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Chris Columbus to Adapt Anne Rice's 'Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt'

by Ethan Anderton
December 6, 2011
Source: Variety

Filmmaker Chris Columbus has brought many a young hero to the big screen from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Percy Jackson and the Olympians and some time with Kevin McCallister battling a couple Wet Bandits in Home Alone. With all that witchcraft, wizardry, mythology and paint bucket bashing  in his past, Columbus has now found Jesus. Variety reports the filmmaker and his 1492 Pictures production banner and CJ Entertainment have picked up the feature film rights to adapt the Anne Rice novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, a story that follows a 7-year old Jesus learning about his birth and life purpose.

In what is essentially a story about the first boy wizard, the book, which will be directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh who also wrote the script with Betsy Nowrasteh focuses on Jesus as he and his family leave Egypt and return to their home. However, they find themselves caught in a revolution after the death of the first King Herod. Jesus himself struggles with coming-of-age as he discovers strange abilities that no one else seems to have: bringing clay birds to life, making snow fall out of nowhere and even bringing back another child from the dead. But left without answers from his parents Mary and Joseph, the young Jesus sets out on his own to learn about his birth and the truth about his own life and future.

It's not typical fare for Rice, but it sounds like a story about Jesus Christ (despite Passion of the Christ) that has yet to be told on the big screen. Whether audiences believe the story of Jesus to be fact or fiction, it sounds like it's a compelling coming-of-age tale about a boy who's different from everyone else, something to which many can relate, regardless of religious beliefs. It sounds interesting, so we'll keep an eye on this.

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