Jesus’ Resurrection Being Adapted As A Hollywood Mystery-Thriller

Who says Hollywood can’t come up with anything new? They’re about to adapt the Biblical story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection with a mystery-thriller angle. Yeah, okay, that doesn’t sound great, but judge not, skeptics! Let’s discuss what we know so far about Passion of the Christ 2: Electric Boogaloo before we call for its crucifixion.

First, it’s not actually titled Passion of the Christ 2: Electric Boogaloo. It felt like that needed to be clarified. Moving on.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film was pitched as “Gladiator in tone but with a mystery bent, an all-ages movie that tells of how the first Easter came to be.” It is being produced by LD Entertainment and will be directed by Kevin Reynolds, who is most (in)famous for directing Waterworld.

The film is actually titled Resurrection(we like ours better, too) and will take place during “the first 40 days after the resurrection of Jesus.”

It will follow an “agnostic Roman centurion charged by Pontius Pilate to investigate rumors of a risen Jewish messiah and locate the missing body of Jesus of Nazareth,” set against “an imminent uprising in Jerusalem,” in which the charged centurion “meets the Apostles and other historical and biblical characters.”

So the premise doesn’t sound awful, but no matter how they handle it, they’re bound to peev somebody off. Go too skeptical, and you risk alienating the conservative crowd. Go too spiritual, and you risk alienating the intellectuals, the academics and the critics. Fall somewhere in between and everyone hates you for not having the stones to take a stand.

But those are the risks that make Hollywood fun.

While there’s some skepticism to be had about the plot, it’s actually the crew that has worried. The film will be produced by Patrick Aiello (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance). Yeesh. His brother, Paul Aiello will write the screenplay.

Reynolds directed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Waterworld, both critical bombs and insufferable Kevin Costner films. Reynolds and Costner reunited recently for the not-bad TV miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, so maybe it’ll work out, but Costner’s participation in this film seems inevitable. Maybe he’ll play Jesus.

Now it’s your opportunity to cast judgment. What do you think of adapting the Jesus resurrection story into a Hollywood mystery-thriller film?

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