Paul W.S. Anderson looks to be headed to Italy sometime in the first century. The Hollywood Reporter has word that the Resident Evil director has signed on to helm an epic period disaster film entitled Pompeii, to be based on the world’s most famous volcanic eruption.
In the year 79 AD, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius wiped out the city of Pompeii, preserving much of the architecture and inhabitants in pumice. The film version is said to incorporate a love story against the tragedy as a slave fights to protect the woman he loves from the disaster.
The film was formerly in the works in 2007 with Roman Polanski attached to direct. He left the project in September of that year and little has been heard from it since.
Anderson, whose next film is the 3D adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers, would likely begin production on Pompeii early next year.
