20th Century Fox is developing a retelling of the Biblical story of Moses, the Old Testament survivor of death and adversity who freed the Hebrews from slavery and persecution. The script will be written by Bill Collage and Adam Cooper, notable for rewriting a draft of Moby Dick for 9 director Timur Bekmambetov as well as writing the comedy Accepted.
Produced by Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark, the Moses film is being pitched as Braveheart meets 300, and while I get the appeal of trying to bundle a biblical story in Zack Snyder-esque packaging, I can’t help but be turned off by it at the same time. Should we expect Egyptian slave drivers to deliver punishing blows on exaggerated, glossy, speed-ramped sets? While they may certainly just be talking about cinematography, it seems odd to market a film of this sort using the most blatantly sensationalistic film of the past 5 years as a reference point.
Time will tell, though — there’s a vast amount of material and thematic depth in Moses’ story, so hopefully Collage and Cooper get it right.
