Acclaimed Actors join Previously-Announced Kenneth Branagh & Uma Thurman for Enthralling, Faith-Based Animated Family Film
MAY 17, 2024 (Seoul, South Korea) – Golden Globe Award winner Oscar Isaac takes on the role of Jesus Christ – alongside Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker as Peter the Apostle – in Mofac Animation’s upcoming The King of Kings, an animated family film inspired by a little-known short story by Charles Dickens depicting the life and times of Jesus.
Isaac and Whitaker join the growing A-list group of voices for the faith-based movie, which also boasts Academy Award winner Kenneth Branagh (Belfast, My Week With Marilyn) as Charles Dickens, Oscar nominee Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction, Hysterical Blindness) as Catherine Dickens and Golden Globe nominee Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) as Walter Dickens.
In the film, Charles and Walter Dickens embark on a multi-dimensional adventure as the master storyteller engages his youngest son’s vivid imagination with the fascinating life of Jesus, his well-known trials and tribulations, and his notable colleagues and foes. The film’s rich animation allows the Dickens pair (and the family cat Willa) to become intrinsically immersed in the ancient tale, interacting with Jesus, his disciples and his detractors – while the seasoned actors behind the voices bring these well-known characters to animated life like never before. The result is an animated film that makes the biblical journey easily relatable, readily understood and captivatingly entertaining for families and, especially, to children of all ages.
“A film capturing the epic life of Jesus Christ warrants a stellar cast, and our actors announced to date – Oscar Isaac, Forest Whitaker, Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman and Roman Griffin Davis – is impressive by any measure,” says producer Anfernee Kim. “Oscar perfectly captures the impactful delivery of Jesus, and Forest’s vocal performance expertly embodies the complicated aspects of Peter.”
Isaac is a Golden Globe award-winning and Emmy-nominated actor, producer, and musician. He was nominated for a 2022 SAG and Emmy Award for his role in the HBO limited series Scenes from a Marriage. Isaac earned a Golden Globe Award for his role on the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, and an Independent Spirit Award and Golden Globe Nomination for his work in the Coen Brothers’ film Inside Llewyn Davis. Additional film and television credits include A Most Violent Year, Ex Machina, Operation Finale, At Eternity’s Gate, The Card Counter, Dune and Moon Knight. Isaac brought the character of Poe Dameron to life in the Star Wars realm in a trio of films – Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) — and all of the accompanying entertainment, from a host of videogames and LEGO versions to read-along storybooks and theme park rides. Isaac’s prolific history with theater includes his most recent Broadway performance alongside Rachel Brosnahan in the major revival of Lorraine Hanberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window. He has headlined The Public Theater’s summer production of Hamlet with Sam Gold at the helm, appeared in productions of Zoe Kazan’s We Live Here at Manhattan Theatre Club, and starred as Proteus in Two Gentlemen of Verona in productions for The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. In 2019, Isaac and his wife, writer and director Elvira Lind, created their Mad Gene Media production company, and their first project – The Letter Room, a short film written and directed by Lind and starring Isaac – received a nomination at the 2021 Academy Awards. Next up, Isaac will star in and produce – under his Mad Gene banner – the crime thriller In The Hand of Dante, directed by Oscar-nominated Julian Schnabel and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Additionally, Isaac is set to star in Guillermo Del Toro’s Netflix adaptation of Frankenstein as Victor Frankenstein alongside Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth.
Whitaker earned an Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role portraying Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2007), a role which also brought home a BAFTA, Critics Choice Award, Golden Globe, the National Board of Review and a Screen Actors Guild award, amongst many more. He was awarded an Emmy (Door to Door, 2003) alongside two other Emmy nominations (ER, 2007; Brick City, 2010). Whitaker’s performance as the title character of Bird earned the Best Actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination. Among his producing credits is the heralded Fruitvale Station (2013), which was honored with the Producers Guild of America’s coveted Stanley Kramer Award. Toplined by the Whitney Houston/Angela Bassett starrer Waiting to Exhale (1995) and Sandra Bullock’s Hope Floats (1995), Whitaker has also directed five films and a handful of music videos, including Waiting to Exhale’s accompanying music video, Whitney Houston: Exhale (Shoop Shoop). Whitaker’s other television work includes series regular status in Godfather of Harlem, The Shield, ER and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, and his additional film performances are spotlighted in titles as varied as Arrival, The Butler, Phenomenon, The Crying Game, Good Morning, Vietnam, Platoon, The Color of Money and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He grabbed the attention of the Star Wars universe as Saw Guerra in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and follow-ups in Andor, the animated series Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: Go Rogue, and the videogame Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Whitaker was honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016.
The King of Kings is a faith-based animated film is in its final stages of production at Mofac Animation, as well as in performance recordings from the United Kingdom to the Hawaiian Islands – and numerous locations in between. Branagh, Thurman and Davis were the first actors to be announced for the stellar cast.
The King of Kings is directed by Seong-ho “Jay” Jang (Joint Security Area, The Taste of Money, Last Knights), one of the most respected filmmakers in Korea and an unparalleled pioneer in the visual effects realm. The film is co-written by Jang and Rob Edwards (Disney’s The Princess and the Frog and Treasure Planet). Emmy Award-winning dialogue & casting director Jamie Thomason (Spirited Away, The Tigger Movie) and veteran filmmaking aficionado Andrew Mann (Imperium, Gold, Transfusion) serve as executive producers. Anfernee Kim (Last Knights, John Woo’s The Crossing 2) is the film’s producer. Mofac Animation is currently seeking potential distributors for The King of Kings. For more information, please visit the film’s website at www.kingofkingsanimation.com
Check out additional casting here
