'Christ the Lord' Is Coming to Theaters — with Anne Rice's Blessing

Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt — the novel that marked her much-publicized return to Catholicism — is officially headed for the big screen, and unusually for Rice, she is delighted about it. The author famously spent years at war with Hollywood over adaptations of her vampire novels; this time she has given the production her public blessing.

The novel, published in 2005, imagines Jesus as a seven-year-old narrator, leaving Alexandria with his family for Nazareth and slowly discovering who he is. Rice's research-heavy, reverent approach drew praise even from readers startled to find the creator of Lestat writing scripture-adjacent fiction.

Chris Columbus's 1492 Pictures is among the companies shepherding the project, with Cyrus Nowrasteh attached to direct from a script he co-wrote. Rice has told readers on her famously chatty Facebook page that the filmmakers 'have the heart' for the material.

Update: the film reached theaters in March 2016 as The Young Messiah, with Adam Greaves-Neal as the young Jesus and Sean Bean as the Roman centurion pursuing rumors of a miracle child.