Mark Wahlberg and his partner Stephen Levinson are set to produce “The Roman,” which is said to be a sort of “Caesar Begins” movie that will tell of how Julius Caesar rose from being a prisoner and a slave to becoming a general and eventually the ruler of an empire. They want to focus on the rarely-discussed early years of his life because the character was just so bold and cunning. Amongst his exploits that are sure to be covered in this film are the fact that he once demanded that his captors double the ransom on his life, and eventually crucified them- as he promised he would.

The script was written by Travis Baker and Richard Tanne. Wahlberg and Levinson are working on securing a director for the project before they start shopping it around tostudios. The producers are on a bit of a hot streak, with their production of a remake of “The Gambler” set to lens soon, and “Entourage” now officially a go.

When I first read about this, I foolishly hoped it was in reference to a spin-off series for the Caesar depicted in the Starz series “Spartacus.” There, he was a young, bold, hot shot, too. Guess I’ll just have to keep dreaming. I miss that show!

Source: Deadline