Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke helmed a look at Jesus’ birth in The Nativity Story back in 2006, but it didn’t find too much success, and so now the film world is having another go, and they may get Ben Kingley to help them.
The movie is called Mary Mother of Christ, which Australian filmmaker Alister Grierson is being putting together. He has already cast Odeya Rush (The Odd Life of Timothy Green) as Mary, Peter O’Toole as Symeon, and Julia Ormond as Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth. If Ben Kingsley signs up, he’d play the impressively villainous King Herod, famed for trying to kill all the firstborn Israelite children in the hope of getting rid of Jesus. The producers are also interested in casting Dame Judi Dench as Anna the Prophetess and Hugh Bonneville as Satan, although it isn’t known whether those actors are interested.
It looks like it’ll be a fairly reverent take on the story as Joel Osteen, a televangelist from Texas, is serving as an executive producer on the project. It isn’t clear when it might go into production. (Source: The Wrap)