Directing his first movie since Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), Richard Donner directed this big-budget adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel of the same name. Featuring a script by first-time Screenwriter George Nolfi, this movie begins in France in the near future. A group of students from Yale are there studying a medieval site, when Professor Edward Johnston (Sir Billy Connolly) mysteriously goes missing. To make matters more enigmatic, the students are then taken back to the United States by a shadowy technology company called ITC, led by Robert Doniger (David Thewlis). The eccentric Doniger explains that because of a machine that his company built, their professor is trapped in fourteenth century France. In order to rescue him, two of the students, Chris Johnston (Paul Walker) and Kate Ericson (Frances O'Connor), along with Andre Marek (Gerard Butler), an archaeological site manager, must travel to France, circa 1357, amidst archaic war, deadly diseases, and other unexpected pitfalls. Meanwhile, David Stern (Ethan Embry), a third student, stays behind to keep an eye on the shady Doniger.