Centered around Mary’s ardent efforts to save her son by defying King Herod, the film has reportedly interested  Sir Ben Kingsley  for the lead royal role. Kingsley already has quite the high-profile slate lined up, with  Gavin Hood ‘s “ Ender’s Game ” and “ Iron Man 3 ” all being released next year, but more peculiar in this case is his apparent co-star in the prequel, one  Peter O’Toole. The legendary actor recently  announced  his retirement from a 50-year acting career in July, but apparently for Grierson’s project, he’ll be reporting for duty as Symeon nonetheless. Whether that casting proves accurate remains to be seen, but it’s a definite selling point for a film already ripe with many.

The rest of the cast is rumored to include  Odeya Rush  as Mary,  Julia Ormond ,  Dame Judi Dench  as Anna the Prophetess, and  Hugh Bonneville  as Satan if producers get who they want. The reason for the prequel tag comes in the form of writer  Benedict Fitzgerald , who co-wrote the ‘Passion’ script with Gibson and now is teaming with Barbara Nicolosi  for ‘Mary.’

Whether the project mirrors the success of ‘Passion’ remains to be seen, but if the filmmakers can actually pull this cast together, it definitely has a chance of doing so. [ The Wrap ]