Liman's Jumper to Film in The Colosseum

20th Century Fox looks to be pulling out all the stops on Jumper, a sci-fi thriller that stars Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson, and comes from Doug Liman, director of Swingers, Go, The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Not only is the teleportation-centric project shooting in places like Paris, Egypt, New York, Toronto and China ... they're shooting a few scenes inside the Roman Colosseum, too!

According to The New York Times, the unprecedented access has been granted by a Roman mayor who simply adores the Hollywood glitz -- but don't for a second think that the city officials are handing out free passes to the ancient arena. Seems that the filmmakers have been forced to use mega-small crews and a bare minimum of equipment while shooting inside the Colosseum ... plus there's all those tourists to deal with.

But for all that time, care and effort, screenwriter Simon Kinberg delivers an amusing punch line. Apparently the scene didn't even need to be shot at the legendary amphitheater; it was originally written to take place in The Pantheon!

Based on the novel by Stephen Gould, Jumper won't hit theaters until 2008 -- but I gotta admit the project sounds pretty intriguing. Plus I hear Samuel L. Jackson is in it. (Hey, maybe I'll actually read the book.)