How a Star Wars-inspired biblical epic became a multi-million dollar cinematic disaster

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Paramount envisioned a biblical blockbuster, even drawing parallels to Star Wars to sell the script. Instead, the 1985 film King David became a notorious critical and financial failure. Plagued by production friction, a miscast lead, and a script that never felt right, the project remains a cautionary tale for Hollywood.

In 1978, Paramount executive Michael Eisner sought a biblical epic for a 1981 release. The studio eventually settled on the life of David, with writers Andrew Birkin and James Costigan framing the narrative through a lens they compared to Star Wars, casting David as a Luke Skywalker figure and the prophet Samuel as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Director Bruce Beresford, hired after his success with Breaker Morant, struggled with the script, which he felt was never quite right. Birkin, tasked with revising the screenplay, found the Old Testament’s brutality difficult to adapt, noting that David functioned more like an imperialist figure than a traditional biblical hero.

The production was fraught with instability from the start. While Beresford initially wanted an unknown actor for the title role, Richard Gere was reportedly forced upon him by producers, leading to significant friction on set. The shoot, which moved from Israel to Italy, was a logistical nightmare involving remote locations, striking extras, and unexpected snowstorms that forced the crew to film under impossible conditions. By the time filming began in May 1984, the budget had ballooned to $23 million. Beresford later described the experience as akin to captaining the Titanic toward an iceberg.

Released in March 1985, the film was a catastrophe. It grossed only $5.9 million against its massive production budget, and critics panned the screenplay, pacing, and acting. Richard Gere received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the movie a mediocre 'C' grade. Reflecting on the project years later, Beresford admitted that the film failed to capture the essential friendship between David and Jonathan and that Gere, while a talented actor, was fundamentally miscast for the demands of the role.

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