History gives us perspective. And when we peel back our prejudices, history can be humbling. For Sara Martins, it was such a sense of profound realisation that first hit her, upon entering the set of Those About to Die, the period drama set in ancient Rome. “There was of course a lot of research that went into bringing ancient Rome alive. I had done my research and the art directors had done theirs as well. So when I first entered the set, I looked up and went ‘Oh they had those back then as well’, one too many times.” She then adds, “To be honest, we haven’t changed much from 2000 years ago. The houses, the streets, they all look pretty much the same.” However, the actor notes that some things have definitely changed for the better. “We always say that we are living in the most violent time. Well, compared to ancient Rome, this is not that much violent,” she laughs.
In the Prime Video series, Sara Martins plays one of the central characters named Cala, a fierce woman from the ancient North African nation of Numidia, who must travel to Rome to save her daughter from slavery and her son from being sold as a gladiator. “My character is the quintessence of motherhood. She is only driven by her quest to save her children, which anyone can relate to. I felt like I know that woman because I know so many women like her in my family; strong women who experienced immigration,” she says, before adding, “Cala, who comes from a different country, uses her intelligence to adapt to a new culture, all for her children. This is the story of every immigrant.” The actor goes on to explain how ancient Rome was the perfect setting to stage a story about an immigrant. “Ancient Rome had a mix of many cultures, you have people from all around the world; every culture that Rome colonised was there. From different languages to attire, we tried to show the diverse, multicultural nature of Rome at that time.” However, Martins reveals that they had no information on the kind of language spoken in Numidia and so had to invent a new language for the series. The French actor reveals that working on a fictional language, and creating her own accents and dialects, helped her discover Cala. “To work in English was already a challenge for me but it also helped me relate to the character, who is already a foreigner in Rome. I decided that she would speak in a more chopped way, take more time, and that helped me find the gravitas of my character,” she says.
As the actor wonderfully unravels how she connected with the character through her personal experiences, one wonders how that happens on a macroscopic level for ancient Rome. When asked why even after thousands of years, people are fascinated by stories set in ancient Rome, Sara Martins gives a profound answer, “Apart from the scale of such a story and the opulence of the time, I think people are fascinated because the Roman Empire died. We are always worried about an impending doom, of our society collapsing and we have an example of that actually happening. Ancient Rome was a highly organised society with all the wealth in the world and yet it fell apart. It made us realise that everything we know can fall apart and I think we are trying to learn what we can from that.”