Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar is an upcoming American musical crime tragedy film directed by Tom Hooper and produced by Marc Platt. It is an loose adaptation and modernization of the musical of the same name.

Plot
In the fictional modern country of Rome, a number of Jewish street children keeps growing due to the outlawing of Israelites (by separation from their parents and legal guardians) under the direct order of its president, Julius Caesar, to the point where an all-youth protest was declared against Roman dictatorship.

The film begins with a homeless little girl wandering the streets of the village Bethany, looking for food. While concealing herself inside a box to hide herself, she comes across a tavern, and sees a giant piece of meat hanging in the window. Seeing as how the meat was unclaimed, the girl thinks nothing of picking it up and stealing it. This prompts the tavern owner to call out as his meat is being stolen and organize a mob to chase her. Once the mob corners the girl in an alleyway, they blow her cover and begin stoning her until she pays back the meat when a young man intervenes, daring the mob to kill her. After a long standoff, the mob, led by the tavern owner, reluctantly agrees to let the man have the girl, but warn them both that they got their eye on them. After the mob disperses, the man finds the girl uninjured and lets her go to sin no more. The girl tries to follow him, but a hotheaded boy named Judas Iscariot stops her, identifying the girl as Mary Magdalene, whose parents were murdered by Romans who left her an orphan. Judas asks the man, whom he identifies as Jesus Christ, if Mary should be sent back the way she came from, but Jesus allows Mary to stay with him, much to Mary's relief and Judas's frustration ("Heaven on Their Minds").

As Mary settles in with Jesus, she meets the Apostles, a tribe made up of Israelite children who lost their parents and families in a Roman decree ("What's the Buzz?"). Judas happens to follow Jesus to his camp with Mary, expressing of how Jesus chose to let Mary stay with his tribe. When Jesus tries to correct him, Judas slaps him across his face, and then berates the rest of the tribe for their care for Jesus ("Strange Thing Mystifying"). Mary urges Jesus not to listen to Judas, know he knows that, when Judas claims that they're supposed to take from the rich and give to the poor instead, they do not have the resources to end poverty, and that they should be glad for what comforts they have ("Everything's Alright").

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, the capital of Rome, Caiaphas, the commissioner of the Jerusalem Police Department, worries about Jesus's growing movement. His chief, Annas, attempts to cheer him up, but when Caiaphas explains about the fate of Rome, he decides to call an emergency meeting by tomorrow morning, and Caiaphas agrees to be there ("Then We Are Decided"). The next morning, the entire police department is assembled to discuss the prevention of Rome's conquest. Eventually, Caiaphas reveals the one solution to save Rome; he declares Jesus the most wanted fugitive in the country, and the board is in full agreement to carry out their latest decree ("This Jesus Must Die"). Later, Jesus and his tribe triumphantly arrive in Jerusalem to protest Roman rule. Caiaphas threatens to arrest the tribe if they will not go back to where they came from, but Jesus refuses leave on their behalf ("Hosanna"). Finally, the tribe captures Jerusalem, and Simon Zealotes, one of the tribe, leads everyone into admiring Jesus's rebuke against Caiaphas and his police force ("Simon Zealotes"). Jesus appreciates this, but Judas worries about the police watching them. Judas then scolds Simon for using Jesus as the tribe's ultimate weapon against Rome, even warning Jesus that because of his distrust to him, he wishes that he doesn't exist at all ("Poor Jerusalem"). A Judea County district judge named Pontius Pilate, who was healed by Jesus during the celebration of Jerusalem's capture, believes in Judas's claims ("Pilate's Dream"), so he visits a local nightclub-casino complex, The Temple, to allay his fears of his dream coming true ("The Temple").

In The Temple, Caiaphas and his police force have been waiting for Pilate, offering 30 pieces of silver of Jesus's capture. However, Pilate sadly declines, fearing that, if Jesus is executed, everyone will think he is the murderer beyond his deposition from office. Suddenly, Jesus appears in The Temple and begins rampaging through the club, declaring this place as a church which was turned into a "den of thieves". Bodyguards are ordered to restrain Jesus, but the Apostles keep them back long enough for their leader to cut the power and chase everyone out ("Cleansing of the Temple" (including the "Temple Fight")). As the church is being restored to its former splendor, Mary is curious of how loving she is to Jesus. In fact, Jesus tells Mary she's not an Apostle yet, but she can become one in time ("I Don't Know How to Love Him"/"Everything's Alright (Reprise)").

As the tribe settles in the garden of Gethsemane, Judas soon discovers that Mary now believes in Jesus beyond his care for her ("Only You, Lonely You"). He soon leaves the tribe in secret to find help once his situation has reached the breaking point; he sees Caiaphas and Annas, who were badgered by people from the nightclub about The Temple destroyed by the Apostles. Judas promises to arrest Jesus for the police, and is offered 30 silver pieces as a reward in exchange for his capture. Although Judas is hesitant, he accepts their offer to place Jesus under citizen's arrest ("Damned for All Time"/"Blood Money").

