Ben Kingsley to Star in King Tut Series on Spike TV, Because Apaprently Ben Kingsley’s Really Into Projects Set Over 2,000 Years Ago

Spike TV is making a new "event series" about ancient Egyptian ruler King Tut, cleverly called Tut, and they've signed Ben Kingsley to star as Ay, the boy king's top political advisor.

Sounds kind of cool, right? The weird thing, though, is that for Kingsley this will be the third major period piece taking place in ancient times in a span of two years, and the second project about ancient Egypt. In addition to playing King Herod in Mary, an upcoming film about the mother of Jesus Christ, Kinsley will also be seen in Exodus as Nun, father of Joshua (played by Aaron Paul).

Of course, Kingsley is also working on a bunch of other, non-ancient history projects too. So he's not really doing just those types of movies. But this does point to an interesting trend in the entertainment business—namely, a shift from re-making old movies to remaking even older stories and legends.

In any case, Tut is currently in pre-production and will be shot on location in Morocco and Canada (the Morocco of the north?) for a 2015 debut.

As for what the hell an "event series" is, that's basically just industry speak for "mini series...until we decide to renew it."

[Via]