Whenever we get a film about the last days of Jesus Christ, it’s usually told pretty straightforwardly, or simply from his point of view. One of the characters that is usually not explored in much detail is Pontius Pilate, the man responsible for ordering Jesus’ crucifixion, but apparently that is about to change.
Warner Bros. recently purchased the rights to a script entitled Pontius Pilate, which will “follow Pilate’s journey as a soldier who gains power under the Roman Emperor Tiberius, but screws up along the way and finds himself desperate for public approval when the time comes to make the choice as to the fate of Jesus of Nazareth.”
The script comes from writer Vera Blasi, who co-wrote the screenplay for the upcoming film Emperor, which deals with deciding the fate of Emperor Hirohito after World War II. The only other projects in her filmography are Woman on Top and Tortilla Soup, a pair of romantic comedies, so it’s rather hard to judge how well she would do with a biblical film.
Personally, I think a film that follows Pilate sounds like a fascinating idea. Usually his struggle to come to a decision as to what to do about Jesus is given very little screentime, not to mention that we usually get nothing about his past.
Hopefully this is one idea that will translate well to the screen. As always, we’ll keep you updated when we hear more.
(Source: First Showing)