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Rooney Mara Mary Magdalene.jpg

First Look at Rooney Mara as Mary Magdalene in Movie That Definitely Won't Inspire Any Controversy

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | November 27, 2017 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | November 27, 2017 |


So this one will end well, yes? Remember how Rooney Mara took the role of Tiger-Lily in that awful Joe Wright version of Pan and there was that fallout over whitewashing and she said she regretted being on the wrong side of history on that issue? Well, here she is playing Mary Madgalene in a movie of the same name. Yup, this will end very well.

The film is being directed by Garth Davis, who made a splash with his feature debut Lion after doing some solid work on the first season of Top of the Lake. It’s being sold as a retelling of the New Testament from the point of view of Magdalene, one that seeks to do away with the assumptions of her life as a prostitute and hanger-on/love interest to Jesus. It’s certainly an interesting angle to take, although it’ll be hard to overlook how white those two lead actors are (Jesus is being played by Joaquin Phoenix, so you just know that’ll be an experience. This is the project where the pair started dating, becoming the ultimate Hollywood power couple of vaguely sullen vegan arthouse nerds who dress identically and don’t smile in public). The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tahar Rahim, but let’s be honest, it’ll be tough to overlook an actress who got caught up in a major whitewashing scandal and paid penance for it go back to doing this. I think it’s safe to say we’re all over whitewashing at this point. There’s no excuse for it.

Oh, did we mention it’s a Weinstein Company production too?