Nicolas Cage Signs On For ‘Left Behind’ Rapture Film Reboot [Report]

Nicolas Cage and stunt-master Vic Armstrong are reportedly teaming up to reboot the film series based on the Left Behind books.

The series features a group of people trying to survive Armageddon following a Biblical Rapture, in which the faithful are taken into heaven. Armstrong, a famous stunt coordinator, is making the leap to director’s chair for a reboot of Left Behind, and is courting actor Nicolas Cage to star in what is hoped to be a new trilogy of films, reports THR.

The Left Behind books, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, proved popular with the religious demographic during their initial publication run between 1995 and 2007. They have previously been adapted into a trilogy of films by production studio Cloud Ten Pictures. The first, Left Behind: The Movie, starred the controversial Kirk Cameron and was released to DVD prior to a short theatrical run in 2000.

Armstrong’s vision is to make the movie more of a straight disaster film, along the lines of 2012, reports Empire. The last movie Armstrong directed was 1993’s Army of One starring Dolph Lundgren, but he’s been a stuntman, stunt coordinator, and second-unit director for decades, with film credits including: You Only Live Twice, Blade Runner, The Omen, Superman, Terminator 2, the Indiana Jones trilogy, Salt, Thor, and The Amazing Spider-Man.

If Armstrong manages to secure Nicolas Cage (who, let’s face it, is up for anything) then the first Left Behind reboot will begin filming next spring in Baton Rouge with a budget of $15 million.

Do you think that a rebooted Left Behind will be successful? Is the story still relevant?