Anne Rice Lands Movie Deal for 'Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt' Book
Anne Rice, of Interview with the Vampire fame, will have another of her book turned into a movie, but this time the subject will be very different: Jesus Christ.
Rice's bestseller, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, first published in 2005 after Rice's return to the Catholic Church, depicts the life of Jesus at 7-years-old and his struggle with being the son of God. The book will be adapted to a film and distributed in the U.S. by FilmDistrict.
The bestselling author tells The Christian Post on Monday that she wanted to depict Jesus' story in the most vivid way possible. "I didn't want to water down Jesus in a novel. I wanted to portray Him as we believe in Him – as the Son of God, God incarnate, living in a complex and turbulent First Century world," she said.
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Slated for distribution in March 2015, "Christ the Lord" will be directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh, who helped make the controversial miniseries "The Path to 9/11," and his wife, Betsy Nowrasteh.
According to Rice, the film's directors "have shown great sensitivity and concern for biblical and theological accuracy in their screenplay."
"Frankly, I think that Christians are going to be thrilled with this movie," Rice tells CP. "They will see the Jesus of faith portrayed in fictional situations that are all entirely realistic for the times. This is new, I think, presenting the Lord accurately theologically but in new fictional situations. I think it's going to be wonderful," she added.
Best known for writing vampire-centered literature, Rice has had a turbulent experience with her Christian faith. Growing up Roman Catholic, she didn't question her faith until college when she became a self-professed "Christ-haunted atheist." During her time away from the church, she penned a slew of erotic-filled, vampire-themed books like Interview With The Vampire – which was made into a film starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas – and Queen of the Damned.
Rice later returned to Catholicism and made a public confession of her faith in an "I am second" video, a movement which seeks to lift up Jesus Christ by declaring that he is first and we are second. In the video, she says despite reaching the pinnacle of wealth and success as a New York Times bestselling author, she was dissatisfied with her life and throughout that time "I really believed in God."
"Not only did I believe in Him but I loved Him and I wasn't admitting it." After quitting Christianity then returning, she posted a video on her Facebook page in late 2012 rejecting her faith once again. Rice said she still believed in God, but being a part of organized religion that doesn't support gay rights among other social issues caused her to leave indefinitely.
"In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life," Rice says in the video.
Currently, she admits to dabbling in her former faith but doesn't belong to or worship at a congregation. "Loving Jesus, living for Him has to be an intensely personal thing, as I understand it. It has to transform you from within and be reflected in your smallest and greatest decisions. I read Scripture a lot. Studying Scripture continues to be a joy. But I do not go to the church of any organized religion now," Rice said.
As for her return to writing about ghoulish creatures, Rice admits she isn't sure. "The vampire is a profound metaphor for the outcast, the lonely one, the predator, in all of us," she tells CP. "When we sit down to a rich dinner table in America while people are starving all over the world, we are vampires in a sense, accepting our power and our 'edge' over so many millions who have little or nothing. If I return to the metaphor of the vampire, I want to mine that metaphor for its deepest religious and moral meanings."
