— Marc Forster (“The Kite Runner,” “Quantum of Solace”) and Gerard Butler look set to team up for “Machine Gun Preacher,” the true story of Sam Childers, a former drug dealing biker who became a missionary and preacher, who founded an orphanage in the Sudan, and a militia to protect the children there. The script comes from playwright Jason Keller, and Butler hopes that it’ll provide the chance to “show some acting chops.” That sound you hear? Everyone who saw “Law Abiding Citizen” doing spit takes.
— Everyone’s favorite zombie movie “The Passion of the Christ” looks set to get an unofficial sequel, in the shape of “The Resurrection of the Christ.” Samuel Goldwyn Films will distribute, and the project’s set to be directed by Jonas McCord (Forgotten Antonio Banderas religious thriller “The Body”), from a script by Dan Gordan (“The Hurricane”). The project will apparently focus on those responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion – Pontius Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas and Judas – making it distinctly possible that the film may turn out to be even more anti-Semitic than Mel Gibson’s entry. Producer Bill McKay says “We want to bring in the “Gladiator” dimension of the first century against the political milieu of the time,” a sentence which doesn’t appear to mean anything.
— Speaking of Gibson, Collider spoke to the star on the press tour for “Edge of Darkness” about his possible next directing project, where he’ll reteam with ‘Darkness’ writer William Monahan and producer Graham King on a Viking epic, set to star Leonardo Di Caprio. Unsurprisingly, given his past form, Gibson intends for the film’s dialogue to be spoken in Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon, saying “I want to see somebody who I have never seen before speaking low guttural German who scares the living shit out of me coming up to my house.”
— Excellent, undervalued character actor Harry Lennix (“Ali,” Joss Whedon’s “Dollhouse”) will play a self-destructive Richard Pryor-style stand up comedian in the indie drama “Mr. Sophistication,” alongside Tatum O’Neal as his wife. The project’s directed by former second AD Danny Green, and sounds fairly close to “The Wrestler” or “Crazy Heart,” but we’re big fans of Lennix, so we’ll keep an eye on this one.
