Eagle of the Ninth takes flight at Cannes

By Peter Bowen On May 20, 2009

While some have reported slow sales at Cannes, Focus Features International has been doing very brisk business with their upcoming Eagle of the Ninth. The story of a Roman soldier and his slave (Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell) off to find a missing brigade of soldiers (the Ninth Legion) will be directed by Kevin McDonald and scripted by Jeremy Brock (who’d worked with McDonald before on The Last King of Scotland). The script is adapted from a best-selling book of the same name by Rosemary Sutcliff. As ScreenDaily and Variety report, Focus Intl. has already pre-sold nearly every territory at the festival.