February 21, 2002
Connery up for crime-fighting role
By JAM! Movies
Sean Connery is poised to join "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

Variety said Connery is in final talks to take on the role of Allan Quatermain, leader of a coterie of Victorian-era literary heroes who join forces to fight evil.

The troupe was created by comic book master Alan Moore with Kevin O'Neill. The League includes Quatermain (an Indiana Jones-style adventurer), "Dracula's" Mina Harker, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll, "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea's" Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray, and American detective Thomas Sawyer.

The comic storyline had Queen Victoria recruiting the team to fight a villain intent on pitting the various nations of the world against each other.

Variety noted that Quatermain's character, which was created in the 1880s by Henry Rider Haggard, was considered by some as the role model for Indiana Jones. Connery portrayed that character's father in "Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade."

The film is to begin shooting this summer in the Czech Republic and Morocco. "Blade" director Stephen Norrington is attached to direct the film.