If you loved The Patriot, You'll really love The Savior

Rating: 1/10 (1 August 2000)

Fresh from their successful depiction of the American Revolution in The Patriot, the team of Devlin/Emmerich is rebounding with another historical epic: The Savior. Expanding on the themes that they and Mel Gibson brought to the table with The Patriot, this dynamic team intends to create a biblical epic that in their words, "really kicks ass!". According to Emmerich, "From Intolerance to that pussy Scorsese flick, Jesus has always been depicted as a mamby-pamby hippie type. Our Christ will be loving, but he won't be afraid to wipe the floor with sinners when the story demands it." Filming began last week for the film that seems destined to be the Christmas 2001 box office champ, and the director is overjoyed with the results so far. "I knew that we were going out on a limb by casting Steve Buscemi as Jesus, but like Michael Keaton in Batman, we know audiences will be sold by his performance. And the rest of the cast: Angelina Jolie as Mary Magdalene, Samuel L. Jackson as Peter, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Joseph, and of course, Cameron Diaz as the Virgin Mary! And what would one of our movies be without world-class villains - Jason Isaacs as Judas Iscariot, Bill Plimpton as Pontius Pilate, and Patrick MacGoohan as Herod. Imagine the spirituality of The Ten Commandments, combined with the poetic violence of Braveheart and The Patriot, instilled with the star power of an Irwin Allen film. Not to give away too much, but we intend to focus more on the neglected aspects of Jesus' story, especially the part where he leads his ragtag army to victory over the much better equipped Romans. And in our story, the people who sell Jesus down the river don't get off so easily - there will be, pardon the pun, hell (or heaven) to pay." The most intriguing aspect of the film is the decision to interpret the crucifixion and resurrection in a different manner than the New Testament. As Emmerich puts it, "Jesus is crucified, of course, but who's to say that he really died up there. In our view, the Son of God could have just "played possum" until they cut him down. Obviously, this makes his return so much more plausible. Subsequently, the "Retribution Sequence" will show the other side of Christ, the one who smites his oppressors rather than turns the other cheek. And for those who criticize our interpretation of history, we can only say that this is a MOVIE...get over your anal-retentive picky selves. We intend to stay faithful to the history, but sometimes the story will dictate that we compress, rearrange, puree, liquefy, distort, obfuscate and rewrite whole centuries of recorded events. If you want to see it exactly as it was, watch a documentary or read a book". Who knows how close to the true events The Savior will be, but if their track record is any indicator, Devlin and Emmerich will be giving us another roller coaster tour through the past.