{"id":6571,"date":"2013-03-27T18:51:10","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T01:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=6571"},"modified":"2013-03-27T18:51:10","modified_gmt":"2013-03-28T01:51:10","slug":"yet-another-mini-series-about-jesus-now-in-the-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2013\/03\/yet-another-mini-series-about-jesus-now-in-the-works.html","title":{"rendered":"Yet another mini-series about Jesus now in the works."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>So, while I was polishing off my last couple of Jesus-themed posts, the Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> posted a story to the effect that yet another mini-series about Jesus is currently in the works.<\/p>\n

The projected six-hour mini-series is called Jesus of Nazareth<\/i>, and is not to be confused with Franco Zeffirelli\u2019s 1977 mini-series<\/a> or the film that Paul Verhoeven<\/a> has been talking about making for decades<\/a> (and which, according to the Reporter<\/i>, is currently stalled for lack of a screenwriter).<\/p>\n

The new mini-series is currently being developed by Michael Landon Jr. (pictured) and producer Brian Bird, who have collaborated on a number of Christian films. (My negative review of one of them touched off a firestorm of controversy<\/a> \u2014 very little of it directly involving the filmmakers themselves, I\u2019m happy to say \u2014 just over six years ago.)<\/p>\n

Here is how they described their new series to the Reporter<\/i>:<\/p>\n

Landon says their version \u201cwill be traditional in the sense we\u2019re going to stay true to the gospel, but it won\u2019t be traditional in the sense that our version is actually going to be made for the skeptic, not the believer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Says Bird: \u201cWe\u2019re not looking to cause controversy to anybody. What we hope to do will be orthodox and faithful to the gospel and pleasing to whoever sees it. The idea of helping skeptics see Christ in a different way than they\u2019ve ever seen him before, that\u2019s not going to upset the choir.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mini-series does not yet have a network attached to it, so it remains to be seen whether this will be a nationwide hit like The Bible<\/a><\/i> or end up in limbo like that recent remake of Ben-Hur<\/a><\/i>, which played in a few countries overseas after premiering in Canada but has, to my knowledge, never been broadcast in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bible<\/i> isn’t even finished telling its own version of the Jesus story yet, but why wait? Another gospel-based mini-series has already gotten the green light — and it’s aimed at “skeptics”, according to producers Brian Bird and Michael Landon Jr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[419,913,345,911,912,353],"class_list":["post-6571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-ben-hur-2010","tag-brian-bird","tag-jesus","tag-jesus-of-nazareth-2015","tag-michael-landon-jr","tag-paul-verhoeven"],"yoast_head":"\nYet another mini-series about Jesus now in the works.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Bible isn't even finished telling its own version of the Jesus story yet, but why wait? 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