HBO's Rome is Ready to Hit the Big Screen

On March 4, ew.com revealed exclusively that the wildly loved and critically lauded HBO series Rome will be resurrected as a big screen epic. The series aired on HBO for two seasons, from 2005 - 2007 and it chronicled true historical events in Ancient Rome, with the first season concentrating on the rise of Julius Caesar (Ciaran Hinds), his conquest of Gaul and his battle for power over the senate and his political rival Magnus Pompey (Kenneth Cranham). The second season of the series concentrated on the aftermath of Caesar's assassination and Octavian's rise to power as the first Emperor.

Though the details are sketchy at the moment, the movie intends to focus on Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson), two of Caesar's soldiers whose less illustrious life served to demonstrate the true living conditions and every day customs of the normal Roman citizen. In the series, their storylines, though completely fictional, weaved in and out of the more significant plotlines like an effortless tapestry. The movie looks to follow Vorenus and Pullo in Germany four years after the series ended. Fans of the series will note that Vorenus supposedly dies at the end of Season 2, though it's never confirmed. The series creator Bruno Heller has already finished a script for Morning Light Productions, and actors Mckidd and Stevenson are likely to sign on to reprise their roles, however the return of characters like the scheming and sociopathic, Atia (Polly Walker) or Emperor Augustus and his wife Livia (Simon Woods and Alice Henley, respectively) remain to be seen.

It bodes well that Bruno Heller is taking the creative reins for the movie. However, as of this writing, no studio or director has been attached to the project, as HBO films will not be involved in the production. This fact seems a little disheartening. The HBO series had such a realistic and wonderfully detailed sense of production that it would be a shame if the movie veered from this singular vision. Many fans, myself included, loved this short lived series for its crackling screen play and its assiduous attention not only to minute visual and costuming details, but also the practices and customs, even mindset of this ancient culture. It's putting the cart before the proverbial horse at this point, but fans of the series would expect no less. Let's hope Rome doesn't devolve into a Hollywood sword and sandals buddy action flick. Aside from this reservation, this is exciting news indeed for Rome fans.

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Sources: ew.com

Review of Rome - The Complete First Season DVD

Review of Rome - The Complete Second Season DVD