Jesus and His Evil Twin

German filmmaker Robert Sigl has a project in the works, The 13th Disciple.

In the script, Jesus has an evil twin brother. Yes, Jesus the Son of God.

This has Palme d'Or written all over it. I'm sure it would get a warm reception from the ultra-sophisticated elites at the Sundance Film Festival, too.

Jesus. Evil twin. What's not to love?

PANAJI, India (Reuters) -- There's no mention of him in the Bible but the plot of a fantasy film set in India gives Jesus Christ a twin brother -- and an evil one at that.

German filmmaker Robert Sigl's "The 13th Disciple" is still in the planning stage but producer Mario Stefan is in India's western tourist state of Goa trying to attract an Indian co-producer for the project.

"It's a fantasy-adventure film and takes place completely in present-day India," Stefan said on the sidelines of the 38th International Film Festival of India, which opened over the weekend.

The story traces the journey of two German archaeologists looking for evidence that Jesus visited India.

The researchers, who are twins themselves, find that Jesus had an evil twin brother who is reincarnated in the present as the scheming head of a religious sect.

Sigl's script had been lying around for several years after the original producer died in an accident, Stefan said.

Whoa!

The original producer of Sigl's 13th Disciple died in an accident. Hit by lightning?

That might be a bad omen. Prospective producers might want to think twice before getting involved in the project.

...Stefan said he didn't expect any controversy over "The 13th Disciple" which will have Jesus Christ only in the background and not as a character.

"It will be made clear from the beginning of our film that it's fiction," he said. "Even the 'Da Vinci Code' was fiction but there was a lot based on real ideas."

It was clear that The Da Vinci Code was fiction. That didn't keep people from using it as "proof" to debunk Christianity as we know it.

When the subject is Jesus' evil brother, OF COURSE there's going to be controversy.

An example -- The evil twin's father is God.

Are we to believe that God had parenting issues when it came to this other son?

..."If you deal with religious themes, you have to be prepared and also (careful) that you do not hurt any feelings," said Stefan. "Our film is not based on true events nor is it giving any religious message."

Clearly labeling the film a work of fiction doesn't mean Christians won't be offended by Sigl's depiction of the scheming evil twin of Jesus, head of a present day religious sect.

And how can the film not give ANY religious message if it's about Jesus and his evil twin, that there are two Sons of God?

It obviously has the potential to be extremely offensive to Christians.

I certainly don't think Sigl should be kept from making his movie.

There are a lot of people out there who would enjoy another movie that mocks Christianity.

I have no doubt that Sigl would have an audience for his fictional, supposedly inoffensive, somehow non-religious story of Jesus' evil twin.

It seems that he's using the film to court the attention of the Christian community. He's inviting controversy.

Sigl can't be that naive to believe he could do a movie about Jesus' evil twin and it would be no big deal.

The whole thing seems like a sleazy publicity stunt to me.