Comingsoon.net is taking a look at some of the strangest problems that’ve happened on the sets of movies based on the Bible. Check out our picks in the gallery below!
Spanning centuries and coming in at somewhere well above two thousand pages, it seems obvious to say that the Bible (and countless other religious texts) seem rife for capitalization in the eyes of a movie or television executive, no matter how sacrilegious that might actually be by way of the actual text itself. With billions of Christians on planet Earth, there are obviously going to be all kinds of Biblical epics to try and draw in those billions of patrons.
However, whether you believe it to be divine intervention or some strange coincidence, there always seem to be weird goings-on on the sets of these sorts of projects. From movies about Jesus to movies about exorcisms, it seems that any time the Bible is involved there’s going to be something strange happening behind-the-scenes.
Bible movies
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Noah (2014)
Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of the story of Noah and the great flood that wiped out much of the earth was a pretty hot topic when it was released, largely because of the creative liberties Aronofsky took with it. Eerily enough, the set actually flooded when Hurricane Sandy struck and kept them from shooting anything for quite some time.
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The Bible (2013)
History Channel’s five-part miniseries The Bible was met with mixed reviews upon its release back in 2013, but that doesn’t mean that those on-set didn’t have an unforgettable time. Producer Mark Burnett said that the strangest things would happen during production—anything from unseasonal wind gusts to an abundance of dangerous snakes to disappearing props.
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The Exorcist (1973)
There are countless problems that plagued the cast and crew of The Exorcist during production, some much worse than others. From a fire that destroyed much of the set except for the room of possessed child Regan to the several on-set deaths that occurred, this film that explores the darker parts of the Bible is almost undoubtedly cursed.
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The Omen (1976)
Like The Exorcist, The Omen deals with some of the darker elements in the Bible—in this case, specifically the Antichrist. Plenty of real life deaths occurred within the cast and crew, as well as lightning striking a plane full of cast and crew members on three separate occasions during the shoot.
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The Passion of the Christ (2004)
While filming the ever-popular (and just as controversial) movie The Passion of the Christ back in the early 2000s, the actor who played Jesus—Jim Caviezel—told Newsweek all about the difficulties during filming. The actor was accidentally whipped twice, struck by lightning while delivering a sermon, and experienced hypothermia while filming the crucifixion.