"Overall dependability was top of the filmmakers' and boatbuilder's list of essential characteristics - an engine failure during filming had the potential to cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, " said a Sabre spokesman.

Legend has it the original Greek warriors built their galleys out of wood and sailed them across the Aegean from Greece to Troy, in what is now Turkey.

Brad Pitt's galleys were built in steel at the Cassar Shipyard in Malta and the filming was done in the waters off Malta.

But that's Hollywood.