First Kings now Samson

With the release of NBC's Kings just weeks away, the show's director Francis Lawrence (I am Legend) has signed up for another futuristic Bible adaptation. Variety is claiming that Lawrence has signed up with Warner Bros. to make Samson "a futuristic retelling of the Samson and Delilah story." Scott Silver (8 mile) will be writing the script with Erwin Stoff producing. Thanks to Peter Chattaway for this one.

Oh and Kings will now première on Sunday, March 15, at 8 pm, not Thursday March 19th as previously stated.

Kingdom Still Coming

JOHN BISSET/Timaru Herald

I mentioned a fortnight ago how plans to shoot the film Kingdom Come in New Zealand had been put on hold. Thankfully, stuff.co.nz is now reporting that filming is finally due to start "late next month". The article also claims that "a deal (has) been negotiated with one of the six major studios for worldwide distribution of the film."

Thanks to Doug of Church Video Reviews for the tip off.

Valkyrie Article at ReJesus

My article on Bryan Singer's Valkyrie is up at ReJesus. I still have a number of my reviews for the old site to reload. If anyone has been trying to track then down without success - apologies. If you let me know which review you were after I can try and prioritise reloading those.

Revealed: The Permed Jesus

Last week I asked if anyone knew where this film Jesus had come from. I was pleased at just how quickly I got a response. The answer is that the footage is taken from the video to Michael W. Smith's 1988 song "Secret Ambition" from the album "i 2 (eye)". It took me a while to find the precise year but the video's hilarious mullets, waistcoats over vests, lead guitar solo and moustachioed Pontius Pilate somewhat give the game away.

Kudos to CGARTIST for coming up with the correct answer first. He was also kind enough to provide this excerpt from the video box's blurb:

Special thanks to Tom Newman as Jesus and the Church on the Move, Tulsa OK. Filmed on the set of the Great Passion Play, Eureka Springs, ARKANSAW.

Those who, like me, had (mercifully) never seen this video can catch it at YouTube.

Murder in the Miracle Maker?

So Nina and I watched a bit of The Miracle Maker over the weekend and I noticed a few new things this time around. The first of which was this rather odd-shaped package that Peter seems to have with him. Not sure whether this is meant to pre-figure Jesus's death and his body being wrapped in preparation for his burial, or it's a variation on "pick up your cross and follow me" or whether it's just that someone made up a parcel that just happened to be body shaped. I suspect the latter.

On a more serious note, I was also struck by the suddenes of Jesus's transition from teknon to spiritual leader. He starts the film as a builder/carpenter, and then goes, seemingly leaving his employers somewhat in the lurch. Then he goes home to his mother, she remembers his childhood, and the next day it's off to the River Jordan to get baptised.

Speaking of which, the last person to get baptised before Jesus is Andrew, who, like Jesus, baptises himself. Andrews role is beefed up a bit in this film compared to other Jesus films, so maybe this is part of that.

Lastly, Mel was struck by how upset Jesus is after his cousin John is beheaded, particularly given that he is seeing miracles happen in his own ministry. In fact, this is made even more poignant given that this film not only has more miracles than the majority, but also by the fact that it is called The Miracle Maker. He saved others, but he himself could not save those near to him.

Isaiah Films

Through the Bible in Five and a Half Years has got as far as Isaiah - a book whose poetry far outweighs its narrative. So it's hardly surprising that Isaiah has never been made into a film (even though Jeremiah was in 1998 by the Bible Collection).

But given the significance of Isaiah's work on the New Testament in particular, it's strange we don't find more of him somewhere. All there is is about ten minutes of a Living Christ episode where the story from Isaiah 36-37 appears by way of introduction to the prophet and his writings, which in turn introduces Jesus, whom the series is really about. But that is all. It does, however, give us one of the best shots of the whole series (above) as Isaiah paces about behind his scribe.

Does anyone else know of a film that features Isaiah?

German Bible Comedies Announced

Peter Chattaway has posted a piece on German studio UFA Cinema who are adapting a best-selling romcom and a quirky comic book both of which involve biblical characters. Jesus Liebt Mich (Jesus Loves Me), "sounds sort of like a cross between Hal Hartley's The Book of Life (1998) and the Gretchen Mol segment in David Wain's The Ten (2007)." Prototype is comic book which appears to be a subversive take on the creation story. Looking at the blurbs for the book on Amazon Germany the plot seems to involve Adam rebelling against both God and the snake, but the translation is less than clear.

There's a little bit on this at the Hollywood Reporter.