Here are a few promo pics from a new movie titled The Eagle of the Ninth which stars Channing Tatum, Donald Sutherland and Jamie Bell and in set in Roman-occupied Britain in 1040 AD. From what I understand, the film tells an epic tale but from the looks of these first promo pics is also an excuse to feature sweaty, half-nekkid hotties on the big screen. Some of you may remember that Jamie Bell starred as Billy Elliot in the film of the same name … I would say the young man has grown up very nicely:

He’s come a long way from the shy and skinny ballet-dancing teenager in Billy Elliot. And after being ridiculed and teased for wanting to dance, Jamie Bell looks more than ready to take on his critics. The 22-year-old actor shows that he’s all grown up as he flaunts a buff-looking physique in the first pictures released for his latest film. He stars in the upcoming movie The Eagle of the Ninth, alongside Donald Sutherland and Channing Tatum, which is due out in cinemas next year. Set in 140AD in Roman-occupied Britain, Bell plays Esca, a Celtic slave of his master, a young centurion called Marcus Aquila, played by Tatum. Aquila has arrived in London twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of his father’s Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland. Together, he and Esca set off across Hadrian’s Wall to find out what happened to his father’s legion and retrieve its golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth. The film, which is based on the 1954 novel by the late children’s author Rosemary Sutcliff, also stars British actors Mark Strong as Guern, ‘an ex-soldier who holds crucial information about the Ninth’, and Douglas Henshall. Sutherland plays Aquila, Marcus’ uncle who is living retired in Britain in the film which cost £15million to make and was shot in Hungary and Scotland. Since Bell made his acting debut in Billy Elliot aged just 14 – for which he won the 2001 BAFTA Award for Best Actor – he has landed some major Hollywood roles. He starred alongside Jack Black, Adrian Brody and Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, with Daniel Craig in last year’s World War Two film Defiance, and with Hayden Christensen in Jumper last year. Bell also landed the lead role as Tintin in The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, the movie adaptation of the Herge comic books, due for release in 2011.

I understand the movie is based on the 1950′s children’s book The Eagle of the Ninth written by Rosemary Sutcliff. It sounds like an interesting story but I’m having a hard time understanding the actual plot. To be honest, tho, if there is a promise of nekkidness of any sort from Tatum or Bell, well, who really needs a plot? Channing Tatum may not be a good actor but he does make for pretty good eye candy. Jamie Bell, on the other hand, is a fantastic actor so … who knows, this movie might turn out to be pretty good.

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