Rachel Weisz Goes Back to Ancient Egypt… Non 'Mummy' Style

'Others' helmer sets up his second English language feature

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Friday, March 14th 2008 at 3:06 AM

Alejandro Amenabar's most popular film here in the States is undoubtedly The Others starring Nicole Kidman, a film I really liked and thought was an extremely effective ghost story. Amenabar's most respected film is probably The Sea Inside, which won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2005. His next film will take audiences to ancient Egypt and he is taking Rachel Weisz along for the ride.

The film is called Agora, which has nothing to do with agoraphobia (the fear of crowds), but the word "agoraphobia" was derived from "agora" which was a chief marketplace of Athens, serving as the center of the city's civic life. However, I am not sure how that plays into the plot of the film, which is set in Roman Egypt in the fourth century A.D. Weisz plays astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria (a real person), who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus (Max Minghella) is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.

Along with Weisz and Minghella, the film co-stars Oscar Isaac, Ashraf Barhom, Michael Lonsdale, Rupert Evans and Homayoun Ershadi.

Production is set to begin Monday, March 17 in Malta.

Quoted in The Hollywood Reporter Amenabar said, "Our entire team is devoted to bringing ancient Alexandria back to life by using the hyperrealist approach. We want the audience to see, feel and smell a remote civilization as if it were as real as the present day."

"Amenabar has written an epic, passionate tale about one woman's relentless pursuit of truth," Weisz said. "It gets to the heart of the ugliness and the beauty of what it is to be human."

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