Last month, I linked to a story about Alejandro Amenábar’s next movie, about religious turmoil in 4th-century Alexandria. Today, Variety reports that the movie starts shooting in Malta on Monday, and it finally has a definite title:
Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella will star in ancient Egyptian epic “Agora,” the next film by Alejandro Amenabar and the first production from Fernando Bovaira’s new Madrid-based banner Mod Prods. . . .
“Agora,” Amenabar’s second English-language film after Nicole Kidman starrer “The Others,” is set in Roman Egypt in the fourth century A.D. Weisz plays astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus (Minghella) is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity. . . .
Or, as the Hollywood Reporter puts it:
Set in Roman Egypt in the fourth century, “Agora” tells the story of the legendary astronomer Hypatia (Weisz), trapped in the legendary Library of Alexandria, and her fight to save the old world’s wisdom from the religious riots sweeping the streets of Alexandria. Her slave Davus (Minghella) wrestles with his yearning for freedom and his professed love for his mistress.
To quote Wikipedia, the word “agora” refers to “an open ‘place of assembly’ in ancient Greek city-states” which served as “the center of . . . commercial and political life throughout ancient times.”
And yes, it does look like St. Cyril will be part of this story; the IMDb says an actor named Sami Samir will be playing a character of that name.
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