CinemaBlend is reporting that Brad Pitt is considering taking up the title role of Pontius Pilate in a new big budget period piece production of the same name coming from Warner Bros. studios.
The movie does not yet have a release date and is still in pre-production, after Warner Bros. acquired the script by screenwriter Vera Blasi.
"This script follows the evolution of Lucius Pontius Pilate from the sensitive son of a Roman Knight into a ferocious soldier whose warrior exploits make him a general and puts him on a political track under the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Promised a military governorship in Egypt, Pilate is instead assigned by Tiberius to become the prefect of Judea, at a time when Jerusalem was a cauldron of religious tensions between various factions of the Jewish faith. Pilate veers from the political fast track into the express lane to hell and historical infamy," Deadline.com reports.
The critical moment of the story is when Pilate is asked to decide the fate of Jesus Christ, presented as a 33-year old rabbi accused by religious elders of claiming to be the King of the Jews. Other biblical figures expected to feature in the movie include John the Baptist, Salome and Mary Magdalene, although those roles have not been cast yet either.
The one big name attached to the movie so far is producer Mark Johnson, who has worked on award-winning TV show "Breaking Bad" and produced other major films like "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Trader," "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," and "The Notebook."
As for the portrayal of Pontius Pilate, Deadline describes him as "one of history's most vilified figures," but Blasi's screenplay suggests a more conflicted character.
"The screenplay, which Blasi claims to have researched for more than a decade, imagines the Roman prefect as an unfortunate figure caught amid antagonistic religious factions who is forced to make the fateful decision after finding himself in desperate need of popular goodwill," the Guardian reports.
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