Prince Royce to Star in Fox’s Live Religious Musical Event “The Passion”

Prince Royce is taking his Passion to a live audience…

The 26-year-old Dominican American singer has been tapped to star in Fox‘s live religious musical event The Passion, the network has revealed.

Prince Royce

The multi-platinum recording artist is set to play the disciple Peter.

Hosted and narrated by Tyler Perry, The Passion tells the 2,000-year-old story of the last hours of Jesus Christ’s life on earth through a variety of popular music, sung by the cast including Trisha Yearwood and Royce, and arranged by executive producer Adam Anders (Glee).

Set in modern-day, the event follows the dramatic and inspirational story of Jesus of Nazareth, as he presides over the Last Supper, and then is betrayed by Judas, put on trial by Pontius Pilate, convicted, crucified and resurrected. As Mary follows her son into Jerusalem, she already has witnessed Jesus struggle with opposition from other religious leaders, but bolsters him with the boundless depth of a mother’s love. Peter, meanwhile, remains one of Jesus’ closest confidantes, but his loyalty will be sternly tested.

The event will unfold live at some of New Orleans’ most iconic locations and feature a procession of hundreds of people carrying a 20-foot, illuminated cross from outside the Superdome to the live stage at Woldenburg Park on the banks of the Mississippi River.

Royce released his debut album in 2010 and saw it go triple-platinum. He has scored 11 No. 1 hits on the Latin and Tropical charts, won 20 Latin Billboard Awards and earned eight Latin Grammy nominations. His music has collected more than 1 billion online streams.

Pascal In Talks to Star in “Ben Hur” Remake

Pedro Pascal may soon star in a massive remake…

The 39-year-old Chilean actor is in talks to portray Pontius Pilate in the remake of the 1959 epic historial drama Ben Hur, which earned 11 Academy Awards.

Pedro Pascal

The film, which will be directed by Timur Bekmambetov, centers on the blood feud between Judah Ben-Hur (Huston) and Messala (Kebbell), who grew up best friends before the Roman Empire took control of Jerusalem. Ben-Hur was a Jewish prince and Messala the son of a Roman tax collector. After the latter leaves to be educated in Rome for five years, the young man returns with a different attitude and mocks Judah and his religion. When a procession passes by Judah’s house and a roof tile accidentally falls and hits the governor, Messala betrays his childhood friend and manipulates the accident so that Judah is sold into slavery and certain death on a Roman warship, with his mother and sister thrown in prison for life. Judah vows revenge, culminating in the famed chariot races.

Pontius Pilate, best known for presiding over the trial of Jesus Christ and ordering his crucifixion, plays a significant role in this version of Ben-Hur, which hews closer to the 1880 Lew Wallace novel and its parallel storyline to Jesus than did the 1959 William Wyler-directed film.

The script is by Keith Clarke and 12 Years A Slave’s John Ridley did the rewrite.

Should he join the cast, Pascal will join Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Morgan Freeman and Gal Gadot in the film.

Production begins early next year in Europe for February 26, 2016 release.