The Barbaran invasions!! i simply cant wait to see this!!

[Swoosh So]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338135/

[Coldfish]

LOL....here`s something real man. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382731/

[Barbarossa82]

Aaaaaaargh noooo! That's gonna be terrible!

[PseRamesses]

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrghhhhh! Vin Diesel as Hannibal Barca????? Who the h_ll is on acid over there? Don´t get me wrong, I love Vin and his whole apperance but choosing him to portray one of the greatest commanders of all times has to be one of the worst castings in Hollywood history, don´t you agree?
Colin as Alexander was pretty ok, Brad as Achilles was almost ok, Clive as Arthur was just plain bad but Vin as Hannibal - that´s an all time low!

[TB666]

That Vin is playing Hannibal is one thing but the fact that Vin is also the director makes it even worse.

[Lord Adherbal]

well actualy it's Vin's project, so if it wasn't for him the movie won't even exist. The guy seems to have more brains then you might think from his appearance tho. He even mensioned making this a multilingual (sp?) movie, were each "faction" (I played too much TW...) speaks it's own language. So you probably won't see Vin cutting his way through the roman legions in Riddick style - altho I'd love to see that happening :D

[clayton ballentine]

WOW! This is a popular thread. There has been 5-8 replys per 30-40 mins.

[antisocialmunky]

Vin Diesel isn't a bad actor. I like him. I don't really think there's anything wrong with him being a director or actor. It's better than John Travolta as Hannible. I think you guys just love to believe the worst possible outcome. But have a little faith, it cant' be worst than Alexander. Or Arthur. Or Troy.

I wonder who are going to be Skippios.

[Zawath]

I think this could be a surprise hit. Many doubted Mel Gibson when he directed and starred in Braveheart but it turned out to be a true masterpiece.

[gardibolt]

Although most people know Vin Diesel from action pictures, he's really a very sharp guy with excellent acting chops. If you're interested, look up the Short 5: Diversity DVD (now out of print but still available on half.com and the Amazon secondary market) that has him on the cover; that was the first place I ever saw him and he stars in an impressive short film that he wrote and shot himself, and it's really devastating. There's a good interview with him on there too. Just because he's in Hollywood pap a lot of the time, don't sell him short. This project could well be excellent, especially if he has a lot of control over it himself.

[Puzz3D]

But have a little faith, it cant' be worst than Alexander.

I'm going to watch the new director's cut of Alexander tonight. It's shorter with more action scenes; some of which weren't in the theatrical release. However, that won't compensate for the fact that only two battles were shown skipping three other important battles, the entire 8 year period where Alexander consolidated his power in Greece was skipped, the important and hazardous journey to the oracle in the Egyptian desert is missing, how he sustained his chest wound is incorrect and no where near as amazing as how it actually happened, Hephaistion's funeral, the most lavish in the history of mankind, is skipped and it didn't show Alexander's gold clad body lying in state in Alexandria where it did for almost 500 years. The movie did have a lot of details and statements that are accurate according to the historical records that exist.

[VikingHorde]

IMO having Vin Diesel in the movie is just as bad has having van Damme (nother action movie actor) in it. I never liked Vin Diesel and would properly never rent a movie with him in the main role. An actor like Russell Crowe would be better.

[Colovion]

I think this could be a surprise hit. Many doubted Mel Gibson when he directed and starred in Braveheart but it turned out to be a true masterpiece.

]HAHAHAHA that's the funniest thing I've heard all day.

[antisocialmunky]

Braveheart always conjours to mind the scene of the Battle of Sterling Bridge without a bridge because they ran out of money.

Still a good movie.


Hmmm.... Orlando Bloom as Leonardo DiCaprio as Skippio the Younger?

