After making his television directorial debut for HBO’s Game of Thrones episode, “Blackwater,” Neil Marshall (The Descent) will now direct the pilot for Black Sails.  The eight-episode Starz series is a prequel to Treasure Island that follows the swashbuckling exploits of Captain Flint and his crew.  Michael Bay is also on board to executive produce the project, which was created by Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine.  If Marshall’s prowess at handling “The Battle of the Blackwater” is any indication, we should be in for some high seas adventure in Black Sails.  Hit the jump for more.

The Dracula-themed The Last Voyage of the Demeter has been lingering in development for nearly a decade, but it finally looks like things are picking up.  The film is based on a portion of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula in which the titular vampire was transported on a ship from Transylvania to London.  The film takes place during the voyage and centers on its affect on the ship’s crew (ie. Dracula goes a-hunting at sea). David Slade was originally going to direct with Noomi Rapace and Ben Kingsley set to star, but that iteration of the project never moved forward.

New life was breathed into the film when The Descent helmer Neil Marshall signed on to direct this past May, and now producers are zeroing in on the film’s lead.  Hit the jump for more, including an update on the status of Rapace and Kingsley’s involvement.

The Descent director, Neil Marshall, may finally launch The Last Voyage of the Demeter, a Dracula-themed feature that has been land-locked for the past decade.  The story of Demeter goes back more than a century; it was the name of the ship that transported Dracula from Transylvania to London in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel.  The tale tells of the Demeter washing ashore in London as a near wreck with only one stark raving mad survivor on board.  The now ten-year-old Bragi Schut (Season of the Witch) script centers on the voyage and the crew that was mysteriously slaughtered one-by-one.  With Marshall’s recent attachment, it looks like The Last Voyage of the Demeter will set sail at last.  Hit the jump for more.

Director of such recent horror films as The Descent and Doomsday, Neil Marshall is looking to bring a little terror to your favorite family theme park. Marshall is currently in the early stages of discussion with CBS Films to direct their new horror project, Hellfest. The plot of Hellfest follows a costumed killer who singles out unsuspecting theme park attendees to slaughter on Halloween night. The studio plans to start production by the summer of 2012, making this Marshall’s next movie project. If successful, there are hopes to turn the project into a franchise to fill the void that has been left by the Saw, Final Destination and (hopefully) Paranormal Activity series. Hit the jump for more.

The list to direct the adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s horror-comedy parody novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is growing after David O. Russell left the project at the beginning of the month.  As we previously reported, David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse) is on the list.  Deadline updated their original story by reporting that Mike Newell (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) and Neil Marshall (Centurion) are also in the running.  TheWrap is also throwing out some interesting names circling the project: Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs), Matt Reeves (Let Me In), Mike White (The Year of the Dog), and the directing team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs).  Hit the jump for more details on these potential helmers.

And they say Hollywood has run out of ideas!  Neil Marshall’s latest film, the Roman actioner Centurion, opens today in the U.S., and the filmmaker has just committed to his next: Underground.  Scripted by David Cohen, the horror thriller is set in the world of gourmet underground supper clubs.  Deadline asked the producers  if cannibalism — featured in Marshall’s Doomsday — played a part.  They responded, “the protagonist is an ambitious young chef who ventures into the terrifying underbelly of extreme cuisine.”  That’s not a no…  The film is housed at Ozla Pictures under producers Taka Ichise (The Grudge) and Erin Eggers (The Hoax).

Following The Descent, Marshall has a small cult following — from the scarce details at hand, this sounds like the type of film a director with a small cult following ought to make.  Marshall was credited as the sole writer on each of his first four features, so it should be interesting to see him work from the ideas of another

The red-band trailer for the upcoming Roman bloodbath Centurion has hit the net.  Directed by Neil Marshall (Doomsday), Centurion stars Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) as a Roman corporal who must lead a small platoon of soldiers to rescue their general and get out of enemy territory.

Hit the jump to check out the red-band trailer.  Centurion will be available for download on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Amazon, and Vudu on July 23rd.  It hits theaters on August 27th.

Neil Marshall’s Centurion has been picked up by Magnolia Pictures. The film will be distributed through Magnolia’s genre division, Magnet. Centurion will star Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds), Dominic West (The Wire, 300) and Olga Kurylenko (Hitman, Quantam of Solace).

