Christian Bale was once in talks to star as Noah in Darren Aronofsky's upcoming film. While that role eventually went to Russell Crowe, Bale is getting a second chance at a biblical character. The erstwhile Dark Knight is in talks to star in 'Exodus' - a film about the life of Moses for director Ridley Scott ('Prometheus').

Deadline reports that Fox and Scott are pushing 'Exodus' quickly through pre-production, hoping to beat 'Gods and Kings,' a competing Moses project that once had Steven Spielberg attached to direct and now looks to be the follow-up film for 'Life of Pi' director Ang Lee. Part of that is aggressively courting Bale to star in the film. 'Gods and Kings' may have Ang Lee but they don't yet have a star and if Scott was able to secure an A-lister in Bale, it could lead to a greenlight, leaving Lee's film in its wake.

'Exodus' was written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, perhaps best known for the Olsen Twins movie 'New York Minute.' Wait, what? Yes, you heard correctly. The writers of an Olsen Twins movie is working with Ridley Scott and Christian Bale on a biblical epic about the life of Moses. It should not surprise anyone that Oscar-winner Steven Zaillian was recently brought in to punch up the script.

So why the sudden interest in Moses? In actuality it isn't so sudden. These two Moses projects have been battling since 2010, when word of the competing projects first leaked. Neither has made much progress since that time but for whatever reason a collective fire has been lit under both of their asses.

Bale recently wrapped 'Out of the Furnace' and is currently filming David O. Russell's next film (formerly titled 'American Bulls---') with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.

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