Legendary director Roman Polanski has announced that his next movie will be the big budget thriller Pompeii, set against the backdrop of Mt. Vesuvius during the time of it’s eruption.

The movie will be an adaptation of the successful Robert Harris book of the same name, which I can tell you my girlfriend absolutely adored. Having said that, she is a history student so she was always going to like that type of book.

Polanski spoke of the project to Variety…

“I got seduced by the writing…In general terms, when someone tells me to make a movie set in ancient times, I say it’s not my cup of tea. But I liked that it was a thriller and I have read all of his books and there is such minute detail. He goes very far into the research.”

This is easily Polanski’s biggest movie he has ever worked on, with a massive $130 million budget to work with. Filming is set to begin in Italy this summer, for a scheduled release sometime next year.

It’s great to see Polanski get hired for such a big project. His last two movies… the under-rated Oliver Twist and the awesome Oscar nominated The Pianist have propelled the legendary director to the top of the Hollywood ladder after years of obscurity.

Remember this is the guy who brought us Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby long before I was born. Looking forward to this!

source – variety, coming soon