Newsbites: Netflix's Mary! Netflix's Ruth & Boaz! ASL Jesus! and more!
Netflix has released the first images from their Nativity movie starring Anthony Hopkins as King Herod, and we have some new details about their modernized take on the book of Ruth as well.
Netflix shares first images for Mary, coming December 6
Netflix has announced a release date for Mary, the Nativity movie starring Noa Cohen as the mother of Jesus and Anthony Hopkins as King Herod. They have also shared some first images from the film, as well as a cast list and some other info.
Here is how they describe the movie’s plot:
Through Mary’s eyes, this coming-of-age biblical epic tells the story of one of history’s most profound figures and the remarkable journey that led to the birth of Jesus. Chosen to bring the Messiah into the world, Mary (Noa Cohen) is shunned following a miraculous conception and forced into hiding. When King Herod (Anthony Hopkins) orders a murderous hunt for her newborn baby, Mary and Joseph (Ido Tako), go on the run – bound by faith and driven by courage – to save his life at all costs.
And here are the announced actors and characters (one of whom is Satan, who for some reason is listed between Mary’s parents Joachim and Anne!):
Noa Cohen (Silent Game, 8200) as Mary
Ido Tako (The Vanishing Soldier, Sky) as Joseph
Anthony Hopkins (The Father, The Silence of the Lambs) as King Herod
Stephanie Nur (Lioness, 1883) as Salome
Susan Brown (Game of Thrones, The Iron Lady) as Anna the Prophetess
Ori Pfeffer (Hacksaw Ridge, Jolt) as Joachim
Eamon Farren (Winchester, The Dig) as Satan
Hilla Vidor (Funeral at Noon, Salsa Tel Aviv) as Anne
Mili Avital (Stargate) as Mariamne
Gudmundur Thorvaldsson (Chasing Robert Barker, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) as Marcellus
Dudley O’Shaughnessy (Montana, Top Boy) as Gabriel
Keren Tzur (A Borrowed Identity, Past Life) as Elizabeth
Mehmet Kurtulus (Big Game, In July) as Bava Ben Buta
Mila Harris (A Friend of the Family, The Hill) as Young Mary
A few of the actors listed above already have Bible-movie experience:
Anthony Hopkins (King Herod) played Paul in 1981’s Peter and Paul and Methuselah in 2014’s Noah.
Ori Pfeffer (Mary’s father Joachim) lent his voice to 2017’s The Legend of King Solomon and is reportedly playing a Pharisee in Terrence Malick’s The Way of the Wind, which is still in post-production.
Gudmundur Thorvaldsson (Marcellus) is reportedly playing John the Baptist in The Way of the Wind.
Mehmet Kurtulus (the rabbi Bava Ben Buta) played the Pharaoh in Testament: The Story of Moses, which was Netflix’s other big biblical show this year.
Susan Brown (Anna the Prophetess) played the Mother Superior in a 2019 episode of Good Omens, which isn’t a Bible movie in the strictest sense but is a series about angels and demons that has a few biblical flashbacks.
A couple of the non-acting personnel on this film also have Bible-movie experience:
Director D.J. Caruso previously directed 2022’s Redeeming Love, a romance based on the story of Hosea that takes place during the California Gold Rush.
Producer Hannah Leader founded The Lumo Project, which produced word-for-word adaptations of all four gospels about a decade ago and has started producing adaptations of the Old Testament and the Book of Acts, as well.
The film’s main producer is Mary Aloe, and one of its executive producers is megachurch pastor Joel Osteen. I remain curious as to whether this film has any connection to the Mary film that they were working on ten years ago.
The film is coming to Netflix December 6, just a few weeks before Christmas, and it is rated TV-MA, which I gather is roughly equivalent to the MPA’s R rating. Hmmm.
You can see more images from the film here. It doesn’t seem to have a trailer yet.
Netflix hires actors, director for modernized Ruth & Boaz movie
Speaking of Netflix, this week we learned who is going to direct and star in R&B, the upcoming modernization of the book of Ruth that DeVon Franklin and Tyler Perry are producing for the streaming service.
Deadline describes the film and its premise thus:
From writers Michael Elliot (Brown Sugar) and Cory Tynan (Play’d), R&B is a modern-day retelling of the story of Ruth and Boaz, a love story from the Bible. Set in Tennessee, the film tells the story of a young woman who escapes the Atlanta music scene to care for an elderly widowed woman and in the process finds the love of her life and gains the mother she never had.
The film is being directed by Alanna Brown, and the parts of Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi will be played by Serayah, Tyler Lepley, and Phylicia Rashad.
The other cast members include Walnette Santiago, Nijah Brenea, James Lee Thomas, Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Jermaine Dupri, and Lecrae Moore.
As far as I can tell, the only actor in this film who has previous Bible-movie experience is Lecrae, who played the archangel Gabriel in last year’s Journey to Bethlehem.
Jesus: A Deaf Missions film can now be watched online
If you missed Jesus: A Deaf Missions film—the dramatization of the gospels in which all of the dialogue is delivered in American Sign Language (ASL)—when it played in theatres earlier this year, you can now watch it online.
No, the film is not yet showing in the Deaf Missions app (which does have a complete ASL translation of the Bible, as well as a feature-length adaptation of The Book of Job and a short film about Jesus called Uncondemned). But from now until December 1, at least, you can rent it through Trellis Virtual Cinema.
This video explains how the rental process works:
For King + Country gets ready to work on its next movie
Deadline reports that For King + Country is releasing a concert movie, A Drummer Boy Christmas Live, in theatres nationwide December 5-9.
After that, the faith-based duo will “take a brief touring hiatus in 2025 to create new music and work on their next feature film project.”
Hmmm, a “feature film”, not just a concert movie? What will it be…?
Could this be the Drummer Boy movie that was announced way back in 2019, when the Erwin brothers launched Kingdom Studios (which then became Kingdom Story Company) and said Joel and Luke Smallbone, the brothers at the heart of For King + Country, were going to make a “period musical” of that name?
Maybe not. But still, it’s fun to speculate.
We do know that the Smallbones are still working with the Erwins, as they produced Unsung Hero—a movie about the Smallbones’ dad—for Kingdom Story Company earlier this year. And as the upcoming concert movie attests, they’ve still got drummer boys on the brain. So maybe that “period musical” is still a going concern.
Or maybe they’re all drummer-boy-ed out at this point. Who knows. We shall see.