Waterworld director Kevin Reynolds to helm Gladiator-style Jesus Christ movie, Resurrection

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Kevin Reynolds is best known for directing the epic disaster WATERWORLD starring Kevin Costner which sent him into filmmaking purgatory for quite some time. It was not until last year’s History mini-series HATFIELDS & MCCOYS, also starring Costner, that he started getting some more projects. The next film the veteran director is attaching himself to is a religious drama that takes a different look at the story of Jesus Christ than we have seen before.

The project is titled RESURRECTION and the producers are describing it as a New Testament tale in the same style as Ridley Scott‘s GLADIATOR. Now, GLADIATOR did take place during the Roman Empire and I can see how that visual style may work for another film, but they aren’t planning an action version of the Bible, are they? Here is the description for RESURRECTION so you can judge for yourselves:

RESURRECTION is told through the eyes of an agnostic Roman Centurion charged by Pontius Pilate to investigate rumors of a risen Jewish Messiah and to locate Christ’s missing body in order to subdue an imminent uprising in Jerusalem. Along Centurion’s mission, his doubts of such a supernatural occurrence peel away as he encounters the Apostles and other historic Biblical characters and reviews the events following the Resurrection.

A Roman centurion interviewing a bunch of people about some guy named Jesus? That sounds more like CITIZEN KANE than GLADIATOR. While I won’t knock it until I see it, RESURRECTION sounds like it could be an interesting addition to the slate of religious films coming in the next few years including Darren Aronofsky‘s NOAH and Ridley Scott‘s EXODUS. RESURRECTION is aiming for an Easter 2015 release, so stay tuned for potential casting announcements.