He’s back on our screens playing OTT villain Blackbeard in Pan this summer, but Hugh Jackman is looking to get a little religious for a future film. He’s set to star in and produce faith-based drama Apostle Paul for Warner Bros.
Matt Cook is tackling the screenplay retelling the biblical tale of Saul of Tarsus, who was known as a persecutor of Christians. But while travelling on the road to Damascus, he was struck by a light from heaven and the voice of Jesus telling him to change his ways, to enter the city and receive his instructions. Saul became Paul, renounced his former ways and became one of the main apostles of Christianity, eventually writing 14 of the 27 books that make up the New Testament.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are aboard this one as producers, and it appears they’re looking to tap into both the growing faith-based market and the current trend for movies based on Bible stories.
Jackman, as mentioned, will be part of Pan (out July 17), and is filming sports biopic Eddie The Eagle alongside Taron Egerton. He recently hinted that he’s ready to stop playing Wolverine after the next solo outing (due in 2017), although that doesn’t preclude him showing up in some capacity for X-Men: Apocalypse, which is about to kick off shooting.