The story of Moses is about to get seriously ridiculous and not in a Mel Brooks, History of the World kind of way as depicted to the right. Instead, 20th Century Fox has made a preemptive acquisition of a pitch to tell the story of Moses in the green screen, graphic novel style of 2007’s 300. The tale will start with his near death as an infant to his adoption into the Egyptian royal family, his defiance of the Pharoah and deliverance of the Hebrews from enslavement.
The news comes from Variety saying Adam Cooper and Bill Collage will pen the script following their deal to reinvent Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick,” with a graphic novel feel, for director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted).
The popular mythical and magical elements inherent in the Book of Exodus will be there–including the plagues visited upon Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea. However, this version will deviate from the popular Cecil B. DeMille 1956 feature The Ten Commandments by including new elements of Moses’ life the writers culled from Rabbinical Midrash and other historical sources.
I wonder, should this film get made, what kind of backlash will there be from the religious community. If the Cooper and Collage script ends up being an amalgam of several religious and historical sources will that calm the nerves of the sure-to-be-concerned masses, or will that only infuriate them more? You know there is certain to be a loud crowd disliking this idea outright, which camp do you fall in just knowing the information detailed above?
