Milos Forman Wanted for Baudolino

German producer Thomas Schuhly, who is currently making The Untitled Alexander the Great Project with director Oliver Stone, plans to adapt Umberto Eco's novel Baudolino for the big screen.

The novel is set in the 12th century and explores the intriguing relationship between the Oriental world under the sultan Saladin and the popes, politicians and monarchs of the Christian world.

"I'm trying to get Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) to direct," he says. "We're working on a script with the English writer Glenn Wilhide." Schuhly plans to shoot the film in 2005, probably in Morocco where the action sequences of Stone's picture are being filmed.

For the "Alexander" film, he says that two weeks have been completed. "We're shooting for 87 days, which must be some kind of record. We've built huge sets, and we had literally trains full of props," the producer said, promising some of the biggest battle scenes ever seen on the big screen.

"Alexander" stars Colin Farrell in the title role, with Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer as the Macedonian general's parents. Anthony Hopkins will narrate.