1. Big news regarding Stuart Hazeldine’s adaptation of The Shack: Octavia Spencer, who won an Oscar for The Help, has been cast as God — or at least as one of the manifestations of God. (In the book, God appears as a black woman, a Middle Eastern carpenter, and an Asian woman.) Back when Forest Whitaker was going to direct the film, it was widely buzzed that his The Butler co-star Oprah Winfrey might get this part, but Spencer is probably a better choice: more versatile, less baggage.
2. Maisie Richardson-Sellers is going to play King Saul’s daughter Michal in Of Kings and Prophets. In the Bible, Michal falls in love with David and marries him, but then her father gives her to a new husband when David becomes an outlaw. Deadline specifies that Michal is Saul’s “youngest child”, though as far as I can tell the Bible says only that she was the younger of Saul’s two daughters.
3. Ben-Hur has a new cast member: Bulgarian actor Julian Kostov is going to play “a Roman citizen named Lucius”. There is no one of that name in the book.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In