Former MLB player Mike Piazza to produce ‘Constantine’ set in ancient Rome…what?

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

You might assume that since Mike Piazza is a former professional athlete, if he was going to produce a movie it would be about a sports legend that inspired him or a really good screenplay about an underdog. Aren’t athletes only suppose to love sports?

Variety is reporting that the ex-slugger is going to help produce a film called CONSTANTINE with 1019 Entertainment. The movie will be from a script by David Franzoni, who was a screenwriter and producer for GLADIATOR. The flick about the ancient Roman Emperor  “centers around the complicated power struggle between rival claimants to the empire after the death of Galerius in 311 A.D. Under his reign, Rome’s capital was moved to the newly named Constantinople as he attempted to unite his empire through the spread of Christian doctrine.“

Turns out Mike Piazza is a bit of a history buff and he talked about why he wanted to tell the tale of Constantine:

I’ve always been interested in this history of the Roman Empire, and this peaked when I visited Rome. The spread of Christianity during Constantine’s reign struck me as a huge turning point in human history and I think film is the best medium to capture such a significant moment.

I’m not going to expect this film to be GLADIATOR or TROY (I doubt it’ll have a budget anywhere close to those two) but if this ends up being a smaller period piece about an important figure in history (who has been pretty unexplored when it comes to films) I’m game.