Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy have joined the cast of “The Book of Clarence”.
The upcoming follow-up to writer, director, composer and producer Jeymes Samuel’s 2021 big screen debut “The Harder They Fall” has added a lot of talented stars joining leads LaKeith Stanfield and Omar Sy.
As well as Cumberbatch and McAvoy, the Alfre Woodard (“12 Years a Slave”), David Oyelowo (“Chaos Walking”), Anna Diop (“Titans”), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Robocop”) and Caleb McLaughlin (“Stranger Things”) have all signed on for the Legendary Pictures production.
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They will be joined by Micheal Ward (“Small Axe”), Tom Glynn-Carney (“House of the Dragon”) Babs Olusanmokun (“Black Mirror”), Eric Kofi Abrefa (“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”), Teyana Taylor (“Coming 2 America”), Nicholas Pinnock (“Fortitude”), and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (“Avengers: Endgame”).
The movie will see director Samuel reunited with collaborators James Lassiter, Tendo Nagenda and Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter.
The movie is set during the time of Jesus and will follow Clarence of Jerusalem, as he looks for opportunities in the wrong places.
The journey will see him on plenty of adventures forcing him to a place of self exploration.
Stanfield – who worked under Samuel in “The Harder They Fall” – will play Clarence, but Sy’s role and specifics about the plot are being kept under wraps.
The filmmaker previously referenced the likes of “Ben-Hur” and “The Ten Commandments” when discussing his upcoming movie, and promised a “fun-filled extravaganza”.
He said: “You remember those biblical epics, whether they were about the Bible or just taking place around it, from ‘The Ten Commandments’ to ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’, ‘Samson and Delilah’ and ‘Ben-Hur’, which runs alongside all that stuff in the Bible?
“As will be ‘The Book of Clarence’, a full fun-filled extravaganza. It’s written and ready to go, and set in 29 AD.”