Paul WS Anderson takes on `Pompeii`

Los Angeles: The destruction of ancient roman city Pompeii in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD will come alive on the big screen as a love story in a new Hollywood project.

The big budget film is being financed by Constantin Film while Summit has snapped up the US distribution rights. Paul WS Anderson, the man behind the successful `Resident Evil` series, has taken on the helming of the disaster movie, which will be produced on a big scale similar to James Cameron`s `Titanic`. The period film narrates the destruction of Pompeii, one of the most flourishing roman cities at that time, in the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, the Hollywood Reporter said. The disaster will provide a backdrop to a love-story, set in late summer of 79 AD. The story revolves around the slave of a shipping tycoon who dreams of the day he can buy his freedom and marry his master`s daughter. What the slave doesn`t know is that she`s already been promised to a corrupt Roman senator, while he`s been sold to another owner. Just when things can`t get any worse, Mt Vesuvius erupts with the power of 40 nuclear bombs. But the slave is trapped on a ship headed for Naples, separated from his love and best friend, a gladiator who is 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. Reports suggest that Anderson plans to start shooting `Pompeii` in spring 2012 from a script by Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler. He is currently busy with `The Three Musketeers`. The catastrophic event left the city buried under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, which killed everyone in the city. It also encased the city in a virtual time capsule for nearly 1,500 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1599. It is one of the most complete and intact archaeological sites in the world because of the volcanic eruption. PTI