Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski has been forced to drop out of the Pompeii film project due to scheduling problems, sector sources said on Wednesday.
In a statement appearing on the Cinematografo magazine website, the 74-year-old Polish director said "I am very sorry to abandon this project, especially considering all the work I have done developing the film".
Aside from signing on as director, Polanski was also co-producer and worked on the screenplay.
Polanski bowed out after the film's producers, Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde, pushed back the start of filming to next summer, when the director has previous commitments.
Pompeii is based on British writer Robert Harris' novel about the ancient Roman city buried by the 79 AD Mount Vesuvius eruption.
The focus of the novel is Marcus Attilius, a fictional engineer in charge of Pompeii's Aqua Augusta aqueduct who realizes before anyone else that the volcano is about to blow.
Speaking this summer, Polanski said what drew him to the project were the analogies he saw between the ancient and modern worlds.
"Every time I thank back on how advanced the Romans were, both scientifically and culturally, and on how they would never have thought of the 15 centuries of darkness that would follow them, I think of us a little," he said on the sidelines of an Italian film festival for children.
"The energy of that age is comparable with that of today - then it was powered by slavery, today we use oil.
"After that the world lived in darkness for so long and this makes me think that a similarly terrible period will follow us.
"Just like then, there is so much barbarism today, I'm thinking of the fanaticism and terrorism we see".
No announcement has been made on who will replace Polanski on the Pompeii project.
