Cinematical.com reports that New Line Cinema, the studio behind everything from the Freddy Krueger movies to The Lord of the Rings, is now developing The Nativity, an account of the birth of Jesus (as well as the birth of John the Baptist, apparently) written by Mike Rich (Finding Forrester, 2000; The Rookie, 2002; Radio, 2003; the upcoming Manhunt, 2007) and directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, 2003; Lords of Dogtown, 2005).
The choice of director is certainly daring, given her filmography to date. Then again, one of my priests keeps reminding us that the Virgin Mary was probably about 13 years old when she bore Christ — that being the typical age at which peasant girls got married — so, on one level, I guess it’s fitting that the director of Thirteen, a gritty, edgy drama that made my top ten list for 2003, should be tackling this story. And come to think of it, Thirteen featured Jeremy Sisto, star of the 1999 mini-series Jesus (my review), as Holly Hunter’s boyfriend — not that that means anything.
For more info and comments, check out the blogs run by Jeffrey Overstreet and Matt Page, the latter of whom looks at earlier films on the Nativity — pretty much all of which have been small arthouse films or straight-to-TV fare. In the major-studio Bible epics, the Nativity rarely warranted more than a prologue.
FEB 9 UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter covers this, and adds:
In other religious news, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment recently acquired home video rights to the independently produced “Color of the Cross,” directed by and starring Jean Claude La Marre as an African Jesus.
Interesting! Could be fun to see how it compares to Son of Man.
FEB 10 UPDATE: I just noticed that this Variety article from late January says The Nativity “covers the two-year period of Mary and Joseph’s life, culminating in their leaving Nazareth and journeying 100 miles to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus.” Two years, eh? I wonder if it will work the rebellion of Judas the Galilean into the story, a la the TV-movie Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith (1979). It coincided with the census, after all.
MAR 17 UPDATE: Keisha Castle-Hughes, the now-15-year-old star of Whale Rider (2002), has been cast as the Virgin Mary.
MAR 21 UPDATE: Shohreh Aghdashloo has been cast as Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. In some ways, this film is shaping up as a reunion of 2003’s Oscar nominees. Aghdashloo had a Best Supporting Actress nomination for House of Sand and Fog, and so did Holly Hunter, for Hardwicke’s Thirteen; they both lost to Cold Mountain‘s Renée Zellweger. At that same time, Castle-Hughes was nominated for Best Actress; she lost to Monster‘s Charlize Theron.
APR 7 UPDATE: Oliver Isaac has joined the cast as Joseph, and Ciarán Hinds will play King Herod the Great.
MAY 4 UPDATE: Filming has begun! And more casting details.
JUN 24 UPDATE: Alexander Siddig is playing the angel Gabriel!
JUN 29 UPDATE: Hiam Abbass is playing Mary’s mother Anna!
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