*wonders*

[bodidley]

I don't doubt that Vin Diesel is an intelligent man, but I suspect it wasn't a wise choice for him to start with an epic as his directing debut. I haven't seen particularly good acting from him since he was in Saving Private Ryan (yep, he was in Saving Private Ryan, the good part too; the first 30 minutes). My main problem with Vin's more recent acting is that his voice sounded like a lobster when you're boiling it alive.

[PseRamesses]

It seems some of you have more faith in Vin´s abilities than I have. I´m not stating he´s a bad actor, in fact, I love his movies (XXX, Riddick etc). Since I´m foreseeing "the turkey of the year" he can only surprise me in a positive way, right?! One good thing though I doubt he´ll ruin half of the movie with some romantic interlude like they did with Alexander.

[VikingOfThule]

I was under the impression Hannibal was african.........

This movie is going to be so Hollywood. Scipio Africanus will be blond and have a british accent, the bad guy of course. I'd love to see this movie actually be realistic though.

[Grey_Fox]

May I point out the only films Peter Jackson directed before LOTR were low-budget horrors.

They can't even get the descriptions right: 'elephant riding battalion' my arse.

[Kor Khan]

I was under the impression Hannibal was african.........

Well being a probably pure-blood Phoenician, his appearance would have been Semitic (dark hair and eyes, tanned skin. Bearded, being a Carthaginian man). The North African locals (such as the Libyans or Numidians) would have had slightly darker skin, but would also not have been "black", which is what I assume you mean by "African".

I somehow have difficulty imagining Vin Diesel with a dark, curly beard . Even apart from his appearance, I'm not sure if he'd make a good Hannibal. After all, Vin is more of a silent tough guy, a warrior rather than a general. Russel Crowe is more of the type I'd follow into battle (Colin Farrel didn't convince me as Alexander, really). But you never know, Vin Diesel might be capable of portraying this kind of character. As for directing skills, I'm quite willing to believe he'll make a good job of the film, we'll just have to see.

[VikingOfThule]

Vin Diesel looks much more Italian than Phoenician.

[Kor Khan]

Yeah, that's my point. I'm not sure if he really looks like Hannibal, or whether he'd be up to portrying that particular kind of character.

[Norxis]

Yeah, I think I agree with everyone else that this movie is most probably going to suck. Let's face it, good ol Vin aint that much of an actor and if he's director as well, trouble.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Like all such movies, it will hinge on one issue:'

Can any writer put together a decent version of Hannibal's story in less than 200 pages [1 page = 1 minute]?

If so, Vin Diesel might do if the make=up can give him believable scars etc.

As a director? Who knows. Bob Reiner, Ken Branagh, Clint Eastwood, Jodi Foster, Ron Howard and others have done well going actor to directing. William Shatner and many others have not.

[Shaun]

if there was ever a movie on hannibal, the americans wood make it so unrealistic.

[Celt Centurion]

I am looking forward to BI. I enjoy playing as the Germans, Britons, and Gauls, but find myself frustrated that even after taking over cities such as Capua and Athens and having control of foundries and all of the "public health" technology of the Greeks and Romans, I cannot build a stone wall, or foundry, or even Sewers in my original territories of Londinium, or Trier (where I visited often while stationed in Germany several years ago).

For those interested, the Trier amphitheater still stands, and occasionally they have gladiator re-enactors. Check this out:

http://mindanao.globat.com/~bigdorko...es/Trier2.html

I just copied and pasted the URL. If the link doesn't work, key it into your address bar. It's really cool! Well worth looking at!

Meanwhile, the population grows, but I'm still limited as to what I can recruit with 40,000 people in a settlement with a max comfortable population of half that many. To add to it, I cannot do a thing to improve the situation, except maybe give it to the Romans, and take it away from them once they build everything. Who in their right mind would do that?

Besides, I am of Celtic lineage anyway. My ancestors may have been barbarians 2,000+ years ago, but we have come a long way haven't we? I really enjoy RTW, but look forward to BI as well.

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

[Hold Steady]

Wow, I wondered a little here about who exactly was off topic here..