Hollywood & Religion: More Controversy To Come If New Films Anger The Faithful
By MIKE FLEMING
— Hollywood agency WME will soon shop the movie rights to The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, a James Frey book published this weekend that imagines what the Second Coming of Christ would be like in contemporary America and depicts Jesus Christ as bisexual and promiscuous. Frey wrote the controversial A Million Little Pieces, a memoir that turned out to be semi-fictional. Though his new book is getting strong reviews, there is no getting around the fact that audiences who flocked to Mel Gibson’s film would consider Frey’s vision to be blasphemous. The book launched with a lavishly illustrated limited edition print run of 10,000 books — selling for $50 each –published by Gagosian Gallery. It will then be published published widely through e-book for the Kindle, Nook, iPad, Kobo and Sony ereader. Frey tells me he’s “open” to his book being shopped for films. When I asked who would be the movie audience for it, Frey says, “When I write, I don’t think that way. I wrote a book about what I think it might be like if the long awaited Messiah were alive today, who that person would be, what he would believe in, how he would live, how society would recognize him and deal with him,” Frey told me. “I spent 15 years thinking about it, and about how to do it, and what story to tell. I believe that the Messiah would not eschew the use of alcohol, nor restrict his ability and willingness to love based on what they do for a living or their gender.”