During a few years in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Lucio Fulci worked on Nero Romano, a project important to him. Here’s what he said in a interview to Robert Schlockoff about the project for L’Ecran fantastique in 1982: «It is a study in power. Not a denunciation of power – this has been done so many times… but a thriller à la Chandler, Hammett, or Irish set in Ancient Rome, at the end of the Empire. A new survey of the Fall of the Roman Empire in the form of a thriller. But of course I might have to shoot a totally different film right now.» (L’Ecran fantastique 22)
In another interview two years later, Fulci was still passionate about the project, but seemed resigned that it would not be made: «[It’s] a film that I considered long before Conan, but, unfortunately, the films we want to do the most never come! It’s an habitual rule. Now, I don’t think that I’ll shoot it someday. The story is a little bit outdated. It was in the style of Dashiell Hammett that sat place in the Ancient Rome where the Absolute Power fought a huge aura of mystery. In my opinion, it was a great plot. I still don’t understand why it couldn’t be done.» (L’Ecran fantastique 44)