On Thursday night in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is still troubled Judas's testimonies against him, and if Judas wishes to live free on his own, he sends him away to fulfill his destiny on betraying him ("The Last Supper"). After the feast, the tribe begins to dance for Jesus, with Mary pairing with one of the youngest members of the tribe, Peter ("The Last Dance"), while all of them are unaware that Jesus slipped away to ask God if Judas's claims of his non-existence are true ("Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)"). Suddenly, Judas appears behind Jesus, now donned in a junior police uniform, ready to take Jesus away to Caiaphas. Mary and the rest of the tribe attempts to rescue their leader, but they too were captured and taken for questioning. After confirming Jesus as the son of God, Caiaphas has Judas place him on trial for government corruption ("The Arrest").

While being interrogated by the police, Peter denies to them three times that he is an accomplice to Jesus. However, his interrogators never believe him ("Peter's Denial"). After Mary realizes that Peter was told by Jesus to defend himself, she soon wishes that their situation had not gotten so out of hand ("Could We Start Again Please?"). After a speedy trial presided by Pilate ("Pilate and Christ"), Jesus is sentenced to community service at King Herod's Circus, a local circus in Galilee run by Ringmaster Herod Antipas. However, when Herod discovers Jesus as a phony messiah, he plans to sue the Jerusalem Police Department for bringing him here ("King Herod's Song (Try It and See)"). This shocks Judas to the point where he runs back to police headquarters to tell Caiaphas about the lawsuit Herod filed on them. However, none of the police believe they are being sued, reminding Judas that he made the right choice for Jerusalem's safety. As a result, Judas is officially a member of the Jerusalem Police Department. Later, Judas hallucinates over Jesus's horrifying fate, and to get his hallucinations out of his head, he jumps off a bridge into a river below to his death ("Judas's Death"). After Judas has committed suicide, Herod places blame on Jesus for his death and sues him instead. Meanwhile, Mary decides to go with Jesus as his lawyer.

At Jesus's trial, Herod was simply too angry to plead his opening case, so Caiaphas testifies for him. Mary tries to make a stand at the case, but the final verdict is obvious from the beginning – the jury finds death by crucifixion for Jesus, but Pilate does not find judgment for the plaintiff because he sees no reason to find Jesus guilty. After a period of Jesus being caned, Pilate now sees the point from the gallery (made up of not only the people from the nightclub, but Herod's entire circus troupe), and he reluctantly agrees to put Jesus to death ("Trial Before Pilate" (including "The 39 Lashes"). After Jesus dies on the cross ("Crucifixion"), Pilate learns that since it was according to law, he falls to his knees in despair, and curses both the Romans and the Israelites for his death. Despite Pilate as the only one mourning the loss of Jesus, Peter, now promoted as the new leader of the Apostles, welcomes Mary to the tribe for making the right choice of defending his honor ("John 19:41").

During the credits, Jesus ascends to Heaven for making the right choice as God had predicted. In Hell, Judas questions why Jesus chose to arrive in the manner and time that he did, and if it was all part of a divine plan ("Superstar").

Music
The movie uses a lot of the arrangements and lyrics from the original and revised versions, with characters singing each other's lines. Other songs and musical arrangements come from Cats or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat.


 * 1) "Overture" - Orchestra
 * 2) "Heaven on Their Minds" - Judas
 * 3) "What's the Buzz" - Apostles, Jesus, and Mary
 * 4) "Strange Thing Mystifying" - Judas, Jesus, and Apostles
 * 5) "Everything's Alright" - Mary, Judas, Jesus, and Apostles
 * 6) "Then We Are Decided" - Caiaphas and Annas
 * 7) "This Jesus Must Die" - Caiaphas, Annas, and Priests
 * 8) "Hosanna" - Apostles, Caiaphas, and Jesus
 * 9) "Simon Zealotes" - Simon and Apostles
 * 10) "Poor Jerusalem" - Judas
 * 11) "Pilate's Dream" - Pilate
 * 12) "The Temple" - Nightclubers
 * 13) "Cleansing of the Temple" - Jesus
 * 14) "I Don't Know How to Love Him" - Mary and Jesus
 * 15) "Only You, Lonely You" - Judas
 * 16) "Damned for All Time" - Judas
 * 17) "Blood Money" - Annas, Caiaphas, and Judas
 * 18) "The Last Supper" - Apostles, Jesus, and Judas
 * 19) "The Last Dance" - Orchestra
 * 20) "Gethsemane" - Jesus
 * 21) "The Arrest" - Jesus, Mary, Apostles, Judas, Nightclubers, Caiaphas, and Annas
 * 22) "Peter's Denial" - Interrogators, Peter, and Mary
 * 23) "Could We Start Again Please?" - Mary, Peter, and Apostles
 * 24) "Pilate and Christ" - Pilate, Judas, and Jesus
 * 25) "King Herod's Song" - Herod
 * 26) "Judas's Death" - Judas, Annas, and Caiaphas
 * 27) "Trial Before Pilate" - Pilate, Caiaphas, Herod, Jesus, and Gallery
 * 28) "Crucifixion" - Jesus
 * 29) "John 19:41" - Orchestra
 * 30) "Superstar" - Judas and Devils