England is set to be invaded once more, at least when Gladiator scipter William Nicholson gets finished with it.

Shine Pictures, in association with New Regency, has announced plans to bring the invasion of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror to the big screen for the first time. It tells how William led the Norman Conquest into England, deposing then-king Harold Godwinson at the infamous Battle of Hastings. He then set up shop as William I and went about changing the political and educational structure of his new domain, affecting nearly everything from architecture to vocabulary. And if that weren’t enough he even helped introduce feudalism to the British Isles.

As good a year as William had in 1066, Harold didn’t. He began the year as King of England, and ended it with an arrow through the eye.

Not surprisingly enough the film is to be called 1066, and is on schedule to begin production later this year. Until a draft is turned in it’s unlikely any signings will take place regarding actors or directors, although when it comes to huge epics like this one is aspiring to be, often times people will sign on regardless of whether or not a script has been completed, so stay tuned.

While New Regency is funding the project, Fox is scheduled to release the picture to the planet.

[Note from Russ: there are at least four books called 1066 that chronicle this same story. And while neither trade mentions any of them, I have to wonder if this film will take material specifically from David Howarth’s 1066, published in 1978, which is a solid popular history of the year’s events and a pretty damn good read.]