Universal to make new 'Knights Templar' movie

From May 5th's Hollywood Reporter.

Universal has picked up the mantle of "The Knights Templar," acquiring a spec script by Adam Torchia and Justin Stanley, for filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov and Marc Platt to produce.

Platt will produce via his Universal-based Marc Platt Prods. while Bekmambetov, the Russian director of the "Night Watch" movies and Universal's upcoming comic-book actioner "Wanted," is producing with Jim Lemley, his partner at Bazelevs Prods.

The script, a period actioner, revolves around the Knights Templar, who fresh from the Crusades fend off an invading vampire army seeking to destroy the Holy Grail.

Vampires. And Templars. And the Holy Grail.

And vampires.

Erotic Templar Tales?!

Well, now I've seen everything.

Erotic Tales of the Knights Templar in the Holy Land, labeled as gay left-handed "literature."

Maybe the Inquisition was right.

Khoury's "The Last Templar" To Be NBC Mini-Series

TV Guide reports that NBC is making its first mini-series in many years: "The Last Templar," based on Raymond Khoury's bestselling novel. The miniseries centers on New York archaeologist Tess Chaykin (Mira Sorvino), who investigates the Knights Templar after a group of masked horsemen steal an artifact from the Metropolitan Museum. Victor Garber will play Monsignor De Angelis, a priest who helps with the investigation.

Shooting begins next month in Montreal and Morocco for an airdate later in the year.

Indiana Medieval Group To Confer Templar Orders April 12

From the Indiana supplement to the March 2008 Knight Templar Magazine:

Fourteenth-century Europe comes to Indiana Orders in period costume at Indiana Masonic Home
by Ed Sebring

All Sir Knights are invited to see the Orders of Knights Templary conferred “in the fullest possible form” by members of Levant Preceptory dressed in the arms and armor of the 13th and 14th centuries.

The “Knight Templar Festival” will begin with the Illustrious Order of the Red Cross at 10 a.m. EST on Satur-day, April 12, in back by the barn at the Indiana Masonic Home in Franklin. Lunch will be served at noon at the shelter house with grills, followed by the Order of Malta and the Mediterranean Pass at 1 p.m. The Order of the Temple is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

Finally, a “medieval feast” will be served at 6 p.m. Total cost for both meals is $25, a portion of which will go toward a project for Masonic Home residents. Reservations should be made through SK Mike Ritter, Deputy Battalion Commander, mdritter@comcast.net, or 4504 N. Ball Ave, Muncie, IN 47304

So why is the Grand Commandery of Indiana sponsoring such a conferral?

“Last year the York Rite did a one-day class in April and it was a success,” said Grand Commander Andrew R. Jackson. “I wanted something special for this year and we have the Levant folks up to speed and they wished to confer the Order of the Temple.

“I’ve served on the IMH Board for many years and my wife works there, and I thought it only fitting to bring Templary to our Home. I have the petition from the IMH Chaplain and have been promised one from the new IMH CEO, John Rose.

“Indiana Templary can grow with fine events such as this one. Keeping the interest of the times and changing ages of our current and new members should be at the forefront of our Grand Commandery leadership. The York Rite is on the move with the many programs and members working to increase our member-ship This event has good basic entertainment for all who will attend.”

The “Levant folks” are the members of Levant Preceptory, a group of Hoo-sier Sir Knights who haves invested hundreds of dollars of their own money to acquire Norman-style helmets, chain mail, swords and clothing as the crusading Knights Templar would have worn 700 years ago. The Levant is the crescent of land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, and “preceptory” is the name our Canadian brethren use for their local units instead of “commandery.” The reenactors adopted that name to indicate the time and place they are trying to re-enact, and to indicate they are an organized group but not a separate commandery.

Members of Levant Preceptory marched in costume during this past IMH pilgrimage. Their first performance was Oct. 13 in Shelbyville, a day that was precisely 700 years after the arrest of the crusading Knights Templar on trumped- up charges of heresy. In a darkened room, the Levantines spoke as our spiritual Knight Templar ancestors might have spoken, about their fears for their future and how they would react personally to the news of the arrests. But in previous interviews, officials of Levant Preceptory said it was their dearest wish to get to portray the Orders on candidates in period costume. Now they have that chance.

