Pompeii is a 2014 romantic historical disaster film produced and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. An international co-production between the United States, Germany and Canada, it is a fictional tale inspired by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD that destroyed Pompeii, a city of the Roman Empire. The film stars Kit Harington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica Lucas, Jared Harris and Kiefer Sutherland. Pompeii premiered in France, Belgium, and Russia on February 19, 2014, and was released the following day in Argentina, Greece, Hungary, Italy, and, later, in the United States and Canada on February 21, 2014.