Jesus Christ has never been hotter. The Son of God is set to headline several upcoming movies, including a look at the 40 days following his resurrection, a film from Lionsgate that will place him in a more “humanistic” context, and a version of the gospel directed by Paul Verhoeven. Add his significantly increased role in the coming remake of Ben-Hur, and all of the forthcoming television series that revolve around the famed Nazarene, and it’s clear that this is a good time to be in the Jesus business.
The latest to jump on the biblical bandwagon is Ocean Blue Entertainment, which will start production on Christ The Lord in September. The movie is based off Christ The Lord: Out Of Egypt, the first in a series by Anne Rice following the life of a young Jesus, as he travels with his family from Egypt to Nazareth. Most famous for her novels about sexy vampires brooding their way through the long centuries, Rice wrote Christ The Lord during a stretch of time after she rekindled her affiliation with the Catholic Church—putting out books about Jesus and angels at a fast clip—before leaving it again and returning to the pillowy and lucrative bosom of monster fiction.
Christ The Lord will be directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh—who helmed The Stoning Of Soraya M.—and executive produced by Enzo Sisti, formerly an executive producer on The Passion Of The Christ. Time will tell whether the movie will be able to distinguish itself from the plethora of competing projects, when they all descend from on high and into the cinemas.