Guy Ritchie's Malta

From yesterday's Slash Film - blogging the reel world, Guy Ritchie 'wants to return to Malta':

Guy Ritchie still hopes that one day he will return to his dream project about the Great Siege of Malta of 1565, which is considered the last major battle of the Crusades. Looks like after The Revolver, Guy Ritchie lost his chance to regain his Swept Away lucky star by returning to the familiar territory of London outcasts. He says that he had a script finished several years ago, but put it on hold after “a load of other epics came out.” “So I thought I’d see how they did,” says Ritchie.

In 2001 Ritchie was sure that Swept Away was just a low-budget “filler” movie that was shot in Malta while preparing the The Siege of Malta (later the title was changed to Knights of Malta). The director even contemplated Anthony Hopkins and Robert De Niro as Christian and Ottoman Empire warriors respectively...

From EMPIRE magazine: Guy Ritchie talks siege of Malta