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Moses, As Told by Spielberg

Director is reportedly interested in Exodus project

by
Marc Tracy
November 17, 2011

Since it’s been a full six years since the release of his last Jewish-themed movie, Munich, word is that Steven Spielberg is considering a biopic of Moses (and we don’t mean Mendelssohn, or Robert). “Spielberg is very interested in directing Gods and Kings, which follows Moses from a baby in a basket on the river, through parting the Red Sea and leading the Jews out of Egypt, to receiving the Ten Commandments,” Page Six reports, citing Movieline. (It also notes that Mel Gibson’s Judah Maccabee project is attached to the same studio, Warner Brothers. “Coincidentally,” it adds, “Maccabee happens to have been a cousin of William Wallace, the Scottish liberator Gibson played in Braveheart.” Um, no.)

There is much to look forward to in a Spielberg swords-and-sandals epic: Moses’ moody childhood; great CGI on the parting of the Red Sea; a John Williams score that sounds like all the others. Still, I could’ve sworn that Spielberg—or at least his non-union Mexican equivalent—already made a similar film?

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.