<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The the times of the Jewish War are all about military siege, starvation, torture, and death. Those were the times, after Herod rebuilt the temple, and before and during the time the Romans destroyed it.
Where Passion of the Christ emphasizes the ostensible cruelty of the Jews and uses extreme brutality to create dramatic effect, the Da Vinci Code employs a kind of troubador romanticism to enchant and puzzle.
I see it as something closer to the style of Fellini, ala Roma, grotesque, unspeakable, a Satyricon. Cannibalism, murder, theft, rape, horror. That's the way it was, so why not show it?
<b>Seen from the man in the street's point of view, Rome was at war, much as the world is at war today, and ironically, chillingly in the same places. </b><i><b>The Romans were jokers and game players. Morbidity and fantasy mixed with irony, stir in a little sarcasm, boil with every conceivable combination of sexuality, stir well and serve hot. </b>
</i>
I think Gladiator is a recent film that touches on the style and scent of Rome, and the TV series 'Rome' is another. So, realism is a good way to go.
Start with Titus in a boat on lake Genesareth hacking away at demoniacs with his sword, his troops dragging them aboard to be slaughtered. His comment: "Why, it's like being fishers of men." Mark my words, at that point Christians will get the connection.
Next we see Titus leading his troops at the Siege of Jerusalem. We go inside the walls and see the horror of a community having been besieged for months. They feast on their dead, dragging them from tombs if necessary. In this hideous condition, Mari divides her child and eats half of it. Show it.
Now, perhaps we cut to the Gospels, and talk of the portion Mari kept for herself.
To hold the plot together you need a hero, and a timeline. The hero could be Josephus. A narrator would permissible - must be Ian McKellen. Can't you see the film opening with Ian's voice over an aereal swoop over lake Genesareth? "Titus, son of Vespasian, emperor of Rome." Gotta roll them R's! Cool. Everyone knows the Romans spoke the Queen's English!
Anyway, those are just some thoughts. I think there is a lot of material here, which may be an understatement.Â
But to make a movie you need backers, and the makers of the Da Vinci Code, although hopelessly benighted they may be, are as open as anyone will ever be to the romance and truth of religious history. There is potential for romance in the setting and the relationships - Titus and Berenice for example.
So, the key here is to get your book in front of the eyes of the backers and producers and especially the screenwriters of the DaVinci Code. Find the thinkers in the group. Talk to Dan Brown if you can. I think these guys would be open to a radical new thing like this, maybe not this year or next, but definitely within the next three to five.
Go for it!
Nelson <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Where Passion of the Christ emphasizes the ostensible cruelty of the Jews and uses extreme brutality to create dramatic effect, the Da Vinci Code employs a kind of troubador romanticism to enchant and puzzle.
I see it as something closer to the style of Fellini, ala Roma, grotesque, unspeakable, a Satyricon. Cannibalism, murder, theft, rape, horror. That's the way it was, so why not show it?
<b>Seen from the man in the street's point of view, Rome was at war, much as the world is at war today, and ironically, chillingly in the same places. </b><i><b>The Romans were jokers and game players. Morbidity and fantasy mixed with irony, stir in a little sarcasm, boil with every conceivable combination of sexuality, stir well and serve hot. </b>
</i>
I think Gladiator is a recent film that touches on the style and scent of Rome, and the TV series 'Rome' is another. So, realism is a good way to go.
Start with Titus in a boat on lake Genesareth hacking away at demoniacs with his sword, his troops dragging them aboard to be slaughtered. His comment: "Why, it's like being fishers of men." Mark my words, at that point Christians will get the connection.
Next we see Titus leading his troops at the Siege of Jerusalem. We go inside the walls and see the horror of a community having been besieged for months. They feast on their dead, dragging them from tombs if necessary. In this hideous condition, Mari divides her child and eats half of it. Show it.
Now, perhaps we cut to the Gospels, and talk of the portion Mari kept for herself.
To hold the plot together you need a hero, and a timeline. The hero could be Josephus. A narrator would permissible - must be Ian McKellen. Can't you see the film opening with Ian's voice over an aereal swoop over lake Genesareth? "Titus, son of Vespasian, emperor of Rome." Gotta roll them R's! Cool. Everyone knows the Romans spoke the Queen's English!
Anyway, those are just some thoughts. I think there is a lot of material here, which may be an understatement.Â
But to make a movie you need backers, and the makers of the Da Vinci Code, although hopelessly benighted they may be, are as open as anyone will ever be to the romance and truth of religious history. There is potential for romance in the setting and the relationships - Titus and Berenice for example.
So, the key here is to get your book in front of the eyes of the backers and producers and especially the screenwriters of the DaVinci Code. Find the thinkers in the group. Talk to Dan Brown if you can. I think these guys would be open to a radical new thing like this, maybe not this year or next, but definitely within the next three to five.
Go for it!
Nelson <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->