Amazon Studios Headed For ‘Promised Land’ In Biblical Drama

Since becoming a fully-fledged producer/distributor of drama and comedic content, Amazon has been dealing with some big names. Its upcoming slate features a project from Steven Soderbergh and the company are even courting the indie scene via director Whit Stillman (BARCELONA). But the studio’s latest announcement sees them talking to God and entering what could be choppy waters with an epic Biblical pitch called Promised Land. A dramatization of The Book Of Joshua from the Old Testament, their idea is to develop a pilot based around the story of two brothers leading up to the formation of the Israelite nation. An epic saga involving slavery and a perilous journey, the series concept will also no doubt feature the bloody battles that occurred in the name of conquest.

A complex tale to summarize, but it should be intriguing to see Amazon’s approach in this age of historical output like SPARTACUS, with its wall to wall sex and violence. The creative team’s credentials appear sound, with co-writer Noah Oppenheim (THE MAZE RUNNER) having worked as a journalist at NBC. In this capacity he visited Iraq, Gaza and the West Bank and is clearly the man being relied upon to tread a fine line between respectfulness and drizzling superglue on the audience’s seats. Chris Bremner is also on script duties and Adam Sher will executive produce alongside the pair.

With religion being seriously mined for entertainment and the days of Highway To Heaven long past, the team are lining themselves up for potential criticism. Films such as Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH took artistic license to a whole new level and the knock on effect has seen the BBC making its own take on the Ark story. Whether the Russell Crowe approach will be adopted or if this is going to be little more than bland, beat-hitting fare has yet to be seen. One thing’s for sure – in the current political climate the web-based studio are certainly upping their game in terms of attention-grabbing material.

Source: THR