From pirates to princes to Nazis – Jerry Bruckheimer’s latest acqusition is a novel titled Killing Rommel, written by Steven Pressfield and published earlier this year, about a British battalion’s attempt to thwart German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s desert campaign during WWII. Screenwriter Randall Wallace, known for his Braveheart and Pearl Habor scripts, has been hired to adapt the screenplay for Bruckheimer and Disney. The novel has been said to contain “the same edge-of-your-seat drama, remarkable battle scenes, and strong characters” that Pressfield is known for in his previous books. Please just tell me that this is not Michael Bay’s next film after Transformers 2 and I’ll be quite happy.
Killing RommelThe story in Killing Rommel focuses on British officer R. Lawrence “Chap” Chapman and the British plot to assassinate the “Desert Fox,” aka German field marshal Erwin Rommel, during late 1942 and early 1943 in North Africa. “Chap also falls in love with sexy Rose McCall, whose brains and brass later get her posted to naval intelligence in Egypt. As a young lieutenant, Chap joins the team assembled to go after Rommel.” Sounds like Michael Bay fodder to me, but thankfully he’s occupied, so I wonder who Bruckheimer will recruit to bring this WWII epic to the screen? It actually sounds quite promising, even though I would have never guessed that Bruckheimer would’ve wanted to work on the war epics as well.
While WWII has always been featured in the Hollywood spotlight, I definitely feel like it’s becoming a bigger trend to return to that war. Quentin Tarantino is doing it, Spike Lee is doing it, Bryan Singer is doing it, so why not everyone else? I consider myself an enormous fan of war movies and this book sounds like it has some exciting content that’ll make for a great film, especially in the hands of Bruckheimer. Even if the story turns out a bit weak, at least we’ll have a big-budget glorified WWII film with great visuals and expansive sets, which is exactly what I need to be a happy moviegoer. I’ll be following this closely as they search for a director.
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