Despite clearly gaining a massive following, the simple utterance of the words “Paul W.S. Anderson” can make some film fans cringe. While his projects play with common tropes and are occasionally (alright, often) lacking in the character development, when it comes to kinetic filmmaking, one can do a great deal worse. For those that include themselves among fans of the director, we’ve got updates on a pair of his upcoming projects.
First up, after taking over for Roman Polanski, Anderson’s next film will be the big-budget tale Mt. Vesuvius’ eruption back in 79AD, titled Pompeii. Coming from Lee and Janet Scott Batchler (Batman Forever), with script work by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Downton Abbey), Game of Thrones‘ Kit Harington is set to star as Milo, a slave hoping to attain freedom and the hand of his boss’s daughter, Flavia, in marriage.
According to THR we’ve got some new casting, as the daughter in question will be played by Sucker Punch star Emily Browning. The trade also reports that Mad Men‘s Jared Harris will be joining the project as Lucretius, Flavia’s father, who sees his daughter sold to a Roman senator and shipped off to Naples.
Then after this historical actioner, Anderson will be jumping back into what he does best (or perhaps, simply most often), as First Showing confirms he’ll be back with his wife Milla Jovovich for Resident Evil 6, which is already set for September 12th, 2014 bow. With Pompeii set for an April production, then this return to Resident Evil aiming for a fall shoot, cancel any plans you had to hang out with this director in 2013.
Are you a fan of Paul W.S. Anderson’s work?