Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil: Afterlife) has signed on to direct Pompeii, an disaster film set in ancient Rome as Mt. Vesuvius erupts and destroys the titular city. The vaguely Romanic Constantin Filmwill finance a reportedly large budget as scripted by Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler (Batman Forever). Summit will distribute the film in America with plans to auction off Pompeii to foreign buyers at the Cannes Film Festival later this month. Pompeii reunites Summit, Constantin, and Anderson after The Three Musketeers. Anderson is in post-production on Musketeers preparing for release on October 14. Sources suggest Pompeii will shoot in spring 2012.
Hit the jump more details on the plot.
THR provides a synopsis:
Set in late summer 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, while he’s been sold to another owner.
Just when things can’t get any worse, 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 and best friend, a gladiator who is 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.
Of the thousands that died in the explosion, several hundred left their shape in the volcanic deposits around the city. During excavation, it was discovered that filling these cavities with plaster revealed human casts so detailed that the look of terror is evident on many. Thus creating the world’s most disturbing tourist attraction.
If any film ought to end with a freeze frame…
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Milla Jovovich will star as the volcano.
Best comment I’ve read in ages. Until that troll shows up to list the young actresses who should also be considered for the role.
This is going to be awful. I LOVE ancient history, especially Pompeii, but this is going to be a waste of time with that guy in charge.
Im not so convinced Rolland Emerrich, Petersen or Bay would do a better job anyway.
He’s a terrible choice, but maybe the script is so godawful, no Director of any credibility wanted to touch it? (batman forever oh dear!!)
My pick would be a horror / thriller director anyway, like Del Toro, Jackson or even Raimi. If hollywood had any sense, which they don’t, they would get Weir to do it.
Rome didn’t even see a sprinkling of ash. The synopsis is so historically inaccurate that Paul W.S. Anderson was the only one dumb enough to take it on.
Wasn’t Roman Polanski attached to do a movie about this event as well recently? I’d be much more inclined to see him tackle this and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.
I think Rome was an empire back then and Pompeii was a city within it.