Indie production company Mechaniks is developing an Antonio Vivaldi biopic based on a script by journalist Jeffrey Freedman, who has spent two decades researching the eccentric 18th century Catholic priest-cum-Baroque composer says Variety.

This means two films are in the works centering on the composer's colourful life. Mechaniks' "Antonio Vivaldi" has a start date of May 1st and will shoot in Italy and Austria. No director is yet attached, though they have approached dynamic folk-rock fiddler Ashley MacIsaac about playing Vivaldi.

Freedman's script follows Vivaldi as the young priest is assigned to serve as a music master of a school for the abandoned, illegitimate daughters of Venice's courtesans. He is plagued by debilitating bouts of asthma -- as well as by doubts about the hypocrisy of the Catholic church. Vivaldi wins the trust and affection of the girls, and his bond with them leads to a concert of his music before the pope.

Last fall, Imagine Entertainment and Columbia announced that "Lords of Dogtown" director Catherine Hardwicke would develop and helm their own biopic entitled "Vivaldi." It appears she's no longer attached to the project, however, even while "Vivaldi" remains in active development. That film would follow the forbidden romance between the young composer and his muse Anna that inspired his most famous composition "The Four Seasons."

Thanks to 'Castratta'.