By Philip Katz the Author of IMPERATOR

It seems that Caesar’s Time has come in Hollywood. While the genre of Classical History has not made a big splash at the box office in recent years, Warner Brothers has inked a 2 picture deal to make movies about Julius Caesar with a third script being developed about the dictator’s formative years. The WB epic is a story about Caesar and his famous 10th legion. While it’s not the legion that marched on Rome, nor was the governorship of Spain a posting no one wanted, there is hope that writer Chris Boals (23 Knives) and director Jonathan Leibsman can make a successful motion picture given how particular the “Romanophiles” can be when it comes to the historical record. Personnally I find the thought of another muddled story of the telling of Caesar’s exploits disheartening as a flop may spell the end ancient Rome in Feature Films for some time. The actual story of Caesar and the Fall of the Roman Republic needs no help from any modern writer as it is about as exotic, exciting and full of intrigue as any story yet written. The actual story of Caesar could have  broad appeal here in the U.S. and overseas in particular where Caesar is much more popular than here in the States.

As for IMPERATOR, the young adult adventure story penned as a fictional personal memoir by Caesar, the phones in Hollywood will be ringing off the hook as I pitch the exiting story of Caesar’s childhood and teens years. IMPERATOR is likely to have broad appeal particularly with younger audiences, as Caesar and his true love Cinnilla navagate the pleasures and hazards of growing up in Late Republican Rome.

The Pitch:

“IMPERATOR; The Life of Gaius Julius Caesar” for adaptation to Studio Tent-Pole in response to Warner Brother’s 2 picture deal for Caesar epic.

My name is Philip Katz and I am the author of the recently released young adult historical novel Imperator; The Life of Gaius Julius Caesar, about the childhood and teen years of the General Julius Caesar. I feel the story would be a great Big Budget Summer Movie.

Imperator is filled with gritty battle scenes, political strife, sex and civil war against the rich cultural backdrop of Republican Rome and her Empire. Imperator (Published by Copperhill Media), the first in the series, is a fictional memoir by Julius Caesar in which he tells the story of his youth in the first person as it goes from the halcyon days of childhood to the bloody days of his teens. It is an engrossing, fast-paced adventure story and political thriller as the impoverished but charismatic young Roman nobleman becomes the protégé of his uncle the great general and statesman Gaius Marius.

An unmistakable sign from the gods of Caesar’s future greatness is revealed to Caesar and Marius that cements the bond between the two as Marius takes the young Caesar under his wing for the uncertain days ahead. As he becomes embroiled in the politics of Rome and eventually the civil war between Marius and Sulla young Caesar learns fights and loves against the backdrop of the beginning of the collapse of the four centuries old Roman Republic that ruled the World but could not govern its self. Witness through the eyes of young Caesar the great events and great personalities that are reborn as flesh and blood people struggling with the day to day decisions that would resonate through the millennia. Imperator details the political struggles, the lust for power and the ideological fight to preserve Rome by a small group of pragmatic reformers that would result in Civil War on an epic scale time and time again and how one exceptional young man makes his way to manhood in such a world.

Imperator at 150 pages written to conform to Hollywood’s three act structure is a great book for adaptation to a studio Tent-pole Feature. The story opens on the day of Caesar’s birth with an account of the epic battle between Marius’ army and the invading German hordes. Plot point 1 comes in chapter 7 “the Sign” on page 44 where Caesar learns his destiny. Plot point 2 comes in chapter 22 “the Mob” page 135 when Caesar stays true to his Uncle as the conflict unfolds between Marius and Sulla which ends the book in the dramatic “Battle for Rome”.