Warner Bros. and Director Francis Lawrence Call Out for Marco Polo Movie

In an ongoing attempt to make historical figures seem cool, Warner Bros. has bought a pitch from screenwriters Adam Cooper and Bill Collage that would recast 13th century explorer Marco Polo into a hero of fantastical adventures.  While the film would not be a biopic, Polo had an interesting life of traveling Asia for 24 years with his father and uncle, eventually meeting the ruler of the Mongol empire, Kublai Khan.  Polo was also known for his penchant to fuck with blind people who were calling out his name (I have no other explanation as to how the popular swimming pool game began).

Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) is attached to direct.  He’s also on board to helm the adaptation of the Depression-era drama, Water for Elephants, starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz.

Variety notes that this is Cooper and Collage’s third consecutive reimagination of a classic story purchased preemptively.  They’ve already sold the story of Moses re-imagined in the style of 300 and a reinvention of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick for Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov.