Polish movie directors go after filming famous Polish novels a little too fast

After the great box-office success of the films "Ogniem i Mieczem" ("With Fire and Sword") and "Pan Tadeusz", Polish directors are starting a run at filming epic blockbusters based on famous Polish novels. However, things are getting out of hand, as two directors now have completely independent plans of filming the same novel, namely "Krzyzacy" ("The Teutonic Knights") by Henryk Sienkiewicz. The novel is based on Poland's XVth century history and was already made into a movie back in 1960. This does not seem to discourage directors Jaroslaw Zamojda and Agnieszka Holland, both of whom plan to start filming either at the end of this year or next year. "With such a large production it is possible to join forces, but the important thing is what kind of assets the two sides have," said Marian Terlecki who is set to co-produce "Krzyzacy" by Agnieszka Holland. Zamojda was totally surprised that someone else also has plans to film the novel. Jerzy Kawalerowicz is about to start filming another Sienkiewicz novel, "Quo Vadis", for which the writer received a Nobel prize. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 1) T.J.