Our first look at one of the previous 2017 Oscar hopefuls has arrived. Mary Magdalene, the new feature film from Lion director Garth Davis, was originally slated for release in the awards-friendly fall corridor of 2017 before The Weinstein Company (yep) pushed it to Easter weekend. But regardless of everything that's going on over there, this movie sounds incredibly interesting.
Rooney Mara plays the titular Biblical figure in a story scripted by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett, which chronicles Jesus’s story from the point of view of Mary Magdalene, a figure who has been the topic of controversy, dissent, and conflicting viewpoints for centuries. No doubt the fact that Mary was a woman played into how she was portrayed in historical documents throughout the years, so it’ll be interesting to see how she’s captured here—especially alongside Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus.
The film was actually shot last year, with Davis reuniting with his Oscar-nominated Lion cinematographer Greig Fraser, who shot the film on the Alexa 65mm. I really can’t wait to see it, and hopefully this first-look image via Film4 means a debut trailer will be on the way soon.
Check out the first Mary Magdalene image below, followed by the film’s first official synopsis. Mary Magdalene opens in the UK on March 16, 2018 and is slated to open in the US on March 30, 2018.
Here’s the official synopsis for Mary Magdalene:
Set in the Holy Land in the first century C.E., a young woman leaves her small fishing village and traditional family behind to join a radical new social movement. At its head is a charismatic leader, Jesus of Nazareth, who promises that the world is changing. Mary is searching for a new way of living, and an authenticity that is denied her by the rigid hierarchies of the day. As the notoriety of the group spread and more are drawn to follow Jesus’ inspirational message, Mary’s spiritual journey places her at the heart of a story that will lead to the capital city of Jerusalem, where she must confront the reality of Jesus’ destiny and her own place within it.
