After nearly twenty years of writing music as The Bullitts, Jeymes Samuel finally made his filmmaking dreams come true when his feature debut, “The Harder They Fall,” hit Netflix last year. Samuel’s 2013 short “They Die By Dawn” first brought him attention, but “The Harder They Fall” put him on the map. And as both of those films were Westerns with Black casts, it’s clear Samuel has an enthusiasm for genre, film history, and utilizing them for a Black perspective.
And Samuel’s next project looks to continue that trend, albeit this one may be a little more controversial. “The Book Of Clarence” sees Samuel reunite with Lakeith Stanfield, one of the stars of “The Harder They Fall,” for a biblical epic. Details are slim, but Stanfield plays Clarence, and the story takes place in 29 AD. And Samuel’s main points of cinematic reference? He’s looking at “Ben Hur,” “The Ten Commandments,” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told” as influences.
Samuel had some choice words in an interview with Deadline as he described the project, citing his curiosity about the day-to-day life of the period. “Firstly, the Bible’s the biggest franchise in the world,” he says, “The biggest superhero, the most famous superhero of all time is Jesus himself.” He continues, “The Bible just gives you bricks. But the mortar you’re meant to fill in yourself. I want to show who he bought them from and what that guy was doing. What the guy that sold him those sandals had for breakfast, for dinner. Who was in the hood?” Apparently, “The Book Of Clarence” will cover all of that and more.
Samuels also wants the film to capture the same awestruck charisma of Steven Spielberg‘s earlier films, citing Richard Dreyfuss and the boulder chase sequence from “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” as inspiration. Again to Deadline, he says, “I promise, even the opening sequence, it’s such an original thing I’m doing with the opening sequence when the credits roll, and you’ll be eating your popcorn hopefully, and going, ‘I’ve never had this experience before.’ It’s one of those. And you put Black people in there… I don’t want to give away too much. It’s going to be a really awesome, awesome movie.”
No word yet on who will pick up “The Book Of Clarence,” but given Samuel’s history with Netflix, they may be the safe bet.