Three works on Alexander the Great in pipeline

According to Variety, there are now three projects in production based on the life of the gay warrior Alexander the Great. Dino De Laurentiis is at work adapting a trio of popular Italian novels on the subject, while Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) is also planing to direct a self-scripted film on the topic. The most intriguing of the lot appears to be the $15 million effort of producer Gene Kirkwood, who just finished a remake of Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons for A&E. Kirkwood has raised the funds from a variety of Greek investors and ship builders and is ready to go on his film, which he intends to be an amalgam of The English Patient and Last Tango in Paris. The limited budget precludes Gladiator-style spectacle, so much of Alexander’s conquering will reportedly be done in the bedroom. Kirkwood states, “This was a kid in his early 20s who loved his sex. The sensuality is the key.”