Since Zack Snyder‘s 300, major studios and even indie prod companies (Kiler Films) are getting into the Swords & Sandals genre pic action. It may be as safe a bet as teenage vampires in love and comic book heroes outfitted with futuristic looking weaponry. And speaking of 300… Michael Fassbender and Dominic West will be leading the charge in Neil Marshall‘s next project budgeted at over several dollars more than his debut icebreaker The Descent.
Penned by Marshall and produced by Christian Colson of Celador Films (they did Slumdog and have a timely screenplay in Selma in the works), Centurion featured Bond girl Olga Kurylenko in metal clad of the époque join the ranks of current “it” actor Fassbender and West. Set during the Roman invasion of Britain in A.D. 117, tells the story of Quintus Dias, sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, who marches north with General Virilus’ legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon.
I’m curious to see how the horror filmmaker might handle a bigger budgeted, what will surely be a green screen epic. Expect filming to take place within a couple of months on some sound-stage in the U.K
