James Faulkner, Jim Caviezel, Olivier Martinez, Joanne Whalley, and John Lynch are to star in a Malta-shot historical drama Paul, Apostle of Christ, Variety reported yesterday.
The film will be produced by Sony through its faith-based Affirm Films label. The movie will be directed by Andrew Hyatt from his own screenplay.
The story reportedly covers Paul, portrayed by Faulkner, going from the most infamous persecutor of Christians to Jesus Christ’s most influential apostle.
While there is no mention of whether St Paul’s shipwreck in Malta will feature at all in the film, the film will apparently follow St Paul’s last days awaiting execution by Emperor Nero in Rome under the watchful eye of Mauritius, Mamertine Prison’s ambitious prefect, who seeks to understand how this broken old man can pose such a threat. Martinez will portray the prefect.
As his days grow shorter, Paul works from prison to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and embolden his followers to stand strong in their faith against Roman persecution.
“Next to Jesus, no one played a more central role in the growth of early church than the Apostle Paul,” Affirm Films executive vice president Rich Peluso was quoted by Variety as saying. “He wrote a vast swath of the New Testament and travelled more than 10,000 miles by foot to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Berden added, “Paul changed from murdering Christians to becoming their unlikely leader. His life personifies ‘forgiveness’, a concept that seems almost impossible today – but desperately needed. We at ODB Films are overjoyed to be working alongside Sony Affirm to share this much needed story with the world.”
Zelon worked with Caviezel on Affirm’s football drama ‘When the Game Stands Tall’. It is the first Biblical role for Caviezel since The Passion of the Christ in 2004.
The film is slated for release in 2018 through Affirm Films.
Faulkner starred in several episodes of Game of Thrones as Randyll Tarly, father of Samwell Tarly, and portrayed Pope Sixtus IV in BBC’s Da Vinci’s Demons in 2013. Martinez starred in National Geographic Channel’s Mars last season, the History Channel miniseries Texas Rising, and the ABC series Revenge.