1. Are we about to see competing movies about the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England? Three months ago, it was reported that Killer Films and the GC Corp. were developing William the Conqueror, based on a script by Brian Edgar and Derek Wallbank. Now, it is reported that Shine Pictures has hired William Nicholson to write 1066, an epic about “the comradeship-turned-deadly rivalry” between William and his Anglo-Saxon nemesis King Harold, who died in the battle. Nicholson’s earlier credits include Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Gladiator (2000) and both versions of Shadowlands (1985, 1993), and his Norman-conquest movie will have “two massive battles” and “a naval exchange”. — Variety, Hollywood Reporter
2. Neil Marshall, director of The Descent (2005) and Doomsday (2008), is attached to direct Centurion, a film set in Britain in A.D. 117 that “tells the story of Quintus Dias, sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, who marches north with General Virilus’ legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon.” The film will star Michael Fassbender and Dominic West — both of whom co-starred in 300 (2006) — as well as current Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. — Hollywood Reporter
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