Colbert Bump: This play has gotten some modern-generation attention through Fate/stay night, because of Medea's presence there as the Caster-class Servant.
Reality Subtext: Athens had a law that didn't allow foreign-born spouses to hold citizenship, leading many Athenian soldiers to hook up, marry or father children with foreign women (and men) and then cast them aside to marry a more traditional/advantageous match. The play is definitely expressing Euripides's displeasure and Author Tract against this practice.
Pasolini's 1969 film:
Acclaimed Flop: The film received positive reviews but failed to receive the same commercial success as the previous films by Pasolini.
California Doubling: Cappadocia, Turkey, doubles as Colchis (modern-day Western Georgia), while several locations in Italynote In fact, standing in for Creon's palace is Pisa's Baptistery of St. John, just out of shot from the famous Leaning Tower as well as Aleppo, Syria double for Mainland Greece. Of course, this film doesn't aim for historical accuracy in the portrayal of its locations.
Fake Nationality: Ironically, the Greek Maria Callas portrays the foreigner Medea in a film mostly set in Ancient Greece.
Playing Against Type: World-renowned soprano Maria Callas is in a completely non-singing role.
While the entire film was re-dubbed with ADR, as was the practice at the time, Pasolini was unhappy with Maria Callas's dub and replaced her with Rita Savagnone. Callas's voice has been restored since the 2003 DVD edition.
Giuseppe Gentile (Jason) and Laurent Terzieff (Chiron) were re-dubbed by other actors too, respectively Pino Colizzi and Enrico Maria Salerno. The former wasn't an actor and had a thick Roman accent, while the latter was from France and didn't speak Italian.
Stunt Casting: Giuseppe Gentile (Jason) was an Olympic triple jumper, here in his first and only film role. Pasolini cast him to cash on his fame after having won the bronze medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.
Working Title: Visioni della Medea ("Visions of Medea" — the use of the definite article before "Medea" indicates that it's referring to the play, not the character).
