[Lin Robinson]

I noticed a brief article in this morning's paper stating that Mel Gibson is currently negotiating with producers and studios to make a new movie on the subject of Vikings. He is supposedly talking with Leonardo DiCaprio about starring in the movie. Mel plans to direct. He also says it may be his last movie, which will make some folks happy. Hopefully, if he does put it together, some attention will be paid to authenticity in terms of arms and equipment, not to mention storyline.

The wife and I also took in Green Zone yesterday and saw a trailer for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, which looks like it may be pretty good. At least with Robin Hood there is only legend to play around with so we don't have to worry about too much historical abuse. Arms and equipment in the trailer looked pretty good.

[R D Moore]

I hope Gibson gets it done! Apocalypto is one of my favorite movies and Braveheart is another. Even though Braveheart did not strictly adhere to historical accuracy, the entertainment factor went off the scales. I read a thread some time ago where Sean Flynt's wife- a Roman Age Archeaologist IIRC -said if you want historical accuracy, read a book. Reports indicate closer attention to history for his Viking movie, though. For me, this is kind of like waiting for a sword I've ordered.
I hope 1066 will be good, too. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1018103/

[Glennan Carnie]

[Lin Robinson]

[David Wilson]

1066??? I've been hoping for a good movie based on the Battle of Hastings for a long time, really hoping they'd give it the Gettysburg treatment -- adhere as close as possible to the history (given the constraints of time and budget), without needing to create "heroes" and "villians". But this would probably not appeal to Hollyweird (Although, the arms and armor in the poster look pretty good -- so far). And then I saw someone cast as a "Saracen Woman"... uhh... well... we'll see.... my hopes are not dashed, but they are restrained....

[David Sutton]

I seem to remember hearing that Gibson wants to script the film in Old English and Old Norse. That is something I would deffinitely be interested in seeing.

I'm not a great fan of Mel Gibson for several reasons (if I see another Maedieval Scot dressed in a tartan kilt and wielding a Claymore I'm going to have an aneuryism ). But this could be an interesting project, if they really do make a genuine effort to get the details right and maybe follow the Arn films and get Albion to do the swords.

I'm a little disappointed in the trailers for Ridely Scott's Robin Hood film. I think Scott usually makes a better effort than most at accuracy, but here I think hes taking a regressive step after Kingdom Of Heaven (I know KOH had quite a few inaccuracies but I was impressed given what we are usually presented with by Hollywood).

The 1066 project looks interesting too. I've always thought that 1066 would make a great subject for a film and not just from an historical point of view. I think there is a lot of drama, a great story and some larger than life characters in there that would translate well to the big screen. Its strange that no one has done it before (aside from the unfortunately low budget Channel 4 'docu-drama' that aired in the UK last year IIRC). Plus its a story that I think a lot people are familiar with to some extent, certainly in the UK, ask anyone in the street to quote a date from history and 99% of the time you will hear '1066'!

[R D Moore]