did have to do a LOT of editorial changes to make the music work (looping certain areas, overlapping others) and the end result is that it’s still heavily edited, but the music is back where it was generally meant to be originally.

There are moments where the audio is very quiet, but the director's cut was like that in places compared to the theatrical.

The list of cues I put back are the following:

(Intrada 2-disc album cue titles)

Call for Achilles (theatrical had more presence than director's, but I also left the film's opening alone because I find it worked better than the wailing vocals that open the theatrical cut)

Never Hesitate (replaced the 'Count of Monte Cristo' music. Had to loop this in places to make it work, and added some 'Call for Achilles' as an open)

A Dark Past, A Glorious Future (weaved some of this in and out of the intended scene, where Achilles and his mother speak of his destiny)

The Myrmidons, part 1 (just the opening horn call)

The Myrmidons, part 2 (restored as much of this cue to the scene as possible, because most of it was replaced in the director's cut with 'A Trojan Victory, part 2')

Additional detail:
The moment where Achilles races up the temple steps slaughtering Trojans was my favorite moment of the entire score, and that was completely replaced in the director's cut so I had to put it back in.

The Temple Fight (replaced tracked music from 'The Myrmidons, part 2')

Briseis Taken (restored this to the scene, replacing what was tracked in from The Temple Fight)

Achilles Saves Briseis (restored the first half of this cue, but could not restore the big climax because this sex scene went on longer than in the theatrical cut, so it would not work. The consequence of this is the music is repeated, but not really a problem.)

Mistaken Identity (much of this was chopped up and also replaced in the director's cut, so I put as much of it back as I could)

Hector's Farewells (replaced the tracked in piece from 'A Dark Past, A Glorious Future)

Single Combat (replaced the Planet of the Apes music for the duel, and the Starship Troopers music for when Achilles ties Hector’s legs to his chariot to drag him away)

Priam Takes Briseis (replaced the oft-used 'Achilles Saves Briseis' which was used repeatedly in the director's cut)

The Wooden Horse / The Sacking of Troy (much of this was replaced with tracked material from 'A Dark Past, A Glorious Future', 'A Trojan Victory parts 1 and 2', 'The Myrmidons' part 2' and others so I put as much of the theatrical music back in where I could to those corresponding scenes in the director's cut.)

The ending of the film did not fit the music as I needed it to, so I had to do a major cut to bring out the end of Achilles and the surviving Trojans moving on from their burning city (replacing 'Achilles Saves Briseis' tracked into this scene).

I'm not completely satisfied with it but I did do what I could to make the credits synchronize with the score.

The song "Remember Me" wasn't going to be in there but I decided do use my remix of it, and the remaining material was added to fill the gap of time in the credits with something similar and appropriate musically.

All of that replaced the use of 'A Dark Past, A Glorious Future' for the credits themselves along with an edited piece of 'The Sacking of Troy'.

The title 'A Dark Past, A Glorious Future' is not one found on the 2017 Intrada 2-disc album, because it was one of two cues (the other is titled 'Stealing Helen') that were left off that release due to copyright issues.

Both of those cues were cut together and edited down considerably for the OST, and simply titled 'Troy' on that album, and the full cue is heard over the end credits of the director's cut on disc.

Wonderful! Could I get a link? Thanks

[jdog]

@NL197 @Yoserian33 Great work, would love to check out both versions you two have created, please send me a link

[NL197]

With the 4K Arrow release, I decided to completely rework my score restoration and made some significant changes. 

It's finally as ready as I can make it, finishing it just days ago (August 10th)


TROY (Director’s Cut) Score Restoration
DTS-HD 5.1 audio details (Spoiler-tagged due to length)

Obviously the director’s cut cannot fit the score as written, therefore I had to do a LOT of editorial changes to make the music work (looping certain areas, overlapping others) and the end result is that while it’s still heavily edited, the music is back where it was generally meant to be originally.

There are moments where the audio is very quiet, but the director's cut was like that in places compared to the theatrical. Also because the director’s cut did not use the beefed-up theatrical ADR for its dialogue, some of it was hard to hear and I did what I could to make it easier against the replaced music.


The list of cues I put back are the following: (Intrada 2-disc album cue titles)

1M2 Call for Achilles
theatrical had more presence than director's, but I also left the film's opening alone because I found it worked better than the wailing vocals that open the theatrical cut.

2M2 Never Hesitate
replaced the 'Count of Monte Cristo' music. Had to loop this in places to make it work, and added some 'Call for Achilles' as an open.

