Independence Day director Roland
Emmerich's first foray into TV, a gladiator epic starring
two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins as Vespasian, the
emperor who began work on the Colosseum, started shooting at
Cinecittà in Rome on Monday.
The series, Those About to Die, is based on Daniel Mannix's 1958
book of the same name.
Among the cast are Johannes Haukur Johannesson as Viggo, a
hulking Norwegian gladiator, and Kyshan Wilson, the Kubra of
'Mare Fuori 3' as Aura, a young woman sold to become a
gladiator.
The show is described as an epic historical drama set within the
"complex and corrupt world of spectacle-driven gladiatorial
competition" in ancient Rome featuring "an ensemble of diverse
characters across the many layers of Roman society where sports,
politics and business intersect and collide."
Produced by AGC Studios with Emmerich as executive producer with
Gianni Nunnari and Harald Kloser, it is written by Oscar
nominated screenwriter Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan, The
Patriot) and will go out on Comcast-owned NBCUniversal's
streaming platform Peacock.
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