'The Final Testament of the Holy Bible': James Frey's Book About Jesus Christ To Be Shopped For Film

James Frey creates plenty of controversy on paper. A big screen version of his latest book could amplify his polarizing profile a million times over.

The "Million Little Pieces" author, who admitted parts of his supposed memoir were fiction and received a public scolding from one-time supporter Oprah, recently released "The Final Testament of the Holy Bible," an imagining of the second coming of Jesus Christ as a bisexual, former alcoholic named Ben who lives in the Bronx and impregnates a prostitute.

According to Deadline, he's open to movie offers for the book, and the agency WME will begin the process of shopping it to different financiers and studios.

A book about such a sensitive subject, it's already raising hackles amongst some religious groups, and a film may only bring more. Not that Frey seems to mind. Speaking to the NY Post, Frey that he knows his book, which he imagines as the Final Testament of the Bible, will upset some people.

"I'm sure the religious right will go crazy because the story of Ben... is hardly the Messiah they have in mind. But I don't really care. I just did what I always do -- tried to write the best book I could."

That said, he wasn't necessarily to blaspheme; Frey describes his feelings on religion as a complicated back-and-forth.

"Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don't, sometimes I wish I did, and sometimes I don't know," Frey told Newsweek. "I think about it quite a bit, and don't pretend to have any answers.

For more, click over to Deadline.

Comments

[Gail Andrea Shields]

08:32 PM on 06/23/2011

Read "God Went Fishing," which is a very profound book and which was written long before the Frey book and published before it as well. For me, the question of what would happen if Jesus walked the earth today is very relevant. The style of Shields' book makes it a modern day Candide, but his philosophical views are the antithesis of Voltaire's, and his world view, though equally amusing, is very 21st Century-Actually this is a very funny book. It makes you laugh and it makes you think-and makes you want to read the book again. Sadly, as a first book, without Frey's clout (after all he was on Oprah) it is not getting the same media attention-but people love it. For me it is a must read, and demonstrates how little Frey understands about religion, God, and Christ. Still, he presumably made a lot of money, and isn't that what he's about?

[Lisa Hartwell]

02:04 PM on 04/26/2011

One cannot deny that he is a good writer, fiction or not. But, it seems like most of his books since A Million Little Pieces, are written to cause a stir on purpose.

This book will of course make the Jesus Freaks nuts. I suppose he will have a problem getting some southern based libraries to carry the book.

Perhaps I'm way off base here?

[Dissident Dexter]

08:55 PM on 04/26/2011

he's mediocre at best and he stole his fame.

[bjs1974]

12:13 PM on 04/26/2011

He can't come back. He keeps getting aborted.

[The-JuRK]

08:20 AM on 04/26/2011

Wow, so this is the only way he can get attention these days...sad.

[Dissident Dexter]

08:07 AM on 04/26/2011

Why not, fan fiction is all the rage these days. And it's all fiction, like it or not.

[Lev Raphael]

08:04 AM on 04/26/2011

Damn! I was hoping Frey was veering into Da Vinci Code territory and was going to set off a battle between his fans and Dan brown's fans. That would have been entertaining. This just sounds like some leftover idea from the 1970s.

[mlrlmsw]

05:15 AM on 04/26/2011

Surely, if Jesus were to come back now, He would be called, at the least, a "socialist," by many who pro port to devotedly follow Him.

[Dissident Dexter]

08:06 AM on 04/26/2011

To return, one must first exist.

[phantoma]

04:37 AM on 04/26/2011

If it doesn't provoke the controversy he hopes it will, he can always say it's a memoir and that he's Jesus.

[hdohighdesertobserver]

02:34 AM on 04/26/2011

He has not much future there. It will happen this way. He may be walking. Maybe the first sunny day of the spring. And a car will slow beside him, and a door will open, and someone he knows, maybe even trusts, will get out of the car. And he will smile; a becoming smile. But he will leave open the door of the car and offer to give him a lift.

After 'Three Days of the Condor". But am I right?

[liberalsrheros]

12:29 AM on 04/26/2011

yesterday a story about a rapper saying he was gay brought out in droves people saying a cheap publicity stunt. this story not so much,. frey couldn't write a compelling story without the cheap ploy?

[lilly091]

11:35 PM on 04/25/2011

It's just great how no one dares to insult or portray any other religion's deity in a bad light.

I'm sick of the disrespect that Christianity receives ALL the time. Please, go take your idiotic plot and burn it.

[hdohighdesertobserver]

02:44 AM on 04/26/2011

The disprespect Christianity gets is a measure of how much people respect it. Just the way it is.

[phantoma]

04:39 AM on 04/26/2011

Well, disrespect aside, this guy is a bad writer who's trying to get publicity. It's one thing to mock Christian fundamentalists for actually thinking the Bible is history and another to elevate every hack who relies on sensationalist nonsense to get a career into an artist.
PS: I'm an atheist.

[KEATSnSKYESMOM]

10:02 PM on 04/25/2011

Is it too controversial to say that I am sick of Jesus altogether?

[jonjon tha 5 8]

07:57 AM on 04/26/2011

Just what I was thinking.

[Lev Raphael]

08:01 AM on 04/26/2011

Is it too controversial to say I'm sick of James Frey altogether?

[DanSc]

09:54 PM on 04/25/2011

As long as we get movies about Moses selling crack and Muha.mm.ad painting pictures of himself. I'd go watch all three.

[spacegod]

09:36 PM on 04/25/2011

You can actually feel the disappointment of Fox Christians that we're too tolerant these days to go on any sanctimonious killing sprees.
"But you can bet If Frey had written The Last Testament of the Koran, they'd be out there in the streets as we speak..."

By now, I think the omniscient, omnipotent God and Son team has heard it all and can pretty much take it. It's us who seems to be unnecessarily agitated.

[Samantha Monteleone]

09:30 PM on 04/25/2011

There is nothing like a good controversy.