SA film on Jesus gets Hollywood nod

Cape Town – The script has been playing in director Regardt van den Bergh's head for the last ten years. Now it's going to be filmed: His epic Jesus movie The Lamb. And it's all happening on Hollywood scale.

When Hollywood producer Frank Yablans heard there's a South African who wants to make another Jesus film, he was not in the mood for the story, reports Sarie.

"There were too many," the big name in the film world said. Yablans is best known as producer of the 1972 mafia-hit The Godfather.

The Lamb tells the story of Jewish family in the time when Jesus lived and deals with how a father learns to forgive.

Yablans had already heard of Van den Bergh, "the talented director of South Africa", and decided to watch the promotional DVD that Van den Bergh and his team made.
 
"After I watched it for the third time, I realised it would not just be another Jesus film. This is a movie with a secular, universal message. It's about forgiveness," he told Sarie.

Yablans, former president of the Hollywood film company Paramount Pictures and now an independent producer at Promenade Pictures in California, is now on board as The Lamb's producer.

Van den Bergh is known for films like Faith like Potatoes, Hansie and Hanna Hoekom.