Denzel Washington, Blair Underwood, Heavy D read, sing and act in new audio Bible
Samuel L. Jackson is God. Well he's the voice of God at least.
In an upcoming audio Bible, Jackson joins more than 200 African-American mega-stars of Hollywood including Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Blair Underwood who bring the Holy Book to life.
The dramatized audio recording titled Inspired By... The Bible Experience includes a contemporary musical soundtrack and sound effects. The new 70-hour CDs chronicling Genesis through Revelation are scheduled for release in the fall. (The New Testament is scheduled for release in 2007.)
Blair Underwood is Jesus; Denzel Washington and his wife, Pauletta, take on Solomon's Song of Songs. Urban gospel artist Kirk Franklin gives voice to Paul the apostle. Cuba Gooding Jr. is Judas; Heavy D is the apostle Andrew while Tisha Campbell-Martin plays Mary Magdalene.
The audio Bible was a vision of four Hollywood insiders: producer Kyle Bowser, casting director Robi Reed, music producer Lou "Buster" Brown and co-producer Ron Belk, an IT expert. The quartet is also developing video games that feature Biblical demons and epic battles as well as writing a script for a feature film about the Bible.
Tinseltown has given God a voice before in projects ranging from epic - The Ten Commandments - to satirical - Dogma.
Who has played God?: Mel Blanc (The Old Grey Hare, 1944); Charlton Heston (The Ten Commandments, 1956, Almost an Angel, 1990); George Burns (Oh! God, 1977); Alanis Morissette (Dogma, 1999); Morgan Freeman (Bruce Almighty, 2003).
Other candidates for God: Oprah Winfrey; James Earl Jones; Maya Angelou
Holy Score (a measure of the candidate's believability and divinity):
Mel Blanc 2/10 He voiced Bugs Bunny. "Nyaaa, what's up Doc?";
James Earl Jones 5/10 He has the voice but is the association with Darth Vader too strong?
Oprah Winfrey: 7/10 She's already conquered the world so we can't give her heaven just yet.
