I‘m not quite sure how on earth I missed this but it could have something to do with the fact that the project has been in production for years.

Last night, a little bored with some of the less than stellar film selections from my Saturday afternoon, decided I wanted to see something fun that I knew I’d enjoy so I popped in one of my favourite takes on Arthurian legend, Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur. I recognized a few more faces in the cast than I did the first time I saw the film and so I started clicking around the IMDb listing for the movie and, along with validating my thought that it was indeed Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy playing knights of the round table, I happened to check out writer David Franzoni’s other credits when I noticed a listing for a film titled Hannibal the Conqueror. Curious about the title, I checked it out to find Vin Diesel starring and directing the project.

The film is based on Hannibal, a man considered one of the greatest Carthaginian commanders, who is best known for his famous war caravan during the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, including war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps and into northern Italy to attack Rome in the 3rd Century B.C.

This excites me. Not only does this sound like the sort of classic war story I love to dig into, it seems as though Diesel has brought on a group of really good folks to help with the story. We’ve got David Franzoni (King Arthur, Gladiator and Amistad) adapting the scrip from Ross Leckie’s novel, a good start considering Leckie has written a trilogy of historical novels based on Carthage with “Hannibal” dealing specifically with the general, and they’ve brought on board the “same academic who translated “Passion” for Gibson,” to give the script the gravitas needed for historical punch.” As much as all of this sounds good, I do have a couple of concerns with the project.

First of all, though Diesel isn’t completely new to directing, it’s not what he’s known for and it’s anyone’s guess whether this film will be any good. Looking at the news stories associated with the project, it looks like this thing has been in the works for years and there’s news dating back to 2005 about the film having to cut it’s budget. And then there’s the bit about Diesel wanting to film this in the archaic language of Punic, a form of ancient Phoenician.

This could very well be a disaster in the making but frankly, I dig the fact that Diesel is making a movie he’s been passionate about for years and I’m willing to give him a chance, even if it does bomb. Considering it’s been in the works for so long, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a few more years before we see it though IMDb does have it listed with a 2009 release. We’ll see how that pans out. In the meantime, check out the cool website that One Race Films, Diesel’s production company, has put up for the film. It provides a bit of history and, I’m assuming, outlines what the film will cover.

Now that it’s on my radar, I’ll be keeping you posted with any new news.