Since it was announced back in February that Ewan McGregor had joined Last Days In The Desert, talk of the film dried up. Until yesterday, that is. With the cinematic calendar’s most prolific film festival, Sundance, set to start next month, a list of ficks slated to premiere hit the web. Included in that list was of course, Last Days, which has now debuted its first image. Courtesy of EW, we can now reveal a first look at Ewan McGregor as Jesus… and the Devil!
As first glimpses go, it’s a simple shot of McGregor looking dusty and disheveled, which he probably should be considering where he’s been. In this “imagined chapter” from Christ’s 40 days in the desert, the Scottish thesp plays both Jesus and Satan. This harks back to our first report on the project which outlined the story as “a holy man and a demon journeying through the desert together.” Directed by Albert Nobbs helmer Rodrigo Garcia, the film is scheduled to play at Sundance next January where critics and audiences will be granted their first opportunity to see how this Bible spinoff pic will fare.
Elsewhere on the casting slate, Ciaran Hinds and Tye Sheridan have snagged two supporting roles as a father and son who McGregor’s Yesher – Hebrew for Jesus – encounters. The young lad longs to leave their arid desert abode for a life in Jerusalem, but the patriarch ain’t having any of it.
We’ll keep you posted when Last Days In The Desert lands an official release, but until then, check out the Sundance description below.
Last Days in the Desert / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Rodrigo Garcia) — Ewan McGregor is Jesus—and the Devil—in an imagined chapter from his 40 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 himself up for a dramatic test. Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ciarán Hinds, Ayelet Zurer, Tye Sheridan.
Published: Dec 9, 2014 04:45 pm