First set photo of AGORA

Thanks to Times of Malta, we have our first look at Alejandro Amenabar's next movie Agora, an Egyptian epic based around the fourth century AD. The film stars Rachel Weisz as an astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Max Minghella plays her slave, who must juggle his desire for freedom by joining Christianity or giving himself up to his mistress.

It's Amenabar's second English-language movie after The Others. His films in his homeland include Open Your Eyes (the original version of Vanilla Sky) and The Sea Inside. His intention with the movie is to make the setting as epic as possible - to make this feel real allowing the characters to not stand-out against the backdrop of what looks like a Hollywood set. It's very much a throwback to the kind of long-assed Egyptian movies of the 50's and 60's and is about as far away from Stargate and The Mummy as you could imagine. Filming began in October and should be wrapped sometime in June. It's the biggest and longest production ever seen on the small island of Agora and all being well it should hit sometime between September 2009 and November 2009. source - coming soon