Getting to know The Chosen cast and crew - Part 1 | Shine Today

[Music] Kia Ora welcome to shine today great to have your company and great to have you here for this very special feature about the chosen featuring our very special Luke Weston thank you very much lovely to be here yes the chosen what a great series it is I recently went to the filming of season three of the chosen in Dallas Texas and tell me how did that all come together as well because this is not just a any old TV show right it's become a massive International phenomenon well I was amazed to hear that the chosen is now the world's biggest crowd-funded media project so they've raised well over 120 million dollars um us which is I don't know like 7 billion New Zealand Dollars amazing um and uh they've actually planned seven seasons of this incredible show so they're going to be there for a while I got the opportunity to go through one of our production companies and just was there as they were doing some filming got to sit down with some of the cast and crew and have a bit of a chat so it was an amazing amazing experience and tell me about those as well that were along there with you because it wasn't of course just you had the opportunity to be there during this filming as well right there were other say fans of the show who had the opportunity to be there too yeah well they've really been clever about the way they Market The Chosen so they've let countries take responsibility for their regions and countries like Brazil for example it has been huge I think 70 million episodes have been watched in Brazil alone of the chosen so there were a few people there from Brazil who were doing Facebook pages and Instagram accounts all chosen based uh organizing all of the merchandise there were people there from the Netherlands from New Zealand and Australia from the United States of course Italy and this show is really making impact incredibly 400 million people have watched The Chosen around the world isn't that crazy yeah and on a scale of uh one to ten ten being I want to get cast in the show permanently and uh and one being you know maybe I've never seen it before uh what what scale would you put these uh these guest um like these people who had a chance to visit the show are they quite fanatical yes yeah but yeah everyone loves the show everyone's passionate about it's interesting you say you know want to get a part on the show because instantly I thought I this is what's happened this is where the Lord's leading me I'm here for that purpose and then I found out that all the disciples were already cast but they're all five foot eight these actors which is the Lord's height I was gonna that's exactly my height as well qualified uh but a facial hair yeah all of them which I was at the time uh and I thought gee I've got all the attributes to make a great disciple but unfortunately didn't get the call but it was a fantastic experience um and the people they're very passionate about it and I have a feeling that it's going to become more and more uh important more and more successful as these Seasons develop and I think what is so incredible about it and if you've seen it yourself you'll know that they've sort of gone a little bit offbeat with some of the the story lines it's all biblically based but there's a whole bunch of stuff that the Bible doesn't cover of course like what were the conversations that existed between these people what made them tick who were they particularly uh powerful for me was the story of Mary Magdalene so I thought they just did so well um but just yeah just some lovely story lines and they always bring it back to the person of Jesus and how Jesus has impacted the individual in each episode and that's like our lives isn't it oh absolutely and so why don't we take a look right now then at uh some of those interviews that you had a chance to conduct with the members of the cast and the crew these are the guys often behind the scenes the unsung heroes let's start off then with your chat with the director of The Chosen this is Dallas Jenkins oh thanks for having me I love uh I love my brothers and sisters from around the world so it's exciting to have you come to our world oh it's so good to be here I mean let's go right back to when you first had the idea I mean how did you come up with the chosen well I was doing a short film for my church's Christmas Eve service I was filming this on my friend's Farm in Illinois and uh it was only intended to be the short film about the birth of Christ from the perspective of the Shepherds it was only intended for my church I had done several of those for my church over the years and and every time I did it I felt very much in my wheelhouse as we say I love I felt like this is what I do best I'm very comfortable with this and while I was watching it or while I was making it I was also binge watching a few shows with my wife and I was thinking why has there never been a show about Jesus that has multi-seasons that you can follow the characters from season to season and take the time on the backstory like I did in the short film because in the birth of Christ short film that I did we were showing it from the perspective of the Shepherds and we took the time to develop what their day may have been like what their lives would have been like and it really seemed to have a lot of impact and so that's when I first thought there could be a show here now at the time I had just had a huge failure in my career so I knew that there weren't going to be streaming platforms or networks lining up to to do my show but I remember saying to people whoever chooses to do this show will be very smart because I think it's gonna I think it has potential to be really strong um but yeah that's where that's where the idea first came and uh and then when we when we got the ability to do it we just expanded on what I had been doing for my church which is taking the stories of of Jesus and his followers and the people around him and adding context and historical context and backstory it's amazing that you talk about the idea because it does feel like it should have been done before the chosen right it's amazing that no one has ever done what what you've done which I guess is the the mark of a really fantastic idea um how have you done that so well and developed the characters and and taking us as the audience on that Journey what do you think the keys to that that storyline and all the story has been I think the secret sauce of the chosen is the fact that we have the time in in a multi-season show to to really explore