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Nearly two years ago, there was a story that Denzel Washington was attached to play the ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal the Conqueror in a new project for Netflix. He would work with The Equalizer and Training Day director Antoine Fuqua, and the script would be written John Logan (Gladiator, Skyfall).
Then it all went very quiet. Well, not anymore. World of Reel reports that filming on the project is expected to start in June, and that noted three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Richardson (JFK, Casino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) will be the Director of Photography. Stuff just got real!
Fuqua, Washington, Erik Olsen, and Adam Goldworm will produce the film.
Hannibal Barca was born 247 BC in North Africa and died around 183 to 181 BC, in Libyssa, Bithynia, which is near Gebze, Turkey today. Hannibal was a legendary tactician and leader, widely regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in history.
The most compelling parts of his history for a movie to cover are the pivotal battles he led against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War.
His most famous exploit is the legend of his invasion of Rome via the Alps. This tale was preserved in writing, chiefly by Polybius, who is said to have traveled the route himself. The story tells of him riding a North African war elephant for the crossing and into battle. Despite his army being depleted by attacks as they crossed the Alps, he and the Carthaginians won key victories against the Romans and occupied swathes of what is now Italy for up to fifteen years.
He was eventually defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Zama.
Washington’s casting led to controversy in what is today his home country of Tunisia. A complaint was raised in Tunisian parliament at what they saw as Hollywood “blackwashing” of a historical figure, with African Americans claiming Hannibal as “African” as being historically illiterate. North Africans consider themselves significantly different from the sub-Saharan and Nubian genetic ancestry of further south.
Never stopped Netflix.
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