You’ve got to give Vin Diesel a little credit: when he gets the idea for a passion project in his head, he doesn’t let go of it. Even if it takes years in development, several false starts and more than one different version along the way. And while he still doesn’t have any solid details to report, it appears he might finally be getting some real support for his attempt to make a film about Hannibal of Carthage.
A major thorn in the side of the Roman Empire around 200 BC or so, Hannibal was a canny general who famously led his troops and a team of elephants over the Alps to battle Roman forces during the Second Punic War.
For years, Diesel has been pushing the concept as a possible trilogy, charting both Hannibal’s war efforts and those of his father, Hamilcar Barca, who led the Carthaginian forces during the First Punic War. The actor, who has been looking to direct the eventual films, has been talking up the idea, but despite chatter about Denzel Washington possibly playing Hamilcar and mention of an animated version, the high cost of the film(s) has proved a major stumbling block for studio bean counters.
But then this weekend Diesel put up a post on his Facebook page reading, “When a dream is born in your childhood... When you spend a decade daring to pursue it... The day, a head of a studio says... "I want to make all three films of your Hannibal trilogy!" Haha... It takes a minute to sink in... Shhhhh... It's still sinking in.”
As of right now, you’ll want to get a jumbo-sized amount of salt to take this with, as no other information was forthcoming. But given that he never stopped believing that a new Riddick film would be made and the third adventure for the sci-fi badass is set to hit US cinemas next September, you can’t count out his dreams that easily.