Jesus of Hollywood — Day 1

Logline 1:  The Truman Show meets The Passion of The Christ

Genre:  Science Fiction / Comedy-Drama

Background / Inspiration:  Inspired by James Ensor's famous painting "Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889," in which Christ returns to Earth—but no one notices.

Premise:  It is the Second Coming, and Jesus Christ has returned to pass judgement on Mankind... But something has gone awry with his re-entry, and instead of walking among us, Jesus has landed into the imagined "world" of Hollywood films. Thus, as the story unfolds, every scene of JESUS OF HOLLYWOOD is actually based on a familiar scene from a classic Hollywood film.

ACT I is about Jesus discovering that he is powerless and orienting himself to a world that makes no sense.

ACT I

Jesus returns to a world that is a disorienting jumble. Time periods are mixed. Some places exist in color and others only in black and white. And most frustratingly, it seems he has lost almost all of his supernatural powers. Though he can still travel space and time at will (i.e. jump from any movie to any other movie) and observe anything he pleases, he goes about completely unnoticed, like a ghost, and cannot affect any change in the world into which he's returned. This is, of course, because Jesus has NOT entered a living world, but a prerecorded one, whose narratives and outcomes are fixed. But Jesus is completely unaware of the true nature of his predicament. And so, believing himself to be back on earth, he accepts the nature of the challenge before him as one final test from the heavenly father.

ACT II focuses on Jesus' quest to regain his power and re-connect with human beings, so that he may fulfill his mission.

Act II - first half 

Jesus despairs when he realizes that in addition to his own impotence, Mankind's free-will seems to have disappeared. There is a glimmer of hope when Jesus discovers that there are a small subset of life scenarios that have variable outcomes (the alternate endings of DVD extras) or different progressions (Apocalypse Now Vs. Redux)... but Jesus is still just a passive observer, unable to shape events himself. He seeks out anyone who might help him regain his powers, to no avail. Until finally:

Midpoint / passive-to-active shift:  The midpoint is the scene from the movie GHOST, in which the ghost of Sam (Patrick Swayze) learns from a subway-dwelling ghost (Vincent Schiavelli) how to exert his influence in the world of the living. Jesus is also present on the subway platform and eavesdrops as the mercurial subway ghost instructs Sam. From this moment forward, scenes become slightly malleable as Jesus begins to apply his fledgling power. Although every scene is still recognizable from its original source-film, the direction and outcomes of those scenes are increasingly different from what we remember and expect. 

Act II - second half

Jesus discovers that there are threats to mankind that the lord clearly did NOT create, such as dinosaurs, (Jurassic Park, The Land That Time Forgot), killer robots (The Terminator films, The Matrix), unscheduled natural apocalypses (2012, Waterworld, An Inconvenient Truth), and most terrifyingly, beings from another world, (essentially, every science fiction film in which aliens attack earth). Jesus realizes that his mission to "judge" Mankind must wait, and that he has a new, more urgent mission: to protect Mankind from the seemingly limitless attacks from realms unknown.

Act III focuses on the epic battle between Jesus, the allies he has been able to recruit, and all of the forces and events that threaten Mankind.

Act III

In Act III Jesus has now gained the power to completely inhabit existing characters and change the outcome of any scene, and we experience the ultimate montage of familiar and reimagined battle sequences, with Jesus repeatedly leading the charge, (final battles of Independence Day, The Matrix, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, Rockys I-IV, The 10 Commandments, etc.)

Climax:  Just as he has defeated all of the threats to Mankind, and is free to commence with Judgement, Jesus instead surprises the world (and us) with a two part soliloquy: first, in an impassioned rage, he vents his anger at the futility of war and its aftermath, (the final scene from Rambo: First Blood). He then collapses to his knees in the rain, (the rooftop scene from Blade Runner), and, after sparing the life of an unworthy human (Deckard), confesses to this lessor being his weariness from his life's journey, even as he is left in complete awe of the beauty he has experienced along the way.

In the final measure, even though he has not returned to the Living Earth, Jesus has seen enough to pass judgement on Man simply by inhabiting one of his highest art forms. He chooses to let the story of Mankind continue to unfold, and departs with a warning to improve ourselves and care for one another, for he will surely return a third time, if the Lord chooses to send him.