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Director Roman Polanski Leaves Pompeii

by Alex Billington
September 11, 2007

The news that a Pompeii film was in the works first hit early this year at the beginning of February. Filmmaker Roman Polanski was set to direct with a massive budget and the film looked like it was heading in an exciting and epic direction. News from Screen Daily today reports that Polanski will no longer be directing due to scheduling conflicts revolving around the impending acting strike next summer.

The report states that Polanski pulled out after the production company postponed its principal photography in Europe next summer due to concerns over the industry strike. Polanski's schedule would not work with the new dates and therefore he's no longer able to direct.

"I put a lot of work and energy into the development of Pompeii, so it is not without regret that I have to decline my further involvement," Polanski, whose schedule does not allow him to accommodate an uncertain start date beyond 2008, said.

As a reminder, the film's budget was supposedly around $130 million and it would be based on on Robert Harris' novel about a young engineer caught up in political intrigue as Mount Vesuvius is about to erupt.

It's actually sad to see Polanski leave - I think this was one of those perfect projects for him. Hopefully they find someone else who isn't a hack of a blockbuster filmmaker and still put out as good of a film as I was expecting. Polanski may be gone but that leaves the door open for someone different and possibly someone new.

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