Marco Polo is one of those historical names that’s well known, even though most people only have a faint idea of what he actually did. Well, I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence wants to change that, as he’s teamed up with Warner Bros and 3 Arts Entertainment to make a movie about the explorer. Well, sort of.
Variety reports that the currently untitled movie won’t be a pure biopic, and instead will be reimagined as a fantasy adventure (couldn’t you just see that coming?), probably because a bloke travelling around historical Asia for two decades at the bequest of Kublai Khan doesn’t sound that action-packed on its own (its importance is that the tales of Marco Polo’s voyages were the first major representation of Asia to reach Europe).
According to Adam Cooper, who will be writing the movie alongside Bill Cottage, “We see this as something that takes place in the Orient of our imagination, amid the cultural clash of East and West.” So presumably that means dragons and lots of OTT martial arts.
Cooper and Cottage are doing pretty well pitching re-imaginings of classic tales, as they’ve also sold ideas for new takes on the story of Moses and Mody Dick in the last year.
Although the project is a long way from getting made, it seems that in the same way studios were buying up everything set in deep space last year so they could be prepared for a sci-fi onslaught if Avatar became a hit (in case you haven’t heard, James Cameron’s movie has done pretty well), Warner may be setting this one up early so they’re ready if the likes of Clash Of The Titans and Prince Of Persia make historical fantasy de rigeur in Tinsel Town. Don’t be surprised if you hear about a lot more similar projects being bought up by Hollywood in the next few months.