Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly & More To Voice Animated Pic ‘Legend Of Destruction’
08.02.2023 - 00:17
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly, Elliott Gould and Billy Zane will voice the Gidi Dar-directed animated movie Legend of Destruction.
The Ushpizin‘s filmmaker’s latest project has been nine years in the making incorporating a unique visual style with 1,500 original still paintings by David Polonsky and Michael Faust, the artists behind Waltz with Bashir (Oscar nominated, and winner of the Golden Globe, 2008) and The Congress. The paintings are edited together to produce an innovative cinematic language, in creating a full-fledged experience of an epic action war film.
The pic is set in 66 AD, Judea, under Roman rule; a virtual powder keg waiting to explode. Its society is polarized, and there is rampant social injustice and corruption. When the Jews revolt against the Roman Empire, the situation quickly deteriorates into a brutal civil war and the Roman war beast is unleashed to crush the rebellion. The film ends in 70 AD with the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and the beginning of the 2000-year exile of the Jewish People – a key moment in both Judaism and Christianity.
“This story is at the core of Jewish existence, it is one of the darkest moments of my people, yet few know it. I felt compelled to tell it”, says Dar.
Legend of Destruction is told from the perspective of Ben Batich (Isaac), a good hearted naïve young man who becomes a hardened zealot, a follower of the charismatic Robin Hood like rebel leader Bar Giora (Zane).
“It is a story that has great historical sweep, but also is very intimate, it is about a personal relation between the lead character and God” says Isaac.
Lilly voices Queen Berenice, the cunning last Jewish queen, who was trying to save the Holy Temple in Jerusalem