Two respected Mexican newspapers have reported that Russell Crowe will shoot his next movie at Chichen Itza.

The Australian actor will join Italian actress Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Triology, Shoot ‘Em Up), according to the man who wrote the screenplay, Alberto Haggar Gonzales. The film, “2012, la Profecía de la Serpiente” (“2012: The Prophecy of the Serpent”) will begin shooting later this year for a 2009 release.

Monica Bellucci, with Clive Owen, in 2007′s “Shoot ‘Em Up”

According to El Financiero, Haggar Gonzales says the plot of the film revolves around the legacy of the Maya world in 2012 and will be set in Yucatan. The year marks the end of time for the human race, which will be forced to decide whether it should assume the challenge of embracing spirituality or perish.

El Financiero caught up with Haggar Gonzales at the government offices of the state of Yucatan in Merida. And just who is the scriptwriter? He is an archaeoastronomer who speaks to New Age groups interested in the Maya calendar, which runs out on Dec. 21, 2012. While he has never had a screenplay produced, he does have some experience in front of the camera. Below is a snippet from a presentation he gave last year to “Earth Spirit Medicine,” based in New Hampshire:

If you stuck through to the end of the video, you would have seen a crystal skull. Coincidentally, this will be the subject of the new Indiana Jones movie that comes out this summer.

If Haggar Gonzales’s claim is true, this would be the third film dealing with 2012 in some form of production. Roland Emmerich, the director of “Independence Day,” recently sold to Sony pictures a project he has been developing for a big-budget movie about 2012. Another film company based in Russell Crowe’s home country of Australia is working on a 2012 movie called “The Dark Rift.”

The entire news team at American Egypt has been working around the clock to confirm this story. As yet, neither Russell Crowe or Monica Bellucci has returned our repeated e-mails.