Filming To Start In Serbia On 'Titanic: Blood & Steel'

This is the part where I'd normally let my inner cynic run free like a wild horse upon the plains over yet another Titanic-related project. But this actually interests me.

"Titanic: Blood And Steel," the 12-part mini-series with a $30-million budget, starts filming this week in Serbia, and it will debut in time to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the "unsinkable" ship's maiden voyage to New York, reports Variety. And it looks to tackle the legendary doomed vessel from a perspective few, if any, projects ever have.

Instead of setting some concocted (also, sometimes contrived) individual drama against the backdrop of acknowledged facts about the night the fabled "Ship of Dreams" struck an Atlantic iceberg and sank, this one will actually go back further still explore the design and build of the ship in Edwardian Belfast, Northern Ireland, and how class considerations led to the compromises that eventually doomed the ship that night.

The mini-series will be helmed by Irishman Ciaran Donnelly ("The Tudors.")

"This story, never told before, examines the tensions, politics and financial pressures involved in building the Titanic," said managing director Andrea Zoso. "The ship, which put comfort before safety, was conceived as a way of connecting Europeans to America. We have lined up an international cast that reflects these two cultures."

That cast includes Derek Jacobi ("The King's Speech") playing Lord William Pirrie, chairman of Titanic builder firm Harland and Wolff. Chris North ("Sex and the City," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent") will portray J.P. Morgan, who financed the vessel. Neve Campbell ("Party of Five," "Scream") will play a reporter covering the ship's maiden voyage.

And for those who still roll their eyes at another Titanic story . . . I prove to you that it could be much, much worse.

Once more . . . take it away, Nostalgia Critic.