Mofac’s ‘The King of Kings’ Casts Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan & Mark Hamill as Biblical Villains

Academy Award winner Sir Ben Kingsley, James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and Star Wars and Batman animated universe star Mark Hamill will voice an ancient rogues’ gallery in Mofac Animation’s upcoming The King of Kings, an animated family film inspired by a little-known short story by Charles Dickens depicting the life and times of Jesus Christ.

Kingsley voices High Priest Caiaphas, who presided over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. Hamill takes on the role of King Herod, who according to the Gospel of Matthew, ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in an attempt to kill Jesus as an infant. And Brosnan gives animated life to Pontius Pilate, who ultimately ordered the crucifixion of Jesus.

They join the previously announced cast, comprising Oscar and Emmy winners Kenneth Branagh (Belfast) as Charles Dickens and Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) as Peter the Apostle, Golden Globe winners Oscar Isaac (Show Me a Hero) as Jesus and Uma Thurman (Hysterical Blindness) as Catherine Dickens, and Golden Globe nominee Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) as Walter Dickens.

In The King of Kings, Charles and Walter Dickens embark on a multi-dimensional adventure as the master storyteller engages his youngest son’s vivid imagination with the fascinating life of Jesus, his well- known trials and tribulations, and his notable colleagues and foes. The film’s rich animation allows the Dickens pair (and the family cat Willa) to become intrinsically immersed in the ancient tale, interacting with Jesus, his disciples and his detractors – while the stellar cast behind the voices bring these well- known characters to animated life like never before. The result is an animated film that makes the biblical journey easily relatable, readily understood and captivatingly entertaining for families and, especially, to children of all ages.

“The true measure of a hero is always judged by the strength of his foes, and Sir Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan and Mark Hamill deliver impactful performances that elevate their respective villains to appropriately biblical heights,” says producer Anfernee Kim. “This cast is laden with winners of every major acting award, and they’ve all bought their A-games for a story most deserving of their impressive collective talents.”

The King of Kings is directed by Seong-ho “Jay” Jang (Joint Security Area, The Taste of Money, Last Knights), co-written by Jang and Rob Edwards (The Princess and the Frog, Treasure Planet). Emmy Award-winning dialogue & casting director Jamie Thomason (Spirited Away, The Tigger Movie) and veteran filmmaking executive Andrew Mann (Imperium, Gold, Transfusion) serve as executive producers. Anfernee Kim (Last Knights, John Woo’s The Crossing 2) is the film’s producer.

Mofac Animation is currently seeking potential domestic and international distributors for the film, which is now in its final stages of production. The filmmakers anticipate a release date in close proximity to Easter 2025.

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Spanning more than half a century, Ben Kingsley’s film career includes winning an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two BAFTA Awards for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi; an additional trio of Academy award nominations for his performances in Bugsy, Sexy Beast and House of Sand and Fog; and a wide range of roles in movies like Schindler’s List, Operation Finale, DaliLand, Jules, Searching for Bobby Fischer; Elegy, Iron Man 3, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Hugo, Ender’s Game and The Boxtrolls, for which he won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting in an Animated Feature. Kingsley’s television work includes Emmy-nominated performances in Mrs. Harris and Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, and a SAG Award-winning role in Anne Frank: The Whole Story.

In 1984, he was awarded the Padma Sri by Indira Gandhi and the government of India; and in 2002, Kingsley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year’s Eve Honors List. Kingsley received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010.

Kingsley was recently seen in Wes Anderson’s Academy Award-winning adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. He’ll next reprise his MCU character Trevor Slattery in the series Wonder Man for Disney+; star in Lionsgate’s The Killer’s Game; play Emperor Kisra in the Rupert Wyatt’s actioner Desert Warrior; star in Simmons/Hamilton Production’s thriller Deep Water and in Nick Hamm’s biopic William Tell; and perform in Terrence Malick’s The Way of the Wind. He will also join Brosnan in Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club.

Pierce Brosnan is an Irish-American actor, film producer, environmentalist, philanthropist, artist and two-time Golden Globe Award nominee with an extensive career in front of and behind the camera. His notable his roles include Mrs. Doubtfire, Mamma Mia, The Thomas Crown Affair and the James Bond franchise (GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day). Brosnan expanded the range of his film work by launching his own production company, Irish DreamTime.

Most recently, Brosnan was seen in The Last Rifleman, in
Phillip Noyce’s Fast Charlie and in the DC/Warner Bros. film Black Adam. Upcoming, Brosnan will star in Max’s The Great Lillian Hall, the sports drama Giant, the Steven Soderbergh spy thriller Black Bag and in the Irish romance Four Letters of Love.

Alongside his wife, Keely Shaye, Brosnan is an advocate for environmental causes; his involvement extends to co-producing documentaries like Poisoning Paradise. Brosnan was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997.

Mark Hamill’s career has encompassed all aspects of entertainment including stage, screen, television and new media. He is best known as Luke Skywalker in George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi). He reprised the role for Lucasfilm’s latest Star Wars trilogy (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker). Hamill’s film career has included The Big Red One, Brigsby Bear, The Machine and Corvette Summer.

His TV career ranges from The F.B.I., The Partridge Family, One Day at a Time and The Streets of San Francisco to The Flash (1977 and 2015), Just Shoot Me, Criminal Minds, What We Do in the Shadows, The Big Bang Theory and The Mandalorian. Hamill is currently co-starring in Mike Flanagan’s limited series The Fall of the House of Usher, and recently wrapped production on Flanagan’s latest Stephen King-based project, Life of Chuck.

Hamill has also crafted a prolific voiceover career, performing in hundreds of television cartoons, feature films and video games. He first played the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, a role for which he established the standard in animation, ultimately winning a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of the Joker in the Arkham Asylum video game series. An Emmy winner for his performance in Elena of Avalor in 2021, Hamill’s recent voice work includes playing  Granduncle in the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning The Boy and the Heron.

Hamill was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018.