The director of the upcoming film Mary Mother of Christ is James Foley. He is probably best known for Glengarry Glen Ross and some music videos that he made for Madonna.

The film is a prequel to the Passion of the Christ in the sense that it is about events that took place before the earlier film - in this case, the film explores and imagines the early life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is a further link with the earlier film, as it has the same scriptwriter, Benedict Fitzgerald, although this time he is working with a former nun, Barbara Nicolosi. However, Mel Gibson is not involved in this film at all. Instead, it is being produced and funded by the controversial multimillionaire televangelist Joel Osteen.

The film is marketed by Motive Entertainment, a company set up to promote Christianity. It stars a young Israeli actress, Odeya Rush, and will also feature some well known British names including Peter O'Toole.