Rooney Mara Is ‘Mary Magdalene’ and Joaquin Phoenix Is Hippie Jesus in First Trailer
You’ve seen biblical tales before – white men with scraggly beards walking through the desert in rags, bushes burning, waters dividing, and so on. But you haven’t really seen a biblical tale shift focus from Jesus to instead detail the life of a pivotal female from the religious text. Not until Garth Davis’ Mary Magdalene, at least.
Rooney Mara reunites with her Lion director in the first look at the film in the international trailer. Mara plays the titular woman who traveled with Jesus and was said to be present for his crucifixion and resurrection. Joaquin Phoenix is Jesus, which is some pretty stellar casting considering he’s got the perfect beard and long hair to go with it. Few things are more exciting than hippie Jesus played by Joaquin Phoenix, and based on that alone you can count me in for this one.
Based on the first trailer, the film definitely seems to be taking a more humanistic approach to the biblical story, depicting Jesus as a sagacious man rather than revering him as a strictly holy figure. It more so looks like a story about a young woman on a spiritual quest, which may make Davis’ film more accessible to some audiences. Although it’s sure to strike up some controversy with others and religious groups, especially if the film dips its toes into the age old question of whether the disciple and the Messiah were more than platonic.
Here’s the full synopsis:
Mary Magdalene is an authentic and humanistic portrait of one of the most enigmatic and misunderstood spiritual figures in history. The biblical biopic tells the story of Mary (Rooney Mara), a young woman in search of a new way of living. Constricted by the hierarchies of the day, Mary defies her traditional family to join a new social movement led by the charismatic Jesus of Nazareth (Joaquin Phoenix). She soon finds a place for herself within the movement and at the heart of a journey that will lead to Jerusalem.
The film, written by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett, also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tahar Rahim. It was originally slated to open this month with distribution from The Weinstein Company. The studio took the film out of this year’s awards race and pushed it back to March for a more Easter-friendly release. (It’s worth noting the release change was made back in August before the Harvey Weinstein downfall.)
Mary Magdalene will hit US theaters March 30, 2018.
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