Sound of Freedom director tackles Nativity story in Bethlehem
The film, which stars Avatar's Sam Worthington as Herod's son Antipater, is currently being filmed in Morocco for Angel Studios.
Eight months ago, Sound of Freedom director Alejandro Monteverde said he was working on a movie about “a very, very powerful woman, if not the most well-known woman who ever walked this earth.” I speculated at the time that he was making a movie about the Virgin Mary. And now, lo and behold, it turns out he is.
Deadline reports:
Sound of Freedom and Cabrini filmmaker Alejandro Monteverde will reteam for a third time with Angel Studios on the epic Bethlehem, which re-imagines one of the most infamous stories in history, Herod’s slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem as a profound spiritual thriller.
In the movie, which is currently shooting in Morocco and eyeing a 2025 theatrical release, an extraordinary woman will do anything to protect her newborn son from the murderous King Herod, who is obsessed with finding and killing the child.
Avatar franchise star Sam Worthington is playing Herod’s son Antipater, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Ben Mendelsohn is portraying the devil Nahash, Mozart in the Jungle’s Gael García Bernal is Joachim, and Deva Cassel will play Mary. . . .
For creative reasons, the producers are maintaining the mystery of who is playing King Herrod (sic), as the actor is virtually unrecognizable in the role.
A “thriller” that foregrounds Mary’s efforts to protect her son from Herod? With the devil as a major character? This sounds an awful lot like the pitch for the Mary movie that is coming to Netflix next month. And the film is giving a significant role to Antipater, a son of Herod’s who hadn’t gotten much attention onscreen until recently (mainly because he was executed by his father, so he didn’t stick around long enough to impact the biblical story)? Reminds me of last year’s Journey to Bethlehem.
One or two of the announced actors already have Bible-movie experience:
Ben Mendelsohn played an Egyptian named Hegep in Exodus: Gods & Kings (2014).
Sam Worthington played Mack Phillips, a man who meets all three persons of the Trinity—including Jesus—in The Shack (2017).
It’s interesting that the studio has already announced who is playing Mary’s father, i.e. Joachim, but not who is playing her husband, i.e. Joseph.
Also, for what it’s worth, the word “nahash”—which is the devil’s name in this film—is Hebrew for “serpent”. So at a minimum, this film would seem to be connecting its devil character to the serpent in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3).
But I wonder if the film will also lean into the imagery of Revelation 12, which describes a dragon (also identified as “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan”) that pursues a woman (often identified as Mary) who gives birth to a boy.
As ever, we shall see.