"We're very excited about finally having a firm date to confer the Order of the Temple for the first time as a group,” said SK James Dillman, director of work for Levant Preceptory. “I wouldn't describe what I'm feeling as pressure and we're certainly not scared; responsibility is probably a better word. We owe it to the candidates to properly convey the lessons of the Order of the Temple and I'm confident that we'll do just that. We're taking our work very seriously. Our experience in Shelbyville taught
us that people are very excited about seeing us in the period costumes, so that adds an element of fun for us as well.” At this point, Dillman expects 17 Sir Knights to appear in period costume to confer the Orders on April 12.

“We're going to have to make a few very minor adjustments because of the broadswords and the equipment we'll be wearing,” Dillman said. “We'll be rehearsing a couple of times in March and will do a full dress rehearsal on Friday night before the festival.”

The 'X' Zone Radio Show, Monday Night 3/17

Tuesday, March 18th will be the anniversary of the burning of Jacques de Molay at the stake in Paris in 1314, and the end of the medieval Order.

Brother Stephen Dafoe ("Nobly Born") and I will be joining host Rob McConnell on the 'X' Zone Radio Show, Monday March 17th, between 10PM and 2AM, EST (not certain yet which segment - I'll update when I know), talking Templars.

The show is heard on the TalkStar Radio Network throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The 'X' Zone is also available via TalkStar Radio streaming audio at www.xzone-radio.com and then clicking on the red flashing "ON AIR."

Chinon Parchment Reproduction Going Like Hotcakes - Not!

As reported in this space, the Vatican has printed a mere 799 reproductions of the Chinon Parchment, a document issued by Pope Clement V that absolved the captive Templar Knights at Chinon of heresy and wrongdoing. Collectors around the world, it was thought, would snap up these hot knock-offs like hotcakes. And they have indeed sold about as well as you'd expect $8,400 hotcakes would sell - there are still 300 of the Processus Contra Templarios available.

Sure, the leather binding and the reproduction of the Pope's was seals are cool and all, but I suspect most of us are waiting for the paperback edition.

How's your Italian? Here's the publisher's website.

Not Your Usual Templar Chapeau Use

The new Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue hit newsstands today. Indy driver Danica Patrick will undoubtedly get all of the big, noisy flacking from the press, but Masons can hold their heads up proudly as well - especially members of the Knights Templar. According to friend and brother Russ Spice in Detroit, who keeps his finger on the pulse of such things, on page 180, Brazilian model Daniella Sarahyba is wearing a topless swimsuit, posing coyly with a Knights Templar Chapeau.

Grand Commandery recruiting poster on its way...

History Channel Tonight: Underground Apocalypse

Thursday Night 1/31/08, the History Channel will run Cities Of The Underworld: Underground Apocalypse.

For billions of people across the globe, Jerusalem is considered ground zero for Armageddon. And while most of the world's population considers it a holy land, it's also one of the bloodiest cities the world has ever known. From a hidden occult city built by the Knights Templar to the hiding place for the Dead Sea Scrolls, the evidence of the apocalypse is buried all over the holy city. Host Don Wildman has special access to a sacred stone said to keep the world from ultimate chaos, and finds evidence of John the Baptist's apocalyptic sermons... he's heading into a vast underground that ignited the violent visions of the end of the world.

Color me skeptical on the "occult city" of the Templars, but we'll see. It reruns Friday, February 1st at 2:00 AM, and Saturday, February 16th at 4:00 PM

Da Vinci Code Movie Props Auction at Lincoln Cathedral

From the Press Association today:

Lincoln Cathedral said it plans to sell 43 wall hangings that were used to turn it into Westminster Abbey for the Hollywood film.
The cathedral said it is also selling five statues that it put on display with the 8ft hangings after filming finished.
Westminster Abbey controversially refused to allow stars Tom Hanks and Sir Ian McKellen the chance to act out the final scenes from the adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling novel. At the time it claimed the book was "theologically unsound".
The proceeds from the latest sale will add to Lincoln Cathedral's coffers. It was reportedly paid £100,000 when it was used as a location for the film in August 2005.

Templars in Hellgate London

A longtime (I'll say - since high school!) buddy called tonight and mentioned that he's lately been playing a PC game, Hellgate London, which has as part of its central story line a post-apocalyptic group of Templar warriors:

A post-apocalyptic London has been overrun by hordes of terrifying demons, leaving the city desolate and scorched by hellfire. Those who were unlucky enough to survive now gather in the only sanctuary left, the Underground, banding together in order to gain a foothold against the minions of darkness and ultimately save the bloodline of humanity.

It is no surprise that these sole survivors come from three of society’s most elite factions, each of whom are masters of a robust number of skills and weapons essential to demon-thrashing.

