Marco? Polo! Marco? Now a movie with Francis Lawrence directing

In more Warner Brothers news, the studio has attached Francis Lawrence (I AM LEGEND, CONSTANTINE) to direct a film about 13th century explorer and pool game favorite, Marco Polo.

Lawrence would be directing a script penned by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage (ACCEPTED). The writing team have two other scripts getting ready to be filmed as well: MOBY DICK and an untitled Moses project.

Polo would be more of an action-adventure picture rather than a biopic. “We see this as something that takes place in the Orient of our imagination amid the cultural clash of the East and the West,” Cooper told Variety.

The film would following the real life adventures of Polo, a Venice merchant, who traveled with his Father and Uncle through Asia during the time of Kublai Khan. According to Polo’s “Il Milione,” Khan asked Polo to serve as an ambassador, then went on extensive travels throughout Asia for Khan. Upon his return to Europe, Venice was at war with Genoa. The explorer was taken to jail and dictated his stories to a cellmate before being released in 1299.

It should be very interesting to see some of these scripts from Cooper and Collage. These guys are going from writing screenplays like ACCEPTED and NEW YORK MINUTE (that movie with the grown up Olsen twins) to Moses, MOBY DICK, and Marco Polo.