The King (2007)

The King is the prequel to this Easter's The Follower from The Saltmine Trust. Released in time for Christmas it offers three snapshots of what the Christmas story might look like if it would happen today. So Herod (Richard Hasnip) works in an office; Joseph's dreams occur whilst he has fallen asleep in front of the TV; the wise men make their plans via an internet chat room; and Jesus's birth takes place in a grotty basement.

The three films' central plot device is also a result of this modernisation. Herod is hauled in by the Romans and interrogated about the events leading up to his slaughter of the innocents. It's an interesting concept, precisely because it makes Herod somewhat sympathetic. Whilst Hasnip warns us that this time he is not the hero, seeing Herod as something of a victim throws fresh light on him. Yes he is still culpable for the tragic events at Bethlehem, but, for possibly the first time, he is played as a three dimensional character rather than just the villain in a holy Christmas pantomime. At the same time, however, the idea feels a bit contrived - as if the setting was chosen to allow Hasnip to demonstrate his acting ability, rather than because it fits particularly well with the story.Herod's account is interspersed with the story of Mary and Joe, whose familiar story unfolds in an (un)familiar setting. This has been done before, of course, in Goddard's Hail Mary, but that was over twenty years ago, set in another country and filmed in a different language. Here Mary calls Joe on his mobile to tell him about her pregnancy whilst he's at work. It's the worst possible timing and unsurprising, therefore, that he has a hard time accepting it. When they have to travel for the "census" Joe's anger surfaces once again, and it's his aggression, as much as the landlady's kindness, or God's provision, that gets them somewhere for Mary to give birth.

The unconventional take on Mary and Joseph is fresh, and emphasises their normality. It puts us in their shoes, just as Herod's scenes do. Unfortunately, although the two scenes described above are well conceived, they don't quite deliver. They require an awful lot from the two young leads, and whilst they give it a good shot, it all feels a little forced. And ultimately, Joe's anger and Mary's sappiness makes it hard to sympathise with them elsewhere in the film.Like The Follower, The King is written by Richard Hasnip and directed by James White. White's task here is trickier than in the follower. The three main sets are not the kinds of places that make for attractive cinematography: Herod's office is the epitome of corporate blandness, the interrogation takes place in a darkened room, and the basement is meant to look kind of shabby. Given this, White does well to find some nice shots whilst preserving the real-world feel of the three films as a whole. In fact, whereas The Follower's three stories worked best as stand alone episodes, this is more like three parts of the same story.

The King differs in other ways too. The soundtrack is subtler, and much improved, and the use of a number of viewpoints leave this feeling like more of a conventional drama than the original's dramatic monologues.

Overall, then, whilst The King is not up to the standards of The Follower it still manages to take a story that it sometimes too familiar and offer up some interesting and original ideas.

Article in Print - The ReaderJesus in Film

I've had an article published in the Church of England's The Reader magazine on Jesus in Film. Their winter issue is looking at Jesus, the incarnation and artistic expression, so they asked me to contribute a piece for it. I'm actually going to be writing for them on a more regular basis now, contributing film / DVD reviews and the like. It's a bit tricky as you have to be 3 months ahead of yourself, but I'll have a short article in the spring edition looking at the BBC's Passion. The winter issue is not online yet, but should be shortly.

A warm welcome to anyone who has found this site from The Reader. I hope you enjoyed the article.

More on BBC/HBO's Passion

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(I know I'm using the same photo two posts running, but it's the only one there is so far, and, well, I really like it).

Mark Goodacre, who has acted as the historical consultant for HBO/BBC's The Passion has posted a few comments on Tuesday's press release. The first of his recent posts includes the following:

A couple of minor comments. First, this story is widely reported today with the error that it is five episodes. It is actually six. Second, when the press release above says "Easter Week", it should read "Holy Week". I assume that it will run from Monday-Good Friday + Easter Sunday.

More substantively, I am happy to report that I have seen rough edits of the first two episodes and they are really excellent. I am very excited about this, having been involved with this project as a consultant for just over two years. In due course, I would like to tell the story of the project from the sidelines of my small contribution. At this stage, though, I should not be revealing any of its secrets, so my story will have to wait

Then on Wednesday he added

don't think it's quite right to say that it "rehabilitates Pilate" though it is the case that all the characters in the drama are well-drawn, three-dimensional characters. I would also doubt that the depiction of the resurrection will "anger Christian groups" in the US, though you can never predict these things. I have not yet seen the episode, but what I can say on the basis of the scripts and the extensive discussions about them is that it is depicted in a very interesting and fresh way, quite unlike anything in previous Jesus films.

He's also linked to articles in the press featuring in The Sun, The Times, This is London, Inspire Magazine, Variety, World Screen, Hollywood Reporter, The Stage and The Guardian.

There are a few interesting bits of commentary in amongst the usual re-hashing of the press release. Incidentally, on Tuesday I omitted to mention that there are a few additional comments on the BBC's winter / spring schedule which was released the same day.I also wanted to add a few comments by Nigel Stafford-Clark (pictured above) on casting. I've alluded to this previously, but wanted to use it for a print article I was writing on the story. It's a snippet taken from his interview at the MP3 of the 2007 Churches Media Conference. Asked about the casting of Jesus, and whether there will be any star names he replies:

The general idea is that the people who are the authority figures, the people who would have been known names to the world in which we're moving, will be played by well known actors. Jesus and the disciples will be mainly played by actors who are not so well known...it's important that when they arrive at the beginning of the week that they are, to some extent, unknown quantities, as they were when they arrived at the beginning of that week.

