Actress takes female lead in historical flick.
Emily Browning, who was last seen starring in Julia Leigh’s indie ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and Zack Snyder’s ‘Sucker Punch’ has reportedly been cast opposite Kit Harrington (‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Silent Hill Revelation’) in Paul W.S. Anderson’s ‘Pompeii.’
Set in the days leading up to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the $80 million historical actioner follows Milo, the slave of a shipping tycoon who dreams of the day he can buy his freedom and marry his master’s daughter (Browning). What Milo doesn’t know is that she’s already been promised to a corrupt Roman senator, while he’s been sold to another owner in Naples.
Just when things can’t get any worse, Mt. Vesuvius erupts, prompting Milo to head back to Pompeii to rescue his love and his best friend, a gladiator who’s trapped in the city’s coliseum. As fire and ash destroy the only world he’s ever known, the slave is determined to get back and rescue them.
Princiapal photography is scheduled to begin in April with Anderson directing from a screenplay by Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler, Michael Robert Johnson and Julian Fellowes (‘Downton Abbey’). ‘Pompeii’ will be co-produced by a Don Carmody Productions and Germany’s Constantin Film.