Update: THR have been told that stuntman Vic Armstrong — the only person to (technically) play both Indiana Jones and Superman — is negotiating to direct Left Behind. You can read the original story below.
Due to making at least a handful of movies of year, Nicolas Cage has experienced just about every event one would expect a person to go through — from 9/11 to WWII to bee attacks, and much, much more. But for his next film, he will be going through an event like no other.
After leading Knowing, which had some religious subtext, Variety reports the actor will head up a completely Christian-based project with Left Behind. As some know, there has already been a trilogy based on the hit books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins in in the first half of the last decade. Led by Kirk Cameron, they followed a group of people who just survived the Rapture. This reboot, which is being co-written by producer Paul Lalonde along with with John Patus (writer of the last film in the trilogy), is said to cost around $15 million, a big step up from the original series, and will start production as early as next spring.
Due to the low-budget aesthetic of the original series and the relative success of faith-based films it’s no surprise filmmakers are going back to this series. However, the addition of Cage as our leading man will surely turn a few heads and one might expect him to play the Antichrist character and not our hero, but nothing has been confirmed. As Hollywood plans films on everything from Noah to Moses, with major talent like Darren Aronofsky and Steven Spielberg, this trend is certainly not going away. Check out the trailer for the original below as we wait for more details.
Samuel Goldwyn Films will give Left Behind a wide release in late 2013.