Fox TV Show 'Nazareth' on Jesus' Early Years in Development; 'Gladiator' Writer On Board
The latest project on the life of Jesus Christ is set to be a Fox TV series about His early years, titled "Nazareth," written and executive produced by "Gladiator" writer David Franzoni and veteran producer Bob Cooper.
Deadline.com reported on Friday that the event series will follow the the formative years of Jesus of Nazareth, as there has been a growing interest in Jesus' early years between the ages of 13 and 30, on which little is written.
Fox News noted that "Nazareth" has been inspired by the success of The History Channel's "The Bible," a 10-part mini series that featured stories both from the Old and New Testaments.
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"The Bible" series, produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, scored record ratings for The History Channel during its run last year, and last April became the the top-selling DVD miniseries ever in its first week of release, hitting 525,000 copies. By June, it had hit 1 million sales.
The series was eventually turned into a movie on Jesus, called "Son of God," which was released in February and performed well at the box office.
Another TV series on the early life of Jesus, titled "The One," started development in February by Lifetime, described as a "a coming-of-age story exploring Jesus' early life and formative years as he comes to learn he is the Son of God and is destined for greatness."
There were also reports on a horror genre project previously in development at History, which was set to explore the exorcisms performed by Jesus.
"Although the practice of ridding a person's body of demons and evil spirits existed long before Jesus' time, the term "exorcism" – which is done in Jesus' name – wasn't coined until later. In ancient times, when medicine was in its infancy, healing was done mainly on a spiritual level, essentially treating ailments by getting demons out the body. Thus the theory that, as the most powerful healer of his time, Jesus performed rituals akin to exorcism," Deadline reported in December 2013.
"Nazareth" is part of a deal between Fox and Landscape Entertainment to develop programming for the network, and it will be the first production from that deal.