Neil Marshall has quietly been building himself an impressive action resume. While Doomsday was no earth shattering hit, both it and the Decent sported grimy cinematography and slick action sequences. Marshall knows how to craft a tense film, and his gritty style should mesh well with the given setting and plot. Whatever happened to Outpost? Now that sounded like a fun movie. Zombies swarming an oil rig? Get that one in the pipeline (pun intended) stat Neil! Hit the jump for the synopsis of Centurion.

The first trailer for Centurion has hit the net and it looks great.  Written and directed by Neil Marshall (Doomsday, The Descent, Dog Soldiers), the film stars Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko and it’s a about a group of Roman soldiers that have to fight for their lives behind enemy lines.

When I interviewed Michael Fassbender for Fish Tank, he told me a lot about Centurion. Fassbender called it “a Roman chase film” and when I asked him what it’s about, he said, “It’s basically about a group of Roman soldiers trying to get back across the border. It sort of surrounds the legend of the Ninth Legion. What happened in this myth is the Ninth Legion went over the border into the highlands to suppress this tribal community that was wreaking havoc on their outposts. They were trying to suppress this race. It was kind of like the Gaul situation where they couldn’t manage to suppress this tribal sort of community in France. So they sent the Ninth Legion in, which was one of the best Legions they had, and they disappeared. Five thousand men got wiped out. They never came back. So it’s basically Neil’s take around that myth.”

Check out the trailer after the jump.  It’s definitely worth your time.

Earlier today I spoke with Michael Fassbender for his upcoming movie “Fish Tank”. While I’ll be posting the full interview closer to release, we talked about his upcoming Roman action flick, “Centurion”, directed by Neil Marshall’s (“Doomsday”, “The Descent”, “Dog Soldiers”) and he had some very cool stuff to say about the movie.

While the film isn’t going to be released until sometime next year, “Centurion” sounds like a very cool film and it should definitely be on your radar. Fassbender calls it “a Roman chase film” and when I asked him what it’s about, he said, “It’s basically about a group of Roman soldiers trying to get back across the border. It sort of surrounds the legend of the Ninth Legion. What happened in this myth is the Ninth Legion went over the border into the highlands to suppress this tribal community that was wreaking havoc on their outposts. They were trying to suppress this race. It was kind of like the Gaul situation where they couldn’t manage to suppress this tribal sort of community in France. So they sent the Ninth Legion in, which was one of the best Legions they had, and they disappeared. Five thousand men got wiped out. They never came back. So it’s basically Neil’s take around that myth.” For more on what he said a few images from “Centurion”, hit the jump:

If you have ever wondered why directors attach themselves to eight projects at the same time, the reason is you never know which project will get the financing and also land a big name star.  Also, you never know if another project will start getting more attractive.  Whatever the reason, it seems director Peter Berg has officially dropped out of the remake/reboot of “Dune”.  This probably means Berg’s next project will be “Battleship” at Universal. More after the jump:

With his Roman soldier survival flick, “Centurion”, still yet to released, Scottish writer/director Neil Marshall, the man behind brilliant horror flicks “Dog Soldiers” and “The Descent”, and the less than brilliant mash up of every post apocalyptic future movie ever, “Doomsday”, has already set his sights on his next project. Marshall will next be tackling “Burst”, a 3D picture to be produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert’s Ghost House Pictures. That’s right, Sam Raimi and Neil Marshall working together. That’s pretty effing terrific if you ask me. Go ahead and hit the jump to read more and for a short synopsis of the flick.

It’s time to strap on your sword and sandals and then take that sword, bury it in a barbarian’s skull, and make sure you don’t get any blood on your nice, clean sandals.  New photos from Neil Marshall’s bloody Roman-Pict battle flick, “Centurion” just landed online and while there’s no gore, star Michael Fassbender says, “There’s certainly a lot of head-chopping.”  He then goes on to say some stuff about modern-day parallels and ethos and things like that but he already made his sale at, “There’s certainly a lot of head-chopping.”

Hit the jump to read a brief synopsis and see the new photos which sadly feature no head-chopping but there’s still a lot of time for more photos since the film doesn’t hit theaters until some time in 2010.   So don’t hang your head over lack of pictures heads hanging off corpses.