“I picture [Jesus’] travels more like the camping trips my friends and I used to go on when we were teenagers. Being crammed into a tent with your buddies has its drawbacks…Jesus’ companions must have heard him snore, snuffle, and fart.”

It would appear that he’s staying with the secular theme for his Jesus movie as well.

Financing is coming together for Verhoeven’s unnamed film, and the project has found a screenwriter in Rules of Attraction scribe Roger Avery.

The Dutch director has always had a penchant for the Christian faith, having been a member of the Jesus Seminar, a group of academics and enthusiasts who used beads to vote on the factuality of Christian lore. Also, the director claimed that Robocop was through-and-through a “Christ story.”

Which I guess would make Clarence Boddicker Pontius Pilate.

Huh.

“If you look at the man, it’s clear you have a person who was completely innovative in the field of ethics. My own passion for Jesus came when I started to realize that. It’s not about miracles, it’s about a new set of ethics, an openness towards the world, which was anathema in a Roman-dominated world. I believe he was crucified because they felt that politically, he was a dangerous person whose following was getting bigger and bigger. Jesus’ ideals are about the utopia of human behavior, about how we should treat each other, how we should step into the shoes of our enemy.”

He’s dedicated to the idea, too, and has been trying to get a movie version financed for more than a year. I can’t imagine why he would be having trouble – a movie about Jesus being conceived when Mary was raped by a Roman soldier wouldn’t be controversial or anything, would it? (Deadline)

This will be Verhoeven’s first movie since 2006′s Black Book, which came and went with little fanfare. However, The Student‘s plot, along with the weight that Halle Berry can bring to a role, should allow for Verhoeven to have a lot of fun with this one, despite the potentially high cheese factor here, considering he was able to craft Basic Instinct out of a similarly thin concept.

The tension between the three main characters has me guessing at who would be best in the role of the boss and the intern here, but since my knowledge of 19 year-old male actors is limited to Zac Efron, I’m going to say Zac Efron. (Hit Fix)

_{The price for a blown take: purple nurple.}

Looks lik Paul Verhoeven has his next movie lined up. The man who has brought us so much joy in the form of giant space insects, invisible men, robotic cops, triple-breasts, hot tub dolphin sex, and a good view of Sharon Stone’s bathing suit area, is looking to direct the supernatural thriller Eternal.

The film tells the story of a married ma fighting an alcohol addiction. He begins a torrid affair with a troubled young woman, only to discover that she’s actually a succubus ghost who is after his very soul. Big whoop. I dated one of those when I first moved to the city. As long as she’s putting out, I don’t see what the issue is. (Deadline)