No official cast names have yet been released, through Anne did have a number of actors who she would like to see as Ramses (her first choice being Antonio Banderas, if I recall correctly).
No specific director has been chosen either. With Cameron planning on filming True Lies 2 in 2002, it's unlikely he would be able to also do this (though not totally impossible). Michael Rymer (Queen of the Damned) was rumored once, but never confirmed officially.
The screenwriter, however, has been selected. Karen Essex (her debut was a two-volume novel called Kleopatra which the first part of came out in August, 2001, with the second part due in August, 2002). Steven Katz (Shadow of the Vampire) wrote an early adaptation of the novel, but Essex is apparently starting her draft over from scratch.
Below is a preview of the plot. It varies (or sounds questionable) on one certain subject that may have been changed for the movie:
"After drinking the Elixir of Life, the Egyptian pharoah Ramses the Great becomes condemned to an eternal life, forever walking the Earth. Finally falling asleep over 1,000 years after his reign (during the time of the life of true love, Cleopatra), he is awakened 2,000 years later in 1914, by Lawrence Stafford, an archaeologist. Eventually brought to Stafford's mansion in England, Ramses falls in love with Stafford's daughter, Julie, setting out on a plan to use her to bring Cleopatra back to life. What this leads to, however, is more than Ramses had ever bargained for..."
It has also been pointed out that this could just be a scramble to use Anne's novel to recreate the success of the past two mummy movies ('The Mummy' & 'The Mummy Returns') however, the rights for this film and start of screenwriting began back in early 1996, whereas the announcement of Stephen Sommer's movie didn't occur until late 1997.
