"Left Behind" Revisited—This Time Starring Nicholas Cage—Hollywood No Longer Afraid of Faith Movies?
Aimee Herd : Apr 3, 2014
Variety.com
"What makes 'Left Behind' different is that it is a contemporary story that could actually happen at any moment…" -Paul Lalonde, Producer.
Fourteen years after the Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins novel about the Rapture (see 1Thess. 4:16-17 in the Bible) was made into a movie, "Left Behind" is back and is slated to be in theaters at the beginning of October of this year. (Photo via Leftbehindmovie.com)
The updated version of the film that originally starred Kirk Cameron, will this time include action film veteran Nicolas Cage.
Speaking about opting to do "Left Behind," Cage said, "I wanted to do it because it was so challenging and unusual to me."
He added that his greatest hope for the film is that "it works as something that people will be entertained and thrilled by, but they'll also go home and they'll have conversations with their family and they'll ask 'do you think this could happen or couldn't happen' and it'll inspire discussions and closeness."
While the original release of "Left Behind" back in 2000 received mainly negative reviews, the upcoming remake carries a larger budget—$16 million—and is directed by Vic Armstrong (he was Assistant Director on "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," and "The Amazing Spider-Man," but is also known as the "world's most prolific stunt double," according to the Guinness Book of Records).
Producer Paul Lalonde spoke with Variety regarding the new "Left Behind" production.
"We're seeing a number of big, Biblical movies on the calendar this year, particularly 'Son of God,' 'Noah' and 'Exodus,'" said Lalonde. "What makes 'Left Behind' different is that it is a contemporary story that could actually happen at any moment. It's also an historical account in a sense, because it's based on a true story, it just hasn't happened yet. So it's very important to us that the core story not be changed."
The movie is set to be released on October 3rd, 2014.