{"id":393,"date":"2009-01-27T12:54:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-27T12:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/01\/newsbites-the-religious-connections-edition\/"},"modified":"2009-01-27T12:54:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-27T12:54:00","slug":"newsbites-the-religious-connections-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/01\/newsbites-the-religious-connections-edition.html","title":{"rendered":"Newsbites: The religious connections edition!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

1.<\/a> Kingdom Come<\/a><\/i>, the life-of-Jesus movie that was put on hold in New Zealand a few weeks ago, is reportedly back on track for a start date in late February. There is still no word on who any of the actors might be, but a publicist for the film says a distribution deal has been negotiated with one of the six major Hollywood studios. \u2014 Dominion Post<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/a> Jennifer Beals has joined the cast of The Book of Eli<\/a><\/i>, a post-apocalyptic thriller starring Denzel Washington as a man who must \u201cprotect a sacred book that might hold the key to saving humanity.\u201d Beals will play \u201ca blind woman doing anything she can to protect her child.\u201d \u2014 Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

3.<\/a> The Criterion Collection is releasing Luis Bu\u00f1uel\u2019s Simon of the Desert<\/a><\/i> (1965) on DVD in two weeks. Based very loosely on the story of Simeon Stylites<\/a>, a 5th-century saint who spent 37 years on a pillar in the Syrian desert, it is one of at least two Bu\u00f1uel films, along with The Milky Way<\/a><\/i> (1969), that deal quite explicitly, albeit irreverently, with the history and theology of the church. \u2014 Glenn Kenny<\/a><\/p>\n

4.<\/a> Joe Eszterhas, the Basic Instinct<\/a><\/i> (1992) and Showgirls<\/a><\/i> (1995) screenwriter who converted to Catholicism several years ago, says he \u201ctried to get a project going\u201d about St. Paul, but no one in Hollywood was interested in it. \u2014 Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

5.<\/a> One of the teams on The Amazing Race 14<\/a><\/i>, which premieres February 15, will consist of Mel White<\/a> and his son Mike. Mel was a ghost-writer for televangelists like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson before he came out of the closet and became a gay activist in the 1990s; Mike is the writer of films like The School of Rock<\/i> (2003) and Nacho Libre<\/a><\/i> (2006), and the director of Year of the Dog<\/a><\/i> (2007). \u2014 ComingSoon.net<\/a><\/p>\n

6.<\/a> Sigourney Weaver is currently starring in a TV-movie called Prayers for Bobby<\/a><\/i>, playing a real-life woman named Mary Griffith, \u201ca devoutly Christian mother who disowns her gay son over his sexuality\u201d but becomes a gay activist herself after her son commits suicide. \u2014 Associated Press<\/a><\/p>\n

7.<\/a> The release date for Br\u00fcno<\/i>, the follow-up to Sacha Baron Cohen\u2019s previous film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan<\/a><\/i> (2006), has been bumped to July 10. Rumour has it that one of the stunts Cohen plays this time involves \u201ca black model called Jesus who wears a loincloth and a crown of thorns.\u201d \u2014 Variety<\/a><\/i>, The Sun<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Kingdom Come, the life-of-Jesus movie that was put on hold in New Zealand a few weeks ago, is reportedly back on track for a start date in late February. There is still no word on who any of the actors might be, but a publicist for the film says a distribution deal has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNewsbites: The religious connections edition!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"1. 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