Web: Media Jesuses we have known

How does a postmodern Christian prepare for Easter weekend? By reviewing the many media Jesuses we have known and loved, of course.

Entertainment Weekly provides the venue today as it "looks back at a dozen actors who've played the Son of God on screens large and small." My personal favorite (although I never saw the movie) is Will Ferrell in the 1999 film Superstar. The "critically reviled" movie included a character called Father Tylenol Ritley. Ferrell played a laid back, advice-giving messiah. Of course, Ferrell's no Max von Sydow, but...

Runner-up: Jeremy Sisto in the 1999 TV movie Jesus. He went on to play Brenda's seriously troubled brother, Billy, for five seasons on Six Feet Under.


Media Jesuses still proliferate.

The Coca Cola Company has taken legal action against producers of an Italian film set in present day Israel in which Jesus drinks a can of Coke in the desert. Seven Kilometers From Jerusalem, released today, centers on a Milanese ad exec having a midlife crisis who makes a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

In the desert, near the biblical Emmaus, the ad man gives Jesus a ride on his Jeep, hands him a Coke, and, while Jesus is quenching his thirst, says: "My God, what a testimonial!"

The film was reportedly well-received by the Vatican, but not by Coke, which demanded that the scene be cut.

Next week we'll review "My Favorite Judases."


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