According to Deadline Arish, Steven Spielberg is close to signing on to make a film where a brave man helps save a lot of Jewish people from incredible persecution. Sadly, it’s the Schindler’s List: Electric Boogalo sequel we’d all hoped for. Unsadly, it’s Spielberg making a biblical epic on a massive scale with Warners. If the deal goes through, the goal is a shooting date in early 2013. Gods and Kings has been likened by their insider to Braveheart, and it tells the story of Moses from his birth down the river on down to Revelation probably. We’d previously reported that Spielberg was interested, but this news story almost assures that he’ll be taking this project on. And why not? It’s absolutely in his wheelhouse both in subject matter and scope. The question is whether this kind of story can still be a blockbuster moneymaker and a prestige film at the same time. It’s not the 1990s anymore. The other question is whether you want to see what essentially sounds like The Ten Commandments re-done by Spielberg.    

There have been hushed whispers going around the Internet for a while that Warner Bros. was interested in getting Steven Spielberg to direct a movie about Moses called Gods and Kings. It’s apparently an epic movie that spans the whole life of Moses, from the slave freeing, to the plagues, to the ten commandments, to all of the rest, and it comes from a script by Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine. It makes sense that Warners would be looking to Spielberg for a project like this for a couple reasons. Primarily, a film of this scope is going to need a huge budget, and that’s something Spielberg has a history of handling well and getting a return on. Also, Spielberg is a filmmaker who has a history of making projects that explore his Jewish heritage, and when he dealing with that sort of subject matter he ends up making movies as awesome as Schindler’s List and Munich; so who better than him to explore the life of Moses, one of the most badass Jews ever? Probably no one, so it’s good news for Warners that they are reportedly now in official talks with the legend to sign on to direct. According to Twitch, the talks between the two parties are “formal,” so take that as you will. Is that the difference between sitting down face to face in a boardroom instead of just chatting on the phone? Or does it just mean everyone is in fancy dress and slapping each [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Baddass Digest is reporting that both The Mouse and Warners are trying to get Darren Aronofsky on board for big budget projects. For Disney, it’s Maleficent – the new take on Sleeping Beauty that sees Angelina Jolie wearing the horned black cloak. For Warners, it’s Moses – an epic about a Jewish slave in Egypt singing “Let My People….Go.” On the one hand, Aronfosky could be spinning his own fairy tale. On the other, he could be re-imagining a Biblical history. Either way, none of this is a done deal because the studios are undoubtedly talking with other directors (like David Yates for Maleficent), and it’s not like Aronofsky has to choose simply between these two pictures. Thus, the real question becomes: which would you rather see him do? The Moses, The Witch or the None of the Above?

20th Century Fox is taking you back in time, to the time when Moses was saving the Hebrews from the Pharaoh. And they’re doing it in ass-kicking slow-mo…