One Night with the King (2006)

In Biblical times, a girl disguises her Jewish origins when the Persian king comes looking for a new bride among his subjects.

Director:

Michael O. Sajbel

Writers:

Stephan Blinn (screenplay), Mark Andrew Olsen (novel)

Stars:

Tiffany Dupont, Luke Goss, John Noble

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tiffany Dupont	...	Hadassah / Esther
Luke Goss	...	King Xerxes
John Noble	...	Prince Admantha
Omar Sharif	...	Prince Memucan
John Rhys-Davies	...	Mordecai
Tommy 'Tiny' Lister	...	Hegai, the Royal Eunuch
James Callis	...	Haman, the Agagite
Peter O'Toole	...	Samuel, the Prophet
Javen Campbell	...	Prince Tarshish
Jyoti Dogra	...	Queen Vashti
Indraneel Bhattacharya	...	Bigthan (as Neal Bhattacharya)
Jonah Lotan	...	Jesse
Dilshad Patel	...	Hannah (as Dilshad)
Nimrat Kaur	...	Sarah
Takesh Singh	...	Harbona, the Eunuch

Storyline

The young Jewish girl, Hadassah, goes on to become the Biblical Esther, the Queen of Persia, who saves the Jewish nation from annihilation at the hands of its archenemy.

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Plot Keywords:

biblical | persia | esther | book of esther | treachery | 

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Taglines:

Feel The Touch Of Destiny

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for violence, some sensuality and thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Gener8Xion Entertainment Inc. Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

One Night with the King: The Call of Destiny

Filming Locations:

Dallas, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,106,862, 15 October 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$13,395,961

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$13,538,582, 28 October 2007

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gener8Xion Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally scheduled for release in March 2005.

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Goofs

When Esther is running to see the king to plead for the Jews the scene switches back and forth between Xerxes, indoors, and Esther, outdoors. Esther is running through pouring rain yet when Xerxes is shown sunlight can be seen shinning through the windows onto the floor and across the faces of those in the room.

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Quotes

King Xerxes: [as his subjects become louder requesting the Queen] Am I to be a mockery before my subjects?
Prince Admantha: [interjecting] Or Greece as well.
King Xerxes: [intent] Continue, cousin.
Prince Admantha: Let not this deed of refusal travel abroad to all women, making their husbands contemptible in their eyes. Let it not be said that Xerxes commanded his wife to come before him, but she came not. Vashti is not only guilty of disobedience to the crown, but against the protocols of our fathers.
King Xerxes: Tell me.
[turning to Memucan]
King Xerxes: What dictates the ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in 2007 Camie Awards (2007)

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Soundtracks

Kingdom of Love
Written by J.A.C. Redford, Paksima Zakipour
Performed by Shani Rigsbee

User Reviews

Mishmash Polemic

It was difficult to determine what ax was being ground at any particular moment of this film.

At times it seemed to prophecise the current state of affairs in the Middle East, at others it was a teeny whimsy which foretold the origin of the stereotype "Jewish Princess". There is much invective directed towards the "Greeks" and their alleged attempts at imperialistic democratization, there is no attempt to correlate Greek history with Biblical narrative. If this is am attempt to provoke thought, it can only lead one to wonder how the Hellenes escaped the Holocaust.

In all, the film smacked of the type of inference from scripture which is promulgated on "Christian" network tele-travesties.

Peter O'Toole was wasted in a farcical cameo as Samuel in the opening retrospective. I was saddened to see this monumental actor reduced to a couple of lines and a shake of a saber. It only added insult to the historic lack of recognition this great man of stage and screen has received from the film industry.

Omar Sharif, at least had a role with scenes throughout this boring spectacle. But, he and O'Toole were not utilized to elevate the film above the over-funded sophomoric babble of the script.

Throughout the 124-minutes of this feature I kept wishing that Sarah Silverman had been cast in the lead. An outright O.T. farce, on the order of "The Life of Brian"(I know, a N.T. farce) would have been extremely entertaining. As it is, "One Night..." seemed to drag on like an Arctic Winter. Nothing was illuminated.