Where Is Devil Idol When You Need It?
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Samuel Jackson as God. Jim Caviezel as Jesus. Charlton Heston as Moses. These are just a few Hollywood stars who've played characters from the Bible. But who should play the Devil? You'd think it would be easy (what about Al Pacino from a few years ago), but it's not.
Finding the perfect Jesus was no problem for Carl Amari — he just called up Jim Caviezel, who starred in "The Passion of the Christ" — but making a deal with just the right devil has turned out to be harder than hell.One of the people they rejected apparently was Simon Cowell.
"And you need a good Satan," Amari said with a bit of exasperation, "because Satan has some of the best lines in the Bible."
Amari is a 43-year-old Chicago entrepreneur who made a fortune in the late 1980s by salvaging old-time radio shows and repackaging them on cassette tapes. Now Amari sees a golden opportunity in giving the family Bible a serious digital upgrade — he's behind "The Word of Promise," a lavishly produced, word-for-word dramatic reading of the Bible by Caviezel and other Hollywood stars that, when it's completed, will fill 70 CDs.
The first part of the project, a 20-CD set of the New Testament for $49.95, will arrive in stores in October. Considering the proven potency of both the audio-book marketplace and Christian retail, it might be a holiday-gift sensation. The presence of Caviezel should give it instant cachet in many Christian circles; the 100-person cast also includes Terence Stamp as God, Michael York as the narrator, Luke Perry as Judas and Marisa Tomei as Mary Magdalene. The recording sessions began in July, but, to the consternation of Amari and director JoBe Cerny, the role of Satan is still up in the air.
"We're still experimenting," Cerny said Tuesday from the studio in Chicago. "We have some ideas and someone in mind, but nothing is for sure yet. It's a challenge because it needs to sound really devious and seductive and, uh, you know, devilish. But you don't want to be too over-the-top."
Labels: The Bible in Pop Culture
Posted by B Feiler at 8:05 AM
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ah Bruce! why does the devil need to be a man?
Elizabeth Hurley did a fun interpretation in Bedazzled. ;)