We ridicule Roland Emmerich for the plethora of disaster movies he’s peddled over the years, but the truth is he hasn’t directed one since 2012, which came out in 2009. And he’s not returning to the genre any time soon, as his next project will be a costume drama, the historical epic Maya Lord. Emmerich acquired the rights to the book back in 2014 and he’s been working to get it off the ground ever since. Now he’s making it happen with Voltage Pictures coming on board to produce.
The film, which is already being compared to Dances with Wolves, Braveheart, and the Emmerich-directed The Patriot, is based on the novel by John Coe Robbins, which Angela Workman (The Zookeeper’s Wife) will adapt. Here’s a synopsis:
Maya Lord is a timely tale of oppression and survival. Guerrero, a solider, and Aguilar a priest survive a violent shipwreck in the Yucatan Peninsula only to be captured by a fierce Mayan tribe. With no hope for escape, the brilliant and pragmatic adventurer Gonzalo Guerrero chooses to adopt the Mayan culture as his own, while the uncompromising Father Aguilar holds fast to his Christian faith. The arrival of the conquistadors in 1519 tests the will of both men as they take different warring paths.
Sounds a little bit like The Lost City of Z meets Martin Scorsese’s Silence, an intriguing combination if Emmerich can pull it off. [Deadline]
