Benedict Cumberbatch added to The Book of Clarence cast

Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the cast of 'The Book of Clarence'.

The 46-year-old star is attached to feature in Jeymes Samuel's movie that began production in Italy on Monday (05.12.22).

James McAvoy, RJ Cyler, Anna Diop, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard and Marianne Jean-Baptiste have also joined the movie.

LaKeith Stanfield and Omar Sy had been announced and will be joined by Caleb McLaughlin, Caleb Taylor and Michael Ward.

'The Book of Clarence' is inspired by epic Hollywood movies set in biblical times and tells the tale of Clarence – a down-on-his-luck man in Jerusalem embarking on a misguided attempt to capitalise on the rise of celebrity and influence of the Messiah for his own personal gain.

The journey leads him on an exploration of the idea of faith and to a highly unexpected path of his own. Stanfield has been cast as Clarence.

Samuel is directing the movie from an original screenplay he wrote and is producing with James Lassiter, rapper Jay-Z and former Netflix executive Tendo Nagenda.

Jeymes has described the flick as a "fun-filled extravaganza" that can be compared to biblical classics such as 'The Ten Commandments' and 'Ben-Hur'.

The filmmaker said: "You remember those biblical epics, whether they were about the Bible or just taking place around it, from 'The Ten Commandments' to 'The Greatest Story Ever Told', 'Samson and Delilah' and 'Ben-Hur', which runs alongside all that stuff in the Bible? As will be 'The Book of Clarence', a full fun-filled extravaganza. It's written and ready to go, and set in 29 AD."

Samuel explained that he was excited to be making a biblical movie as it is "the biggest franchise in the world".

The 43-year-old director said: "This is exactly what excites me. Firstly, the Bible's the biggest franchise in the world. The biggest superhero, the most famous superhero of all time is Jesus himself."