Resurrection film

Over on Filmchat, Petter Chattaway has the scoop on a proposed new film called The Resurrection. This is via Hollywood Reporter, from Reuters:

'Resurrection' to appear at Easter

Using the Bible for its source material, "Resurrection" will tell the story of Jesus Christ beginning the day he died on the cross and ending about 40 days later with his ascension into heaven.

So it's the Luke-Acts take on resurrection, which makes sense given that this is the first serious attempt to narrate the resurrection story in sequence.

According to insiders, Sony's mid-budget Screen Gems division commissioned a script several months ago from Lionel Chetwynd, the veteran screenwriter, producer and director whose credits include the feature "The Hanoi Hilton" and the Emmy-nominated TV movie "Ike: Countdown to D-Day."

Set to produce is Tim LaHaye, co-author of the best-selling "Left Behind" series of books. A popular minister and frequent TV news pundit, "Resurrection" will mark LaHaye's first foray into mainstream filmmaking. . . .

As Peter says, this is not so encouraging, but you never know.

"'The Passion' ends with Jesus being taken from the cross, and 'The Resurrection' opens with the empty cross," a person familiar with the script said.

Is "The Passion" here referenced Gibson's The Passion of the Christ? If so, the detail is of course inaccurate because the Gibson film ends with Jesus getting up to walk out of the tomb. But I like the idea of a sequel to that film!

According to the Bible, women who visited the tomb of Jesus Christ three days after his crucifixion found it empty, and his disciples and other acquaintances, including Mary Magdalene, encountered him postresurrection on various occasions during a 40-day period.

Well, after two days really ("on the third day"). As mentioned above, this is the Lucan narrative.

The film will focus on these dramatic encounters and their implications for the Roman garrison in Judea and the broader Roman Empire, insiders said.

"This is not a fanciful rendering. It's a serious attempt to understand the Roman world in which Christ moved and the Christian era was born," a person familiar with the project said.

Sounds good. Most Jesus films are heavy on the attempt to integrate the story into the politics of the Roman world and it sounds like this is no different. Given that the resurrection is usually done so badly in Jesus films, it is intriguing to think of a film specially devoted to the topic. So often, the resurrection is but a coda to the main action of the film, and sometimes (Jesus Christ Superstar, Last Temptation) it is absent altogether.