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LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 In the second century, as the canonical Gospels were being copied and circulated throughout the Roman Empire,<\/a> another text about the life of Jesus was simultaneously spreading. Although the Infancy Gospel of Thomas didn\u2019t make it into the New Testament, it remained popular among Christians for centuries.<\/p>\n When filmmaker Lotfy Nathan was introduced to the apocryphal text about Jesus\u2019 childhood by his history-loving father, he immediately began poring over it as a springboard for what would eventually become \u201cThe Carpenter\u2019s Son,\u201d the supernatural thriller starring Nicolas Cage<\/a> and opening in theaters Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thought gave me chills,\u201d recalled the writer and director, who was raised Coptic Orthodox. \u201cThe novelty of this, in a way, being an origin story that hadn\u2019t been told before.\u201d<\/p>\n From scroll to screen<\/p>\n The film, which stars FKA twigs<\/a> and Noah Jupe<\/a> alongside Cage, follows Jesus as a young boy being tempted by Satan to rebel against his father, Joseph (Cage). The film\u2019s source material is established with an opening title card. \u201cBased on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas,\u201d it reads. But Nathan concedes he couldn\u2019t rely solely on the text and had to fill in narrative gaps, as with a storyline involving Satan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s written like a laundry list of events. It doesn\u2019t really have an arc, so to speak,\u201d he said of the apocryphal account of Jesus\u2019 life from ages 5 to 12. \u201cI had a historian pull a lot of research for me before I wrote the first draft.\u201d<\/p>\n As fate would have it, Cage had already read the Infancy Gospel of Thomas years ago, during a period in his life of deep philosophical curiosity and reflection. When Nathan came to the Oscar winner with the script, Cage said he saw a through line to a type of story he\u2019s long been attracted to.<\/p>\n \u201cFamily dramas, it\u2019s no secret, is one of my favorite subject matters or genres. I couldn\u2019t think of a more compelling family dynamic than the Nativity,\u201d Cage told The Associated Press. \u201cAs I read it and thought about it, I never thought of it as a horror film per se. I saw it as a family drama about an existential crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n The Infancy Gospel of Thomas or Paidika<\/p>\n The Infancy Gospel of Thomas might seem novel and obscure for some contemporary audiences, but history attests to both its popularity and longevity, according to Tony Burke, a professor at York University in Toronto whose specialties include early Christian apocrypha.<\/p>\n Stories within it permeated ancient Christian lore, art and even some medieval plays. One account from the text about Jesus giving life to clay birds even made its way into the Quran.<\/p>\n Also referred to as the Paidika \u2014 a nod to its original Greek title, \u201cPaidika Iesou,\u201d which translates to \u201cThe Childhood Acts of Jesus\u201d \u2014 the Infancy Gospel of Thomas often surprises modern readers.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not the Jesus that they expect \u2014 a Jesus that kills a boy in the marketplace or strikes down his teacher,\u201d Burke said, though he argues that Christian audiences during that time wouldn\u2019t have been bothered by this characterization. \u201cIn the ancient world, it was not that uncommon to tell stories of revered holy men cursing as well as blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n Many Christians today reject its legitimacy and say it conflicts with the Jesus of the Bible.<\/p>\n The Paidika is one of two primary infancy gospels from that time \u2014 the other being the Infancy Gospel of James \u2014 that were popular among early Christians. \u201cThey never became canonical in the strict sense, but they were always kind of something on the periphery,\u201d Burke said.<\/p>\n Although Jesus movies aren’t often described as horror films or supernatural thrillers, the second century text upon which \u201cThe Carpenter\u2019s Son\u201d is based is \u201cquite disturbing,\u201d argues Joan E. Taylor, a professor of early Christianity at King\u2019s College London. She recently wrote \u201cBoy Jesus: Growing Up Judaean in Turbulent Times.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJesus is portrayed as having these powers but not really having the moral compass in terms of how he uses his powers, or at least not the moral compass we would expect from, say, the Gospel of Luke,\u201d she said of the Paidika. \u201cYou have this child who has these supernatural powers and punishes those who come in his way.\u201d<\/p>\n A reverential approach<\/p>\n \u201cThe Carpenter\u2019s Son\u201d isn\u2019t the only recent film to reimagine the apocryphal gospel. \u201cThe Young Messiah,\u201d the 2016 drama based upon Anne Rice’s<\/a> novel \u201cChrist the Lord: Out of Egypt,\u201d also pulls from the Paidika.<\/p>\n Both films reinterpret some of the aspects of the text that are ostensibly at odds with the Jesus of the canonical Gospels. In \u201cThe Young Messiah,\u201d for example, it\u2019s Satan who kills the boy in the marketplace, then frames Jesus. That encounter is left out of \u201cThe Carpenter\u2019s Son\u201d entirely.<\/p>\n Despite their popularity, telling any story about Jesus on-screen is tricky, especially when filmmakers veer into territory outside of the canonical Gospels. Cage recalled seeing \u201cThe Last Temptation of Christ,\u201d Martin Scorsese\u2019s<\/a> notoriously controversial 1988 drama starring Willem Dafoe<\/a> as Jesus, in theaters when it first came out.<\/p>\n \u201cI was in line to get my tickets and I remember there were the picketers and they were angry. And I said, \u2018Well have you seen the movie?\u2019 And they said no,\u201d Cage recalled. \u201cDon\u2019t you think you should see it before you make a statement about it or judge it?\u201d<\/p>\n Still, he\u2019s cognizant of the fact that any film tackling subjects sacred to people is vulnerable to critique. The American Family Association,<\/a> a conservative Christian advocacy group, has denounced the film and urged people to sign a petition<\/a> blocking its release.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody wanted to offend anybody in the making of this movie,\u201d Cage said emphatically. \u201cIf anyone does go to this movie, they would see that everyone treated it with love and not with any approach of mockery or contempt. It was all about love.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n