Weinsteins in talks to distribute Mary Magdalene biopic

Weinsteins in talks to distribute Mary Magdalene biopic February 9, 2016

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That recently-announced movie about Mary Magdalene may have a North American distributor soon.

Deadline reports that The Weinstein Company is in talks to distribute the film, which is being produced by See-Saw Films and Universal International.

The Weinsteins previously teamed with See-Saw on The King’s Speech (which won four Oscars including Best Picture), Macbeth and the upcoming Lion, the last of which shares director Garth Davis and star Rooney Mara with Mary Magdalene.

I believe this would be the Weinsteins’ first full-fledged foray into the Bible-movie genre, though they have handled the occasional film that had quasi-biblical elements before, e.g. Dracula 2000, in which a flashback reveals that the title character is actually Judas Iscariot. (That was back in the Weinsteins’ Miramax days.)

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Focus Features would have had “the first look” at Mary Magdalene because it is being co-produced by Universal, which is a corporate sibling of Focus’s. So the fact that the Weinsteins are in talks to distribute the film may indicate that Focus saw the project and passed on it. (Focus is not averse to Bible films, though, as it is distributing The Young Messiah next month.)

Production on the film is set to begin this summer, for a 2017 release.

— The image above is of Rooney Mara in Carol, the Weinstein-distributed film for which she is currently nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.


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