The Templar, a secret society preserving the rites of the original Knights Templar, mix futuristic technology with ancient artifacts to create powerful weapons and armor perfect for short-ranged and melee attacks.

Apparently, those "ancient artifacts" include lots of all-seeing eyes and Masonic squares and compasses.

And for the esoterics in the audience:

The Cabalists are students of the dark arts and edges of science which often leaves them standing right on the line between good and evil. Their mystifying spells make them suited for mid-range combat.

Da Vinci and the Holy Grail in Iceland!

The Iceland Review Online is reporting that the Holy Grail might just be lurking in a subterranean dome under the ice of an Icelandic mountain pass.

Architect Thórarinn Thórarinsson and Italian "cryptographer" Italian cryptographer Giancarlo Gianazza believe the Holy Grail and other lost objects may be located in the Hrunamannahreppur district in southwest Iceland.

Gianazza believes to have found important clues to where the Holy Grail is hidden in poems by Dante and artwork by Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance painters. His research has led him to conclude that the treasure is located in a five-meter-large secret underground dome by Skipholtskrókar near the Kjölur mountain pass.

Their theory is that the Knights Templar (naturally) came to Iceland in 1217 to find a hiding place for the Grail and other great gobs of loot. Medieval Icelandic scribbler Snorri Sturluson supposedly helped the knights dig this elusive underground dome in Iceland’s rugged mountains.

The clinching evidence appears when you superimpose a small section of Da Vinci's The Last Supper over a map of the area, and voila! They sort of, kind of match up, maybe, if you click your heels together and make a wish three times.

Something tells me they are riding on the wings of a grant, or looking for investors. Just a guess.

Levant Preceptory in Templar Magazine

Levant Preceptory, Indiana's only period recreation Masonic Knight's Templar group, is featured in the Indiana Supplement of the monthly Knights Templar Magazine for January.

Rosslyn Chapel Bans Photography

Beginning January 2nd, visitors to Scotland's Rosslyn Chapel can just leave their cameras in the car. The Chapel authorities say they are doing this for "health and safety reasons." It seems that videographers are tripping and falling on the uneven floor slabs as they watch their viewfinders instead of their step.

And still cameras? Oh, the flash bulbs cause epileptic seizures.

But don't worry.

The gift shop has plenty of souvenirs to make up for the loss of that keepsake photo you won't be able to take.

Stephen Dafoe's Nobly Born

I'm way behind on author review on the new manuscript; last week was a mess that kept us away from home three days longer than anticipated; and I'm neglecting much that needs to be done this week.

That said, the last thing I need to be doing is reading a book that is not research on the current project, since Friday is my drop-dead cutoff for revisions. Nevertheless, my new copy of Stephen Dafoe's Nobly Born: An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar arrived while we were gone, and I haven't been able to stay away from it. So, this is no formal review, but a last-minute bid to recommend it for your Christmas list. (I mean, provided that you have already ordered The Templar Code For Dummies first.)

Stephen (publisher of Templar History magazine) has managed to do something fresh in the Templar book universe, and beginners and those thoroughly versed in Templar lore alike will find much to like about this book. Dreamers and "speculators" take note: this is no "Templars found treasure, sailed to Scotland, saved Robert the Bruce, started Freemasonry and hid their loot at Oak Island" waste of time. What it IS is a concise (deceptively thin-looking), historical examination of what is truly known about the Knights Templar, going back to medieval sources. Their formation, rise, organization, battles, failures and fall — all here, presented with Stephen's skill as a reporter, combined with his flair for making complex concepts easy to understand, and frankly, fun to read. A cursory flip through Nobly Born rewards you with an abundance of illustrations, many of them newly created by Stephen, showing battles, preceptories, troop movements, uniforms, hierarchy and more. All packaged in a truly beautiful edition by Lewis Masonic.

The book also features original artwork from Templar author and artist Gordon Napier and Indiana Masonic artist Stephen McKim.

This is truly unlike any other Templar book on the market, and well worth its £19.99 ($33) cover price.

Richard Leigh RIP

Holy Blood, Holy Grail co-author Richard Leigh died last week at 64 – obituaries said of a heart condition. Many who knew him believe it was ill health brought on by the aftermath of the disasterous lawsuit by him and his writing partner, Freemason Michael Baigent, against Dan Brown. Between the original suit and the appeal, their court costs came to more than £2.3 million (almost US $5 million).

Pridian's blog Codex Celtica does a good job in laying out Leigh's personality, his life and his most recent setbacks in Death of a Genteel Bohemian.