We’re all pretty sick of Al Pacino playing the same two gangster/cop characters in movie after movie, so I suppose he deserves some credit for trying something different. But I’m not sure anyone expected him do anything this different.

Earlier this week we told you about his plan to play King Lear, and now Variety says he’s lining up to play King Herod, the Jewish ruler who tried to kill baby Jesus. Don’t worry Israelites, as with Passion of the Christ there’s plenty of Messiah-killing wiggle room on this one. Though Herod ruled Judea, identified himself as a Jew, and was considered Jewish by many in his time, he was kind of a Roman puppet and he was actually descended from a group of people known as the Idumaeans. Damn those Idumaeans! What did they have against Christianity?

The movie will be called Mary, Mother of Christ, which I guess means it’ll be huge in Latin America. Camilla Belle, who you can see in Push this weekend, is set to star as the Jesus’s mommy Mary while Jonathan Rhys Meyers gets to play both the angel Gabriel and that asshole Lucifer, also known as Satan! Meanwhile Peter O’Toole will heave himself onto the set, defying the Grim Reaper yet again, this time to play Symeon

In talks along with Pacino is Jessica Lange, who may play Anna the Prophetess.

This is a major, MGM release so don’t expect it to play like a Kirk Cameron movie. MGM’s investing some time in it. Heck just look at the cast. It’s kind of amazing that it’s taken this long for someone to really cash in on the whole Passion of the Christ thing. I wonder if they’re too late, now that the country is no longer run by a president ruling with the mandate of heaven? On the other hand, it did seem like Obama spent almost his entire first week of office praying. Jesus could be ready for another comeback, and this time it’s a prequel!