Hollywood, Ca - Film director and screenwriter Oliver Stone announced on Tuesday that he is currently casting for an upcoming film about the Bible called The Lost Testament. Stone, whose controversial 1991 film JFK presented the theory that there was a second gunman in the Kennedy assassination, began work four years ago on the film because of a personal conviction that something "just didn't seem right" about the apparent "contradictions" between the Old and New Testament. An Episcopalian turned Buddhist, Stone argues that there has to be more information out there that bridges the gap between the "God of Wrath" in the Old Testament and the "Jesus of Mercy" in the New Testament. "I'm not a Christian, but I read the Bible," said Stone during an interview with TBNN. "I think there are some very valuable things in the Bible about love and kindness and compassion. But I cannot help but think that there's something missing between Malachi and Matthew. Of course, I've read the Apocrypha, but that doesn't even sufficiently answer some of these questions that I have. In the Old Testament people are being swallowed up by the ground, fire is coming out of the sky, whole cities are destroyed. And when I read in the New Testament Jesus is talking about mercy, loving your enemies and forgiving others."
As a result The Lost Testament presents the theory that there is a missing "Middle Testament" that makes sense of why, as Stone says "God changed." TBNN has already learned that Kevin Costner has been brought out of obscurity to play the lead roll of Dr. Jeff Padget, a Baptist preacher who goes on a quest to find the "missing testament." Along the way he comes to not only tolerate but embrace homosexuality, abortion and Islam, becoming the first Baptist/Islamic minister in the world. His quest finally takes him to Berkley, California where he supposedly finds all of the answers of life he's ever looked for.
"I think this film will really revolutionize the religious views of many out there," said Stone. "There has to be something that connects the Old and the New, and I think most people have never crossed that bridge, they've just jumped from one side to the other. We're hoping to find that bridge, or either make one up out of our own imaginations."
The Lost Testament is due to be released in December of 2008, just in time for the Christmas season.
5 comments:
I read somewhere else that he's already planned a follow up-the Last Testament. After all, how could a loving God punish sinners eternally in Hell as He does at the end of Revelation. Surely there must be more to the story. I mean, He gives them a second chance, right?
I don't know, I think Stone's plot is too predictable...I mean...It's obvious that man finds answers to all of life and religions tough questions at Berkley.
Except "Testament" is a reference to "Covenant." That is, the Old Testament is called Old Testament because it deals with the Old Covenants... the New deals with the New Covenant. There was no Middle Covenant. Which is kinda ironic, because if you understood the nature of the covenants throughout Biblical history, Old and New, you would see that God is really consistent and does not change. Imagine that.
An Episcopalian turned Buddhist?
Just cross your legs, empty your mind...
This is almost believable-especially with Oliver Stone. But it needs a name that liberal theoplgians can trust--like Spong or Crossan or one of them to give it the right cachet.
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