“Holy”-wood? Spielberg, Gibson, Aronofsky to put Old Testament through the mill (but not DeMille)
“Oh, Moses, Moses, why of all men did I fall in love with a prince of fools!”—Anne Baxter as Nefreteri in director Cecile B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (1956)
When Steven Spielberg makes his planned version of the Old Testament story of Moses, don’t expect any campy VistaVision exclamations like Baxter’s. Deadline wrote yesterday that the new epic, tentatively titled Gods and Kings, will be a gritty look at the Old Testament story. Reports from insiders describe the script as “Braveheart-ish” and “a real warrior story” in the mode of Saving Private Ryan.
Deadline says that Spielberg is close to committing to the project, which will be added to a list of Old Testament-inspired films planned by name directors. Also in the works are a movie about Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee from Mel Gibson and another about Noah and the Flood from Darren Aronofsky. (Presumably this will be a more serious-minded study than Evan Almighty.)
What’s in the water (or the Malbec) in Hollywood these days that is making studios turn to Old-Time (really Old-Time) Religion for story lines? Is it a return to Judeo-Christian basics at a time when things seem increasingly apocalyptic?
Maybe. Or maybe it’s an economic issue. With budgets so tight, the Good Book—safely in the public domain–is one property for which studios don’t need to shell out shekels to the Author.
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