When production ended on the vastly expensive HBO/BBC series Rome in 2006 there was talk of making a feature film version, but since then everything’s gone quiet and most assumed the idea had been shelved. However it now seems that isn’t true and that the cogs are still grinding, albeit ever so slowly.
EW reports that creator/executive producer, Bruno Heller – who went on to create the hit show The Mentalist – has now finished work on a Rome script. Not too much is known about the film, although it’ll pick up in Germany four years after the show ended, with Kevin McKidd (Lucius Vorenus) and Ray Stevenson (Titus Pullo) likely to star (which may come as a surprise to those who saw what happened to their character at the end of second series).
Rome followed Pullo and Vorensus from Caesar’s invasion of Gaul through the rise of the Emperor Augustus and was one of the most expensive television series ever made, which included building the largest ouside set in the world, which consists of five acres of period buildings.
However, despite the slow movement on the project, things are still in the early stages, with no director attached, the stars yet to officially sign on and financing incomplete. HBO apparently won’t be involved in the film, although corporate sibling Warner or New Line could pick it up.