Filming is about to begin on yet another movie about Jesus. This time, the twist is that it’s based on a book by dark vampire mistress Anne Rice. Maybe they’ll cast Kirsten Dunst as a pointy-toothed version of Mary.
The book is Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, which makes it sound like it could be a companion piece to Meatloaf: Bat out of Hell. If only. Instead it’s about Jesus at age seven, when he and his parents depart from Egypt (where they’ve been vacationing in the sun and the sand) to return to Nazareth. Apparently, despite the whole demons and vampires thing Anne Rice is something of a believer and she claims to have written the book as an attempt at a realistic, fictional portrait of the Christ man. Of course since the Bible doesn’t say much about Jesus during that time (and even less is said about him in actual historical records, and by less I mean absolutely nothing) most of what’s in it is going to have to come straight out of the dark recesses of her head.
Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt starts shooting this October in Israel, with the support of the Israeli government. Mel Gibson would probably tell you it’s because they feel guilty about killing him, but really it’s just because Jews are actually pretty nice people. Right now they’re in the midst of a casting hunt to find a 7-year-old Israeli boy to play da Jesus. So if you’re seven, swarthy, and think you can talk to god give Good News Holdings, their production company, a call.
