{"id":66547,"date":"2020-07-14T08:23:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T15:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=66547"},"modified":"2020-07-14T08:23:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T15:23:09","slug":"is-michael-jacksons-daughter-playing-jesus-in-a-new-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2020\/07\/is-michael-jacksons-daughter-playing-jesus-in-a-new-film.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Michael Jackson’s daughter playing Jesus in a new film?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A new movie that depicts Jesus as a woman is, predictably, stirring up some controversy.<\/p>\n

Back in April<\/a>, it was revealed that Paris Jackson, daughter of pop star Michael Jackson, had been cast as Jesus in a film called Habit<\/i>, which finished shooting in March, just before most other productions were shut down because of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The film stars Bella Thorne<\/a> as \u201ca street smart party girl with a Jesus fetish\u201d who gets mixed up in a drug deal and finds a possible way out by masquerading as a nun.<\/p>\n

Producer Donovan Leitch told Fox News<\/a> that Jackson\u2019s Jesus \u201cvisits [Thorne\u2019s character] on a few different occasions.\u201d He added that the film is \u201cinspired by early Tarantino\u201d.<\/p>\n

The news has sparked at least three petitions \u2014 hosted by Movieguide<\/a>, One Million Moms<\/a> and Change.org<\/a> \u2014 to try to stop the movie from getting a distributor.<\/p>\n

The Change.org petition initially claimed that Jesus was going to be depicted \u201cas a lesbian woman.\u201d The author of that petition later clarified<\/a> that it was the actress, Jackson, and not the character, Jesus, who is a lesbian (though Jackson is currently dating a man).<\/p>\n

Movieguide goes even further, without citing any sources for this information, and says Jesus will be depicted \u201cas a woman who engages in a myriad of inappropriate and salacious acts while also serving as the romantic foil for the main female character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Producer Cassian Elwes disputed claims like these on Twitter, calling them \u201ccompletely blown out of proportion\u201d and saying that Jackson \u201cappears in a fantasy moment\u201d in which the main character \u201chas a vision of her mother (played by Paris) dressed as Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Of course the story has been completely blown out of proportion In fact Paris appears in a fantasy moment that Bella has in the film where Bella has a vision of her mother( played by Paris ) dressed as Jesus. https:\/\/t.co\/TWNUxsNiSm<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 cassian elwes (@cassianelwes) July 2, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n