You have only to wait until September to dive into Paul Verhoeven’s biography of Jesus of Nazareth.
I’ll give you a moment to let than sink in.
Now, the bad news. This isn’t (yet) a film — it’s a book, written by Verhoeven with Rob van Scheers, according to the Hollywood Reporter. And as you’d expect, it’ll be published in Dutch. (An English translation is already being negotiated. Day and date? Maybe.) The filmmaker has wanted to take on Jesus for some time, evidently, and this book represents the first step in a long-range plan to make a film about Jesus based in science and fact rather than religion.
Here are a couple details about Verhoeven’s take, which sounds like the Anti- to Mel Gibson’s Christ. One of his conclusions deals with the fact that Jesus was probably the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her during the Jewish uprising in Galilee. Verhoeven also claims that Christ was not betrayed by Judas Iscariot.
Increase the chances of a film being crafted from the book by purchasing oodles of tickets to the Verhoeven-directed Thomas Crown Affair 2 (based in part on Jules Dassin’s Topkapi) when it comes out next year.