Pulp Fiction and Beowulf writer Roger Avary has signed up to script Paul Verhoeven’s planned biblical biopic, Jesus of Nazareth. He will adapt the book of the same name, written by Paul Verhoeven, Susan Massotty and Rob Van Scheers.
It’s a bit of a departure for the RoboCop and Basic Instinct helmer, but the book was written after the director immersed himself in the history of Jesus for nearly 20 years. He believes that the immaculate conception and resurrection of Jesus did not happen. An even more controversial suggestion in the book is that Verhoeven believes that Mary was raped by a Roman soldier, which was common at the time. He portrays Jesus as a radical prophet who performed exorcisms and hoped to find Heaven on earth.
Verhoeven recently commented, “If you look at the man, it’s clear you have a person who was completely innovative in the field of ethics. My own passion for Jesus came when I started to realize that. It’s not about miracles, it’s about a new set of ethics, an openness towards the world, which was anathema in a Roman-dominated world. I believe he was crucified because they felt that politically, he was a dangerous person whose following was getting bigger and bigger. Jesus’ ideals are about the utopia of human behaviour, about how we should treat each other, how we should step into the shoes of our enemy.”
However, bringing the ideas to film are likely to prove controversial, as many get angry about anything that strays from the biblical text (or at least the common perception of it), and which questions Jesus’ divinity. There’s no info on when it might shoot (although it already has financing), but prepare for controversy and much harumphing. (Source: Deadline)