Harry Potter producer David Heyman (who is also attached to The Queen Of The Tearling) will be producing the big-screen adaptation of Reza Aslan’s non-fiction book Zealot: The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth. James Schamus (The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is slated to write the screenplay. The book is a historical study of Jesus based on the historical knowledge of the time period, removing him from a strictly religious context. Although the book isn’t an aggressive attack on Christianity, it does lay doubt to many canonical beliefs, such as the virgin conception and Jesus’ marital status, which earned the book ire from many Christian groups.
You may recognize Aslan’s name from a Fox News video that made the rounds last summer, in which he came under attack for writing about Jesus while Muslim.