Filming is well underway, rather, almost done in Tunisia for interna-

tional star Aishwarya Rai on The Last Legion, a Dino De Laurentiis presentation, produced by Martha and Raffaella De Laurentiis and directed by Doug Lefler.

The Last Legion is a US $70 million epic-adventure independently financed by Quinta Communications' Tarak Ben Ammar and British co-

producers Chris Curling and Phil Robertson of Zephyr Films.

“Her fans will be shocked and thrilled with this 'never before seen Aishwarya'. She is simply marvelous,” states Simone Sheffield, Rai's International Manager. Stunt Coordinator Steve Griffin (Terminator 3, Titanic, Mummy Returns) says of Rai, “When I was told that Aishwarya was to be the leading lady in The Last Legion, I did my homework on her. However, the information I found mostly showed her as a pretty model. This of course put my panic in motion. Because of another work related commitment Aishwarya was unable to join us until we had in fact already begun filming in Tunisia. The first time she attended rehearsals, I found out she could move well and remember choreography easily. We put a sword in her hand and she just flowed, the next thing was to get her aggression up to make it look like she would kill somebody. She needed little motivation and her acting was superb.”

Costume designer Paolo Scalabrino (Gangs of New York, Troy, Seven Years in Tibet) says, “My first impression of Aishwarya in our initial meeting in London was 'what a very beautiful, dainty lady she is'. However, when she turned up for work one month later (August 10), I found a toughened, well-toned (down 4 inches) and determined actress. I discovered a different person. You could see she had put lots of physical energy and mental training in to address the role.”

The production has moved from Tunisia to Slovakia to complete the filming.

Source: Internet