Director Rodrigo Garcia’s (ALBERT NOBBS) new film LAST DAYS IN THE DESERT will be playing the Sundance festival next month and we have our first look at Ewan McGregor as Jesus. The small indie film actually has McGregor in dual roles; his characters are described as a holy man and a demon or Jesus and the Devil if you want to get literal. The movie is an imagined chapter from his 40 days of fasting and praying in the desert.
Here's the official synopsis:
Ewan McGregor is Jesus — and the Devil — in an imagined chapter from his forty days of fasting and praying in the desert. On his way out of the wilderness, Jesus struggles with the Devil over the fate of a family in crisis, setting for himself a dramatic test.
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (GRAVITY) told Deadline of the project, "It’s a tiny little beautiful, extraordinary script that Rodrigo wrote that we’re going to shoot for five weeks." If you’re a biblical buff and know about the story of Jesus being tempted by the Devil during 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, you might be interested to know that this movie isn’t looking tell that story, but reimagine it and leave the door wide open to interpretation. As McGregor says, "you could watch the film and not think that it’s Jesus. He could just be another holy guy, a rabbi, walking in the desert, looking for answers."
As a big fan of this year’s NOAH, I have to say that I’m more interested in these movies that don’t identify themselves as being "faith-based". Maybe it’s because they seem to take more risks in telling a story so many people know or claim to know with the idea of making people think in the process.
LAST DAYS IN THE DESERT also stars Tye Sheridan, Ciarán Hinds, and Ayelet Zurer. It premieres on January 25th as part of Sundance 2015.