Posted on 04/08/2005 4:21:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
CAIRO (AFP) - A Hollywood flick on an alleged love affair between pharaonic Queen Nefertiti and the Biblical Prophet Moses is soon to begin shooting in Egypt, renowned British producer John Heyman has revealed to AFP.
"Nefertiti married perhaps one of the first monotheists in history and the film will tell their story, which logically enough should be set in Egypt" said Heyman on a brief visit to Cairo.
"One can find in the Old Testament that Moses and Nefertiti had a relationship," he added.
The movie will also deal "with the return to the worship of the sun god," said Heyman.
He was referring to Aten -- the radiant disk of the sun -- whose cult was briefly re-introduced by Pharaoh Akhenaten, the 10th king of the 18th Dynasty also known as the "heretic king" for breaking with traditional religion in the 1350s BC.
The cult of Aten is considered by some experts to be a predecessor of modern monotheism.
Scholars generally agree that Nefertiti, often referred to in history as the "most beautiful woman in the world", was Akhenaten's wife.
But few have argued that Akhenaten and Moses may have been the same man, although there is no consensus on their respective dates of birth and death.
Others contend that Ramses II, the third ruler of the 19th dynasty, was in fact Moses while Jews believe the pharaoh king is responsible for their exodus from Egypt.
And founding father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud ventured his belief in "Moses and Monotheism", published in 1939, that Moses was in fact an Egyptian follower of Aten that brought the monotheistic doctrine out of Egypt as Judaism when he led the Israelites away from slavery to freedom some 3,300 years ago.
Ahmed Osman, on whose 1990 book "Moses and Akhenaten: The Secret History of Egypt at the Time of the Exodus" the script of Heyman's next film is based, admitted that "my argument is controversial and not widespread among many Egyptologists."
"But I have collected evidence proving that Akhenaten and Moses are the same person, which so far nobody has been able to contest," said Egypt-born Osman who has lived in London for the past 20 years where he studied Egypt's ancient history.
"Egypt's history is greatly ignored by the film industry besides 'Cleopatra' and 'The Ten Commandments' and that's it," said Heyman, referring to the two epic Hollywood blockbusters released more than 40 years ago.
The shoot "will not start before 2006 and locations will be between studios and along the Nile in Upper Egypt," he added.
Although he said it was too early to talk about the cast, Heyman said he had met "several Egyptian actors who are very good and charming, warm and kind".
British director Hugh Hudson, the acclaimed director of "Chariots of Fire," will direct the movie.
Heyman, who produced or co-financed major films such as "Chinatown", "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Marathon Man", is also known for creating the Genesis project -- a scholarly endeavor to put all the Hebrew and Christian scriptures on film.
He also produced "Jesus," filmed on location in Israel in Biblical settings and subsequently translated in more than 850 languages.
Doubtful... under the revised Egyptian timeline, the Amarna letters written by Egypt's representatives to Akhenaten's, and later Tutakhenaten's courts detailed the events in the Canaan/Judean area that parallel the Biblical stories of King Saul, his son Jonathon, and David, the young lion. Akhenaten's social experiment in monotheism, and its internalization of the Pharoah's attention and interests, corresponded with a power vacuum in Babylon... allowing the upstart Hebrews to form their own kingdom in the hills above the contested tradeways between the two superpowers of the time.
The revised timeline would put Moses (Ra-Moses?) and the Exodus a couple hundred years earlier.
Or possibly a hundred years before. I have always personally favored Tuthmosis III/Hatshepsut as the Pharaohs of the Exodus. It fits much better in the time line and something did happen at the end of Hatshepsut reign. Something so bad that she was almost blotted from history because of it.
I prefer the date of 1628BC as the start of the Exodus. That's when Thera blew it's top and, I think, provided all the plagues and fireworks during the Exodus.
Heh heh heh...good one.
FMCDH(BITS)
Rule #1: If you're going to do a Bible film, expect that 75% of your audience will be believers.
The mummy does bear a striking resemblance to the bust.
Except for that unfortunate canker sore ;~D
You guys' dates are OK with me.
ping to this thread
People sure have evil brains. Wait...it is the heart that is desperately wicked. Makes ya just wanna scream.
Moses married TWO women. The first was a Midianite The second one was the Cushite.
Yep.
I wonder if the actress who plays her will shave her head like the real Egyptian queens had to?
The Moses story is very Egyptian and the Hyksos were not Egyptian but foreign invaders.
The Hyksos were driven out around 1570 which would provide reason for the Hebrew enslavement as the Hyksos ruled northern Egypt which would have included what we believe was the land of Goshen. The Hebrew's were Semites as were the Hyksos so it would be reasonable to think that they had a good relationship with the invaders and that would not have set well with the Egyptians later.
If we go with 1483 as the date of the Exodus that would be about 113 years after the enslavement which fits with the story line.
I know. But it's the still meant to be the same person referenced in the article that started the thread as various posts show. I don't consider it a big deal or think that it signals the downfall of intellectualism that the name was changed a bit in DeMille's epic.
"Anyway, it's clear to me that God doesn't like his children to bear some prejudice against each other over differences in skin tone."
No doubt about that.
I'm always in learning mode. Always. Everytime I think I know something, something else hits me in the face and U start all over again.
See, I guy makes one mistake and they keep bringing it up four thousand years later.
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