With Steven Spielberg gearing up to shoot his long-awaited presidential biopic “Lincoln” this fall, and with “The Adventures of Tintin” and “War Horse” being released within days of one another this winter, it’s a wonder that the man has any time to contemplate future projects. That’s not to mention that expensive blockbuster “Robopocalypse” is also on his directorial horizon for a 2013 release.
Now Deadline is reporting that Warner Brothers is looking to Spielberg to direct its Bible epic about the story of Moses’ from birth to death, entitled “Gods and Kings.” According to the report Spielberg has read the script, but said that his schedule may just be too overstuffed already to handle what would surely be a massive undertaking. The script comes from Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine, the former was a co-writer on “Green Lantern” along with creating “The River” for Spielberg on ABC, and the latter is behind the Warner Brothers-backed “Paradise Lost.” So one has a history with Spielberg and the other apparently has a knack for covering this sort of epic scale territory, we’ll have to see. Though for those of us old enough to remember, Spielberg does have some cinematic experience with Moses, with DreamWorks releasing the underperforming “The Prince of Egypt” back in 1998. And while this could play out any number of ways, our guess is that if Spielberg doesn’t direct, him taking a producer’s mantle isn’t too far outside the realm of possibility.
Speaking of Biblical epics, for those of you feverishly anticipating Mel Gibson‘s proposed take on the life of Judah Maccabee, there may be a little competition in Mel’s future.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the story of the man who instituted Hanukkah may be brought to the screen by “Modern Marvels” producer Bruce Nash before Gibson and Warner Brothers get their film off the ground. While there was quite an outcry from the Jewish committee regarding Gibson’s involvement in a film about one of their leading cultural figures, and rightfully so, Nash’s version of the tale benefits from having both a finished script and no antipathy from the Jewish community on its side. Nash, along with producers Bob Kosberg and Maura Dunbar are looking at a possible film or miniseries for this take on Maccabee’s life.
While Maccabee liberated the Second Temple in Jerusalem from Greek rule in a successful rebellion that could make for another visceral Gibson-directed action set piece, we’d rather this iconic story fall into the hands of somebody who isn’t simply trying to earn goodwill from group he has scorned.
