In high school, screenwriter Bob Cochran was fascinated with Attila the Hun. So when his agent called years later with the chance to write a four-hour miniseries on the man called the Scourge of God, Mr. Cochran jumped at it.

        His Attila, a two-part miniseries reminiscent of Gladiator and Braveheart, airs Tuesday and Wednesday (9 p.m., USA).

        While Mr. Cochran takes historic liberties with the story, the result is a grand epic production that has something for everyone — romance, jealousy, greed, betrayal, sex and, of course, huge, bloody battles.

        “The challenge was capturing the mythic proportions of Attila and the history of Rome, and at the same time capturing the story of the two men at the center of it all,” Mr. Cochran said.

        The story follows Attila (Gerard Butler) and Roman general Flavius Aetius (Powers Boothe), two men who represent their respective worlds in the fifth century.

        Often cast in history as a mindless plunderer, Attila as presented by Mr. Cochran is a visionary who sees more in his people — the Huns — than they see in themselves. While the Huns are content to plunder and extort from surrounding nations, Attila looks beyond — to the possibility of an empire to conquer and a new world order to establish.

        Aetius, on the other hand, represents the best and worst of Rome before its fall. He plots to kill the emperor because he believes he's the only man who can save Rome. But to accomplish his task he must give up the thing he loves most — his daughter — to save his country.

        The collision of their two worlds is at the heart of the miniseries, which climaxes at the Battle of the Chalons, the outcome of which helped decide the fate of western civilization.

        It was Mr. Cochran's approach that attracted both Mr. Butler and Mr. Boothe to the script.

        “I just thought it was a story that hadn't been told before, an epic of that magnitude anyway,” Mr. Boothe said. “It's a story that really poses a lot of questions. What would Europe look like if Attila had won? What would the people look like?”

        Mr. Boothe, whose recent work includes the film Men of Honor and the miniseries Joan of Arc, said the scale of the production, filmed on location in Lithuania and using thousands of extras, gave him a new perspective on the era.

        “I finally understood what Roman spectacle meant,” he said.

        For Butler, whose films include 1997's Mrs. Brown and Dracula 2000, the additional appeal was the story of the personal relationship between Attila and Aetius.

        “There's art in the relationship of these two men . . . These are two men who love and respect each other and are destined to destroy each other,” he said.

        In one memorable scene that pits Attila against his brother for control of the Huns, the two take to horses in a running bow-and-arrow battle scene. The scene took days to complete.

        “When you have a hundreds of people in a scene, they can cover up mistakes. But when you have two people, it has to be right on,” Mr. Butler said.

        Square deal: Cincinnati's Nick and Drew Lachey from 98` play Hollywood Squares this week (7:30 p.m., Channel 5) during “siblings week.” Whoopi Goldberg is joined by her older brother, Clyde, and Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) squeezes into a square with his two tall brothers.

        Talk show highlights:Bo Derek on Live with Regis (9 a.m., Channel 9); cheaters' confessions on Jerry Springer (11 a.m., Channel 5); Andre Braugher on The View (11 a.m., Channel 9); Sam Waterston on Rosie O'Donnell (3 p.m., Channel 5); dealing with temptation on Oprah Winfrey (4 p.m., Channel 9); Jimmy Carter on The Tonight Show (11:35 p.m., Channels 5, 22); and the first Survivor 2 outcast on the Late Show (11:35 p.m., Channels 12, 7).

        All that Jazz: Here are TV Critic John Kiesewetter's Top 10 favorite songs in order of appearance from tonight's ninth episode of Ken Burns' Jazz (9 p.m., Channels 48, 54, 16),a film called “The Adventure” (1956-60):

        “Giant Steps,” John Coltrane, 1959; “It Could Happen to You,” Sonny Rollins, 1957; “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue,” Duke Ellington, 1956; “Lady Be Good,” Clifford Brown, 1957; “They Can't Take that Away From Me,” Sarah Vaughan, 1954; “Bu's Delight,” Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, 1965; “Blues March,” Art Blakey, 1958; “Mood,” Miles Davis Quintet, 1965; “My Favorite Things,” John Coltrane, 1961; “Free Jazz,” Ornette Coleman, 1960.

        A complete Jazz music list is posted on the Internet at Enquirer.com

        TV Critic John Kiesewetter also contributed to this report.

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