One further point on all of this, someone called notes that

It sounds rather similar to Channel 4's 1992 drama An Incident in Judea which was an adaption of the Pilate section from The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. An Incident in Judea is probably the best drama I have seen on tv so I hope this is as good. (C4 please repeat Incident at Easter)

I vaguely remember this programme happening, but I don't think I actually saw it (I was only 17 at the time). It does sound interesting, although I think that Jesus didn't appear on screen.

Troughton as Paul of Tarsus

Mark Goodacre has discovered details of an old BBC series called Paul of Tarsus (1960) which starred Patrick Troughton in the leading role. Troughton performed the role six years before he became the second Dr. Who in 1966.

Like Mark, I'd never heard of this film before. He quotes the brief entry in the BFI database ("A cycle of ten plays telling the story of the Acts of Christ's Apostles. BBC tx 1960/10/16 - 1960/12/18 (Sun)") and links to details of two episodes - To the Gentiles and The Feast of Pentecost - as well as the Cast List. The latter lists the writer, producer and director as Joy Harington, who, the following year, converted the production into a novel featuring pictures from the series. Mark's getting the book and will hopefully find out some more details. I'll echo his request for more information from anyone who knows more.

Columbia to Make Year One ComedyJack Black, Mintz-Plasse, Apatow, Platt, Ramis and Vinnie Jones

Photo by Mirka23, used under a Creative Commons Licence

Peter Chattaway has linked to a story at the Hollywood Reporter about a new comedy set in biblical times, to be called Year One. There's a whole range of stars associated with it: Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Judd Apatow (producer, pictured), Michael Cera (all from Superbad, Oliver Platt (Huff), Jack Black (King Kong), and Vinnie Jones (Leeds United). Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day) will be directing the film.

The Hollywood Reporter piece describes the film as "a comedy set in biblical times", and also adds:

Platt is in talks to play a platform-shoe-wearing high priest in the comedy, while Jones is on board to play a head palace guard named Sargon. Cross and Temple's roles are not known.

The studio is keeping mum on the story line, which is based on a story by Ramis who, along with Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, penned the screenplay.

There's also an earlier Hollywood Reporter piece on this film which lists Owen Wilson as an executive producer. I suspect the absence of Wilson's name from this latest piece suggests that he is no longer involved.

The Passion BBC Press Release

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I've been expecting a press release on the BBC's The Passion for some time now, and it finally came out today, featuring the above image of Joseph Mawle as Jesus. I've covered quite a bit of the information in this press release in previous posts, but there are a couple of bits to add. Firstly, an intriguing way to set the scene; one which gives a really good feel of the angle that the series will be coming from:

It's the start of Passover week. In the next few days Jerusalem will more than double in size as thousands of pilgrims come to celebrate the most important festival in their religious calendar.

For their Roman masters, it is the tensest time of the year. Palestine is an unruly province at the best of times, prone to insurgency and driven by an ancient religion that the Romans neither understand nor appreciate.

Indeed, for most of the year the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, and his force of 3,000 legionaries base themselves by the sea in the city of Caesarea, where they can enjoy the pleasures of civilisation well away from the perils of Jerusalem's narrow streets.

But for the festivals, and particularly for Passover with its undertones of resistance to imperial power, they move back into the capital city and prepare for trouble.

For the High Priest Caiaphas and his Temple priests too, Passover is not an easy time. The Temple in Jerusalem is the epicentre of the Jewish religion, and during Passover their workload will be immense – on one day alone, some 10,000 lambs will have to be ritually sacrificed in the Temple in the space of a few hours to ensure that every family has its lamb for the Passover meal.

And there is pressure on Caiaphas in other ways. As High Priest, civil unrest is also his responsibility. His Temple guards are the local police force, and it is their job to keep order amongst the civilian population.

Any trouble and the Romans will swiftly move in. And everyone knows what that means.

As Pilate and his wife move rather reluctantly back into their Jerusalem apartments, and Caiaphas and his colleagues review known troublemakers and insurgents who might be on their way to the city, no-one gives much thought to a local preacher from the backwaters of Galilee, who is also making his way to Jerusalem with a gang of followers bonded by two years on the road – a tough, resourceful group whose loyalty is absolute.

Then news is brought that the Galileean is approaching the city on a donkey's colt, and will be entering Jerusalem through the East Gate – thus fulfilling two of the most powerful religious prophecies of the coming of the Messiah. The one who many believe will lead them to military victory or spiritual salvation

On the streets a crowd is beginning to gather. And the week has only just begun...

I think that is largely the same text that Producer Nigel Stafford-Clark read out at the 2007 Churches Media Conference, but I now realise that this typifies so much of why I'm particularly looking forward to this one. It's great to see the story will be told from Caiaphas's point of view as well as Jesus's and Pilate's, and the solidly historical context that the film has been put in is also very encouraging.

I do note, however, that Stephen Graham's name is not mentioned. I hope he's still involved. I also need to find out a bit more about director Michael Offer (State Within).

The Ten Coming to DVD

I was disappointed not to see David Wain's The Ten this summer, particularly as there have been two other movies released this year that also dealt with material from the Book of Exodus (the others being the animated version of The Ten Commandments and Penny Woolcock's Exodus).

However, looks like it's finally due to come out on DVD on the 15th January 2008 (although only in the US). The film's official website lists the following extras:

* Audio commentary with David Wain, Ken Marino and Paul Rudd — plus soothing jazz and David’s parents!
* Alternate-Take and Deleted-Scene Vignettes – over 50 minutes!
* Bonus Interview
* Wainy Days Episode One as seen on MyDamnChannel.com
* Exclusive (and outrageous) Ring tones and Wallpaper
* Plus some wild surprises!