He’s most recently been slicing up the scenery on TV’s Rome, but now James Purefoy is looking for the chance to wield some weaponry on the big screen.
He’s just been cast as puritan swordsman Solomon Kane in an eponymous movie based on the stories of Robert E Howard – the man who created Conan The Barbarian.
Deathwatch director Michael J Bassett has written the script for the first in a planned series of movies and will direct Purefoy as Kane. He’s a 16th century soldier known for his cruel, brutal tactics who gets a nasty wake-up call when he learns he’s been damned. Giving up his blade to leave a peaceful life in hopes of atonement, he’s dragged out of retirement to wage a battle against evil.
Davis Films are putting down the cash to get this one made, which they hope will launch at least a trilogy. “Purefoy's ability to embody Kane's complex heroism, struggles and failings as he wages a mortal battle made him the perfect modern hero in this epic fantasy," producer/ distributor Samuel Hadida gassed to The Hollywood Reporter. The first film should start shooting in a couple of months.
