Malta Monday: Amenábar begins filming Agora

Alejandro Amenábar’s second English-language film production begins this week on the rocky, warm climate island of Malta. European-Films.net posted the first group shot of the filmmaker circled by his top tier actors on the film. The Spanish director last helmed The Sea Inside (Mar Adentro).

Scripted by Amenabar and regular co-writing partner Mateo Gil,  Agora is a historical drama set in early Egypt, it concerns a slave Davus (Minghella) who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master, a female philosophy professor and atheist. Weisz will play Hypatia, the Alexandrian professor. Barhom is playing a zealous Christian monk named Ammonius. Isaac plays Orestes, who has an unrequited love for Hypatia.