Paz Vega Is A High Priestess In "Pompeii"

Paz Vega has joined the cast of Titanic-style epic "Pompeii" says Variety.

The story is set around Pompeii in 79 A.D. and folllows Milo ("Game of Thrones" star Kit Harington), a slave whose plans to marry the daughter (Emily Browning) of his shipping tycoon master are dashed when he is sold to another owner in Naples. When Mount Vesuvius erupts, he flees back to Pompeii to rescue his lover and his best friend, a gladiator trapped in the coliseum.

Milo must also deal with a corrupt Roman general (Kiefer Sutherland) whom Flavia was forced to marry by her father (Jared Harris).

Vega plays Strigana, the dark and mysterious high priestess of ancient Pompeii.

Jessica Lucas will play a personal slave and friend to Browning's Flavia Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje will play an enslaved gladiator and friend to Milo. Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pingue also star.

Janet Scott Batchler and Lee Batchler wrote the original screenplay-then Downton Abbey
creator Julian Fellowes wrote the most recent script revision.

Paul W.S. Anderson will direct and co-produce with Jeremy Bolt, Robert Kulzer Don Carmody and Martin Moszkowicz.

Production is underway for a release on Feb. 28, 2014.