VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Catholic Hollywood director D.J. Caruso (“Disturbia”) set out to tell the story of Mary as seen through her own eyes, in a new film available on Netflix Dec. 6. “You may think you know my story,” Mary tells viewers at the start of the film. “Trust me, you don’t.”
Caruso’s “Mary,” starring veteran actor Anthony Hopkins (“Hannibal,” “Noah”) as King Herod, takes viewers from Mary’s own birth to the delivery of her son, Jesus, to the holy temple of Jerusalem. Alongside familiar scenes from the Christmas story — the annunciation, the manger birth, the visit of the wise men — the film offers a more harrowing look at the dangerous reality Mary and Joseph faced as Herod’s forces pursued them to kill the infant Jesus. But amid the high stakes of the tale, Caruso wanted Mary and her husband, Joseph, both played by relative newcomers, to come across as relatable to all viewers.
“The world needs to see Mary, and they nee …
