Some of these films, like Stevens' bloated and uninspired spectacle, which took five years to make and ultimately was a commercial flop that damaged his reputation, have been obsessive, personal projects. Others, like Norman Jewison's musical, which was filmed on location in Israel, have taken a lighter, secular approach.

And now comes Catherine Hardwicke's "The Nativity Story," a film the director is passionate about. Telling the extraordinary story of two common people, Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and Joseph (Oscar Isaac), Hardwick is intrigued by the miraculous pregnancy, an arduous journey, and the history-defining event of Jesus's birth. The tale is rather simple, but it is the beginning of the greatest story ever told.

The saga is set during the regime of King Herod (Ciaran Hinds), who reigns over the small state of Judea with an iron hand. It's a time of struggle and suffering; taxation is high, poverty rampant. Honorable men are forced to do unthinkable things to keep their families alive.

Marys father is such a man. To assure his familys stability, he decides to engage his daughter to Joseph, a carpenter who's her senior. Honoring her father, Mary willingly accepts his decision. Though she's unaware, fate will make her into history's most important women.

Visited in a vision by an Angel of God, Mary learns that she will conceive a child and give birth to a son whose name should be Jesus. Although not yet married to Joseph, Mary accepts Gods path for her life, despite the fact that in Judea, being unwed mother is a taboo, the object of scorn and disgrace. For Joseph and Marys family, however, the pregnancy is more difficult to accept. Joseph knows that the child growing in Marys womb is not his. He also knows that he must either condemn his future wife or believe in the unbelievable, that Mary has not been unfaithful, that the child she carries is Lord's miraculous work. When Joseph is forced by government decree to travel to his birthplace to register for the census, Mary accompanies him as his wife. In Bethlehem, after a long, difficult journey, Mary gives birth to the baby Jesus, the Son of God, in a filthy stable.

While sages and shepherds gather to worship the baby, Herod plots. Fearing a rival power in this new King of Kings, Herod sends his soldiers to find the child and destroy him, thus obliterating any threat to his crown. In the film's climatic conclusion, Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesuswarned by another angelic visionflee Bethlehem as Herods soldiers approach.

A companion piece to Mel Gibsons "The Passion of the Christ," which was an international hit, the screenwriter Mike Rich ("Radio," "The Rookie," "Finding Forrester") has created an emotionally moving, spiritually evocative, and richly human story about the origins of the most revered religious figures in history.

The movie is directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who made a splash in her directorial debut "Thirteen" (with Evan Rachel Wood and Holly Hunter), who shot her pageantry in Matera, Italy (standing for old Judea). Among other challenges, Hardwicke had to consult experts in biblical scholarship, Aramaic dialects, and ancient astronomy

It stars Oscar-nominees Keisha Castle-Hughes ("Star Wars: Episode III," "Whale Rider"), and Shohreh Aghdashloo ("X-Men 3," "The House of Sand and Fog"), Cirian Hinds ("Miami Vice," "Munich," HBO's "Rome"), Nadim Sawalha ("Syriana"), and Oscar Isaac (the upcoming "The Blood Diamond" and "Guerrilla"), Hiam Abass ("Paradise Now").

New Line will release the film on December 1, in times for the holidays season.