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Paul W.S. Anderson Set to Direct 'Pompeii' Movie with Constantin Film

by Alex Billington
May 2, 2011
Source: THR

Are disaster movies coming back or is Paul W.S. Anderson just completely out of tune with Hollywood? Years ago, there was a project I was foaming at the mouth to see called Pompeii about the infamous volcano in Italy; Roman Polanski was on-board to direct and there were even giant sales banners on display at Cannes one year. That project ended up dying, but THR is reporting that another, completely new Pompeii film is in the works at German production company Constantin Film (Michael Clayton, Centurion, Resident Evil). And yep, Paul W.S. Anderson (currently finishing up The Three Musketeers 3D) is attached to direct.

THR says Pompeii will be a "period adventure movie" surrounding the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the destruction of the ancient Roman city. They even reference Titanic, adding that it "will be anchored by a strong love story." Set in the late summer of 79 A.D., Pompeii revolves around the slave of a shipping tycoon who dreams of the day he can buy his freedom and marry his master's daughter. What the slave doesn't know is that she's already been promised to a corrupt Roman senator. Mt. Vesuvius erupts with the power of "40 nuclear bombs", but the slave is trapped on a ship headed for Naples, separated from his love, a gladiator trapped in the city's coliseum. As fire and ash destroy the only world he's ever known, the slave is determined to get back and rescue them. Constantin is financing/producing, Summit distributing in the US.

I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that Paul W.S. Anderson is a guilty pleasure director, making the occasional good-only-for-entertainment-value movies that at least have great visuals. I wasn't really that interested in seeing him take on The Three Musketeers and to be honest, I'm not really that interested in seeing him do this, either. Period epics and disaster movies just aren't the in thing right now, it's all about sci-fi and comic book heroes and epic adventures. Pompeii is aiming to start shooting in spring of 2012 so we may not see it until 2013 anyway, but it's coming. The script is by Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler.

We'll keep you updated, as this project was just announced. There was word at one point last year that Ridley Scott was going to produce the Pompeii project Polanski left behind, but I still believe this new Pompeii is something original from Constantin Film and Paul W.S. Anderson's mind. Anyone intrigued?

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