Kevin MacDonald had a successful year in 2006. He of course directed
The Last King of Scotland, one of the best reviewed movies of the year and helped propell actor
Forest Whitaker into the limelight of the Oscars. The success of the movie has also meant he got the gig of directing
Brad Pitt in the upcoming movie
State of Play which he is preparing to shoot soon for Universal. Now comes word from
Variety that he has lined up the epic Roman novel
The Eagle of the Ninth as a future project, which he plans to direct early next year.
Set in Britain during the 2nd century A.D., it's the story of a wounded Roman soldier and his Celtic slave who embark on a perilous journey into the far north to discover what happened the Ninth Legion, which went on a mission into the wilds of Scotland 15 years earlier and never came back. The soldier's father was the legion's general, and his disappearance, along with the loss of the legion's symbol, the eponymous eagle, cast a stain upon his family.
MacDonald has described this epic as being
The Searchers meets
Apocalypto... which if your anything like me that connection conjures up images of a totally awesome movie.