The news that Roman Polanski was to film the epic story of Pompeii and its destruction by Mount Vesuvius seems to have taken a positive turn as we hear that RAI Cinema has purchased all the Italian rights to the film.

The film is carrying an estimated budget of US$130 million and may well be starting in August with a shooting schedule of five months. Robert Harris and Polanski are finishing off the script first and they plan to grab an a-list celebrity for the lead.

What is interesting is the plan for the shooting schedule. Currently, according to Variety through Coming Soon, they are looking at 90% of the film in soundstages in Spain and using a lot of CGI. However the Italian companies involved in the production are trying to push the filmmakers to do more location shooting in Italy.