2M3 A Dark Past, A Glorious Future **
weaved some of this in and out of the intended scene, where Achilles and his mother speak of his destiny.

**'A Dark Past, A Glorious Future' is the second of two tracks Intrada deleted from their 2017 album due to licensing issues. The director’s cut used the cue in its entirety as its end credit music. An edited version of this cue (mixed with the other deleted track, titled 'Stealing Helen') was on the OST, titled simply 'Troy'. 

2M4 The Myrmidons, part 1
just the opening horn call.

3M1 The Myrmidons, part 2
restored as much of this cue to the scene as possible, because most of it was replaced in the director's cut with 'A Trojan Victory, part 2'.

Additional detail:
The moment where Achilles races up the temple steps slaughtering Trojans was my favorite moment of the entire score, and that was completely replaced in the director's cut so I had to put it back in.

3M2A The Temple Fight
replaced tracked music from 'The Myrmidons, part 2'.

3M4 Briseis Taken
restored this to the scene, replacing what was tracked in from The Temple Fight.

5M3 Achilles Saves Briseis
restored the first half of this cue, but could not restore the big climax because this sex scene went on longer than in the theatrical cut, so it would not work. The consequence of this is the music is repeated, but not really a problem.

6M2 Mistaken Identity
much of this was chopped up and also replaced in the director's cut, so I put as much of it back as I could.

7M1 Hector's Farewells
replaced the tracked-in piece from 'A Dark Past, A Glorious Future’.

7M2 Single Combat
replaced the Planet of the Apes music for the duel. The duel itself is the same in both cuts.

8M1 Priam Takes Briseis
replaced the oft-used 'Achilles Saves Briseis' which was used repeatedly in the director's cut...and then I used it earlier!

8M4 The Wooden Horse / 9M1-9M2 The Sacking of Troy
much of this was replaced with tracked material from 'A Dark Past, A Glorious Future', 'A Trojan Victory parts 1 and 2', 'The Myrmidons' part 2' and others so I put as much of the theatrical music back in where I could to those corresponding scenes in the director's cut.

The only Gabriel Yared cues that were utilized in the Director’s Cut were wailing, screaming voices for the funeral pyre scenes. I replaced those voices with some tracked vocals from the Horner Troy score since they were less harsh / abrasive. The ‘Mourning Women’ cues were honestly a bit silly (and obnoxious) to my ears. I don’t like the vocals in Horner’s score either, by Tanja Tsarovska but I did put her voice into those two funeral scenes. Ironically while Tsarovska appears on screen, the voice you hear is not hers but the other woman on screen instead.

I’ve removed nearly all of the music in the director’s cut-specific scenes during the Sacking of Troy sequence. All of it was tracked in and I felt none of it fit well at all aside from retaining the choir sustains in those cues, since those added a layer of unease among the screaming and savagery. I find the lack of orchestral music now makes the sequence even more brutal.


The ending of the film did not fit the music as I needed it to, but I attempted to use what was intended for the sequence of Achilles falling, the surviving Trojans moving on from their lost city, and Odysseus lighting the funeral pyre.

Of course that music has now replaced the annoyingly reused  'Achilles Saves Briseis' tracked into the ending.

I'm not completely satisfied with it but I did do what I could to make the credits synchronize with the score.

The song "Remember Me" wasn't going to be in there but I decided to use my custom remix of it. It is now a Josh Groban solo song, with the Tsarovska vocals removed and the pop drum elements are gone in favor of a softer more orchestral approach.

The remaining material was added to fill the gap of time in the credits with something similar and appropriate musically.


All of that replaced the use of 'A Dark Past, A Glorious Future' for the credits themselves along with an edited piece of 'The Sacking of Troy'.


Is it perfect? Hardly. It’s still full of cuts and removing the tracked in score for some of these director’s cut-specific scenes meant they did not seem to use as many sound effects in some of the larger battles.

I hope you enjoy it. It’s the number one thing I’ve ever been asked to share.

NL197 / JHFan
August 2026

So have a read, and if it's something you would like to put into your copy of the film (obviously it would have to be a digital version) then I can FINALLY oblige.

At the moment I can't upload it to the Internet Archive, because the Archive isn't working. When it does, I'll do that so it can be easily accessed without any issues / DMs.

IF you want to keep these details I've saved them as a PDF document in my signature.

[izzybell]

I just downloaded a whole bunch of Troy stuff last night lmao, this is perfect timing! Cannot wait to see this

[NL197]

Just make sure to keep the document included in my signature.

[submachina]

if it's something you would like to put into your copy of the film

How to put your file into my digital copy of the film?