In this month's faith & family media news: At the second annual ChosenCon, The Chosen creator Dallas Jenkins unveiled TV projects in his expanding Chosen Universe; Anthony Hopkins stars in a new Netflix film about Mary; and a BBC/PBS docudrama casts Charles Dance as Michelangelo.
The Expanding Universe of The Chosen
In a public livestream during the second annual Chosen Insiders Conference, a k a ChosenCon, held Sept. 20-21 in Orlando, Florida, The Chosen creator/director Dallas Jenkins revealed the rebranding of his Loaves & Fishes production shingle to 5&2 Studios (still a reference to those five loaves and two fish from the Gospels).
In addition to the studio, the goal of which is to produce more Bible-themed projects, Jenkins discussed his upcoming Lionsgate Christmas film The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, due out Nov. 8 (there are some previews the weekend of Nov. 2).
Regarding The Chosen, he outlined the final two seasons of the Gospels-inspired series. Season 6 focuses on Jesus' Crucifixion, and season 7 follows Jesus' Resurrection.
Each season will have eight episodes and include theatrical releases. They'll be on The Chosen app, but there are rumblings that they might find a new streaming home, along with the future projects.
Regarding those, Jenkins announced that the first release from 5&2 Studios will be The Chosen Adventures, an animated series (which has quietly been in production for some time) featuring a Jewish youngster and her friends interacting with Jesus (voiced by The Chosen star, Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie).
Also already in production is a six-episode unscripted show called The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls. It features Jenkins and Chosen cast members heading out on a wilderness adventure with the renowned British outdoorsman (Man vs. Wild), who is also a vocal Christian.
Jenkins, though, described himself as an "indoorsman," so it should be interesting.
Further out, there's a three-season series on Moses. Interestingly, YouTube commentator The Chosen Sleuth, reported that, on the second day of ChosenCon -- in a section not publicly livestreamed -- Jenkins announced that the Transfiguration would be included in the Moses series.
The Gospel event saw Apostles Peter, James and John witness Jesus in a glorified form, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, and then hear the Voice of God.
In a controversial move, Jenkins didn't include the Transfiguration, or any mention of it, in The Chosen, so it's not clear how he could handle it appearing only in a future series, that takes place centuries before The Chosen.
Click here for my take on the Transfiguration (or lack thereof), including an update of the Sleuth's announcement.
Jenkins also announced The Way, a series based on the Acts of the Apostles, and another limited series, centered on the Old Testament Joseph.
Click here for an extensive rundown in Variety. The full livestream is below.
Mary Comes to Netflix
Variety reported that Netflix has acquired the Biblical epic Mary and will release it during the run-up to Christmas.
From the story:
From director D.J. Caruso (“Disturbia,” “Eagle Eye,” “XXX: Return of Xander Cage”) and writer Timothy Michael Hayes (“BirdsEye”), “Mary” is a coming-of-age biblical epic in which Mary is shunned following a miraculous conception and forced into hiding. When King Herod (Hopkins) ignites a murderous pursuit for her newborn baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph go on the run — bound together by fate and driven by courage — to save his life at all costs.
Caruso had a Catholic upbringing, and, in 2022, directed the faith-themed Western Redeeming Love for producer Roma Downey (The Bible).
According to publicity materials, Caruso consulted Catholic, Protestant and Jewish experts. Also, megachurch pastor Joel Osteen is listed as a producer and is taking part in the film's publicity.
PBS/BBC Docudrama Explores Michelangelo and the Renaissance
In a new docudrama commissioned by the BBC and PBS, British actor Charles Dance has been cast as Italian artist Michelangelo, known best for sculptures the Pietà and David, and for frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, both its famed ceiling and The Last Judgment, on the altar wall.
From Deadline.com:
Charles Dance is to star as Michelangelo in a BBC–PBS docu-drama about the renaissance.
Dance is leading Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty, examining how some of the greatest works of art in the Western world were born out of an era of violence, power politics and rivalry.
The BBC said the show will “reveal an unfamiliar side to the Renaissance,” with Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael also represented along with their patrons in 16th-century Italy.
And, from The Guardian UK:
The BBC last week announced a three-part drama documentary, Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty, which will star Charles Dance as Michelangelo Buonarroti. The series will show how key works of western art emerged from an era of violence and political rivalry. Charting the lives of the three artists, it will also explain the power exercised by their rich patrons in 16th-century Italy.
“We have, alas, no reliable record of any firsthand encounters between these three great figures,” said Sarah Dunant, who has spent decades researching Italy’s Renaissance history for novels including Blood and Beauty, a 2013 fictionalised history of the city. “But there are stories of course.”
As for the faith component of this, since it's the BBC, it's anyone's guess. But a story from earlier this year in The National Catholic Register says of the artist:
Exactly 460 years have passed since Michelangelo died at nearly 89 years of age on Feb. 18, 1564. There was no doubt he was Catholic, a Florentine man forever, but to what extent did he imbue his life with the faith he so brilliantly expressed in his art?
While he was a Third Order Franciscan and a daily communicant, questions still linger about how seriously he took the faith in which he was born and the faith that inspired his work. Rumors of his rampant homosexuality, for instance, persist to this day — but there is no evidence of such behavior.
Since this is a co-commission with PBS, the production should arrive on American shores at some point, but no word yet on exactly when.
The BBC's own announcement didn't include an airdate, so it could be a few years before we see this. In the meantime, there is the Michelangelo episode of Bishop Robert Barron's The Pivotal Players, available for purchase or rent here.
Image: YouTube screenshot/The Chosen
Kate O’Hare, a longtime entertainment journalist, is Social Media Content Manager and Blog Editor at Family Theater Productions
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