He dabbled with religio-adjacent themes in The Exorcism of Emily Rose and his take on The Day the Earth Stood Still maintained some of the original's Jesus-flavoured parallels, but Scott Derrickson is going full Bible for a new film. He’ll tackle Goliath for Relativity Media and the producers behind the Twilight films.
According to the Heat Vision blog, this new movie will take the classic David vs. Goliath match-up and craft “a period action movie made with contemporary sensibilities.” Which naturally makes us think they’re going to go all 300 on its arse.
John D Payne and Patrick McKay have adapted the story into a script that finds a massive warrior dispatched to locate and murderlise a prophesised king of the Israelites. Young shepherd David is the man who must protect not only himself and his family, but also his people from the hulking menace.
Chances are you know how it all turns out, but if not: spoiler alert! The climax comes when David takes aim with his slingshot and the big man ends up in bad shape. And a metaphor about vastly differing opposing forces is born.
Derrickson has a few films kicking around as possible future projects, including sci-fi family flick The Substitute for Sam Raimi. But if Goliath gets the go-ahead, he’ll be heading to Biblical times before he tackles anything else.