Christian Bale is set to play Moses in Ridley Scott’s retelling of the story of the biblical hero, according to Deadline. The suggestion follows reports last week that Steven Spielberg has left rival Moses project Gods and Kings, with Oscar-winning Life of Pi director Ang Lee tipped to replace him.

Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox is moving forward apace with its take on Moses, which is titled Exodus, as confusion surrounds the future of rival studio Warner Bros’s proposed version. Bale is being lined up to star and Scott’s American Gangster screenwriter Steve Zaillian has signed on to do a rewrite. The US blog says Scott could make it his next project as director after completing work on The Counselor, his forthcoming thriller based on novelist Cormac McCarthy’s debut screenplay.

Spielberg’s Moses film was previously described as an epic biopic of the Israelite leader in a gritty Braveheart-meets-Saving-Private-Ryan style.Scott, meanwhile, was expected to plump for a detailed reworking which would focus on the minutiae of his subject’s life, such as the leader’s relationship with Pharaoh Rameses II, as well as more famous episodes.

The most famous Hollywood retelling of the Moses story is the 1956 Cecil B DeMille epic The Ten Commandments, which starred Charlton Heston in the lead role and was one of the highest grossing films of its era. It received seven Academy award nominations including best picture, and also won the Oscar for best visual effects, thanks largely to its famous parting of the Red Sea scene.

Given the history of Moses on the big screen, both films are likely to require enormous budgets. There is therefore the strong possibility of one movie’s backers withdrawing should their project find itself lagging behind in the race to multiplexes. It has happened before to some well-established film-makers, notably Baz Luhrmann, whose Alexander the Great biopic was canned in the wake of Oliver Stone’s 2004 film Alexander hitting cinemas.

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In yet another snapped on set picture from an untitled project helmed by Silver Linings Playbook director David O. Russell. (remember, we spotted Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Amy Adams not too long ago), the Dark Knight Rises character was photographed looking extremely unlike himself while shooting a scene with costar Adams.

Maybe it was the ’70s-style suit comprised of loose khaki trousers, a white shirt, mustard-colored striped tie and a forest green jacket, but we’re going to put it on that greasy combover Bale’s rocking—or at least, trying to. 

P.S. For future reference, Bale, don’t ever do a comb-over.

The actor portrays Melvin Weinberg, who was at the center of the FBI’s famous Abscam sting operation in the 1970s that led to the conviction of a number of US congressmen.

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You can watch a very young Christian as Jum Jum in a trailer for Swedish film ‘Mio Land of Faraway’ from the 1980′s.

Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, and Amy Adams will be joined by Christian Bale in “The Untitled David O. Russell Project,” the producers announced on Friday.

Russell is also writing the film’s screenplay with Eric Warren Singer, based on Singer’s original script. The upcoming film marks the director’s first time working with Renner, and his second collaboration with Bale, Adams and Cooper.

Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Richard Suckle will produce alongside Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison and Ted Schipper.

Jon Gordon, who most recently produced “Silver Linings Playbook,” will also serve as an executive producer on the project alongside Bradley Cooper and Eric Warren Singer.

Annapurna Pictures is fully financing the film, tentatively set for release in late 2013. Columbia Pictures will handle U.S. distribution.

“David has put together an incredible ensemble of actors for what is going to be a powerful and emotional drama about one of the most memorable cast of characters in recent history,” said Roven.

“The Untitled David O. Russell Project” is based on the true story of a financial con artist (Bale) and his mistress/partner in crime (Adams), who were forced to work with an out-of-control federal agent (Cooper) to turn the tables on other con artists, mobsters, and politicians. At the epicenter of the tale is the volatile leader of the New Jersey state assembly (Renner) who is also the local hero and mayor of impoverished Camden.

Panorama Media has sold the film internationally, which includes a multi-territorial deal with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. Production will begin mid-February on the East Coast.

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Batman may be strict about not killing anyone, but Christian Bale may shift to a different philosophy, if current talks end with him signing up for The Creed Of Violence. He’d play the assassin Rawbone, in Universal’s adapation of Boston Teran’s novel.

The Creed Of Violence, Teran’s fifth book, is about a father, Rawbone, and his estranged son John Lourdes, who’s on the other side of the law working for the Bureau of Investigation. It’s 1910 with the Mexican Revolution looming, and Rawbone’s lucrative plan to drive a truck full of stolen weapons south of the border to sell them comes unstuck when the law catches up with him. But he agrees to carry on with the plan in exchange for immunity from prosecution, taking Lourdes into the desert to expose the corrupt oil magnates at the heart of the uprising.

The film is being produced and financed by Cross Creek Pictures, whose head honcho Brian Oliver says it “brings a unique perspective to US imperialism for oil in the early 20th century.” He compares the tale to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, but you might also draw useful comparisons with The Wages Of Fear (driving a truck somewhere dangerous), There Will Be Blood (oil), and the cycle of Italian “Zapata Westerns” like A Bullet For The General and A Fistful Of Dynamite.

Michael De Luca (The Social Network) is a producer, and the screenplay is by Todd Field (Little Children), who’ll also direct. “The hallucinogenic epic that Rawbone traverses with the young John Lourdes produces one of the most exciting literary pairings since Fagin met Twist,” Field says. “Rawbone is a raconteur straddling the old West and belle epoque… braided with wit, cold-blooded efficiency and a surprisingly expansive soul.”

How could Bale possibly refuse? With or without him, the producers are looking to start shooting, in the American South West and Mexico, in early 2013.

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