An ‘Exodus’ from the Biblical account?

Director Ridley Scott’s Biblical epic “Exodus: Gods and Kings” isn’t due to hit theaters until December, but Christian organizations are already raising objections about how much the film’s plot may stray from the original sanctified text.

The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week reported that faith-based websites are chock-full of angry chatter after actor Christian Bale, who plays Moses in the mega-budget feature, called his character “schizophrenic” and “barbaric” during a press junket in Hollywood last month.

“I think the man was likely schizophrenic and was one of the most barbaric individuals that I ever read about in my life,” Bale is reported as saying.

The comments are said to have triggered a wave of concern on Christian blogs and chat sites, with commentators saying they now worry the film will present a skewed version of the well-known story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and into the Promised Land.

Executives in Hollywood have reason to be keeping their fingers on the pulse of the Christian blogging community. Prior to the release of “Noah,” Darren Aronofsky’s spectacular CGI rendering of another beloved Biblical tale, faith-based interest groups threatened boycotts because the movie steered so dramatically from the Old Testament text. The Hollywood Reporter report notes that Faith Driven Consumer, one of the most influential Christian organizations that was opposed to “Noah,” has been more optimistic about the “Exodus” pic, but Bale’s comments now threatened to create another slew of protest.

Faith Driven Consumer conducted a poll about the film, and reported that 74 percent of Americans would see the film if it stuck to the Biblical story but that if it strayed too far, 68 percent would skip it.

Scott himself also threw a log on the potential fire earlier this month when he told Entertainment Weekly that his version of the parting of the Red Sea will be due not to a miracle or to the hand of God, but to an earthquake.