The full trailer for The Book of Clarence is finally here.
Last year, LaKeith Stanfield announced he was teaming up again with The Harder They Fall writer/director Jeymes Samuel on a “Bible-era Epic.”
“I want to tell the tales that we’ve never had before,” Samuel said. “We’ve never had Black people in the Bible days of cinema. There’s not even a template for us to go, ’Well, like that movie?’… Even when Andrew Lloyd Webber made something as nuanced as Jesus Christ Superstar, there’s no Black people in it, except Judas. Judas was the Black guy.”
Enter The Book of Clarence. The biblical comedy follows a wannabe Messiah (Stanfield) in ancient Jerusalem who attempts to make a fortune by scamming crowds with a few fake miracles. However, Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) is ready to take him down, as well as the real Jesus Christ.
Samuel explained to Vanity Fair why he wanted to tell the story of Jesus from a unique perspective.
“I always wanted to explore the Bible stories, but from the angle of the person that sells Jesus his sandals, the woman or man that owns the hair salon,” Samuel said. “Clarence is a person that doesn’t believe in anything outside of what’s in front of him, what he can see and hear.
“Clarence has a lot of inside belief – he has a lot of inside confidence,” he continued. “This man is sure he could fly. He reminds me of me growing up, but unlike me, he has no outside faith. I think it’s just a really interesting vantage point to explore living in that particular time and place, where most everyone around him is speaking about the Messiah.”
The biblical comedy also stars Omar Sy, Anna Diop, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward, Alfre Woodard, Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Benedict Cumberbatch, and features music from Jay-Z.
The Book of Clarence premieres in theaters Jan. 12.