the Nuance of the context the historical context of Biblical context but I think when we do that the main thing is is that we're really focusing on the humanity of the people we hear that over and over again it feels human these feel like people that I know these feel that that character feels like me and I think that by showing Simon at home with his wife by showing uh Matthew in his conversations with the Romans by showing uh Andrew and Simon as brothers by showing Jesus brushing his teeth in the morning and dressing a wound all of those things seem minor but they are essential to the audience experiencing these people as people as human beings we don't usually think of them in that way we see them in stained glass windows or as statues and in the Bible each of these stories that we read are usually three verses long four verses long there's there's very little context and so when you're in a church service and the pastor reads from the Bible then you you usually will give context and here all right here's this here's the setting here's the stage well the show by really focusing on the humanity of these people and by taking the time to develop some of their backstories and some of their just general human interactions I think in the audience's mind they feel like okay we're actually on a real journey we're not just going from Miracle to Miracle Bible verse to Bible verse which just becomes essentially like a a reenactment of of the scriptures they're actually it actually feels like real people and when you can see Jesus Through The Eyes of those who actually met him you can be changed and impacted in the same way they were and if you can connect with their problems and their questions then you can hopefully connect with the solution and the answers to those questions which is in Jesus something that I've heard on the set and from your crew a lot is the use of the Loaves and Fishes metaphor and I know that in season three you filmed the fading of the five thousand I mean is that a story that you're looking forward to the audience saying and and talk us through why the Loaves and the fishes have become so important you know as an overarching philosophy I guess well it the lowest moment of my my career someone was led by God to to tell me it's not your job to feed the 5 000 it's only to provide the Loaves and fish that concept changed my life I'm someone who had been reliant on doing things myself and I felt responsible for the results and I think we we tend to to do that even in our ministry we tend to think if things aren't going well uh in the results and that must mean that I'm doing something wrong and God God just wants us to make sure that the Five Loaves and two fish that we provide are the best that we can and that honor him the best we can and once we hand them to God the transaction is over he's responsible for what happens next so that concept has really defined the whole show as a crew as a company I am constantly reminding our team that we can't focus on the numbers we can't focus on the results the fact that the show has grown and that it's been seen by so many millions of people is not we focus on and that is a discipline that is something that we really work hard at is we are working hard at making sure that the show that we're making is the best show that we can make that it honors Jesus in the gospels the best that we know how and then the results are up to him so that has been guiding us for the last five years and of course we have to then portray that scene on screen I mean that's of course the the the the Fish and Loaves and the notion Even in our opening credits of the fish swimming against the current um there's just been I think a theme of of that throughout the whole show but not only in the content of the show in our lives and in our approach to this whole project yeah very much looking forward to season three can you tell us any highlights or anything that you're looking forward to the audience seeing yeah well obviously the the feeding of the 5000 is the climax of the season that's something that we are really excited about because not only do we show you the feeding of the 5000 but like any chosen story we really take the time to develop what made that story so impactful in the lives of those involved so throughout the season you're seeing the setup to that story we also I think are excited about Simon and Eden this season that's something that we focus on because it's one thing to follow Jesus it's one thing to even feel excited about following Jesus and that your husband or wife is going to be following Jesus but when it actually becomes reality it's not as easy as they might have hoped and so we explore some really difficult questions this year um with what it's like to to be in Ministry what it's like when your marriage is struggling when You Face a tragedy in your marriage a crisis in your marriage how do you get through that what happens when you see Jesus healing other people but not you those are all questions that we dive into in season three that's awesome Dallas such a privilege to talk to you and thanks for all you've done really appreciate it really appreciate you being here thanks welcome back and what an amazing interview that was too Dallas came across as a guy who's really committed to this mission that he's a part of right it's not just a TV show hey I want to make a fun thing for people to watch but communicating something more of the personal nature of what Jesus is like yeah I think he's got an amazing ability to tell a story and he's worked very well collaboratively with the writers who we're going to hear from in just a second but just a little uh fact uh Dallas Jenkins is the son of the man that wrote The Left Behind novels so grew up with this sort of I guess sort of making heads or tails out of sort of biblical narratives and then thinking about how those can be turned into story arcs so very much a part of his upbringing he's made other films in the past um but yeah just an amazing guy and like you said Vision ring singular Vision to to make the show with no money now it's a bit of a different story they've got some resource behind them they're bringing on a lot of talented people from around the world and you get the feeling like it's going to be a a successful project it kind of reminds me a little of when say Mel Gibson did The Passion of the Christ a few years back and before it launched everyone was like oh well what is this thing it's going to be a big waste like nobody's ever going to watch this and then of course it becomes a phenomenon I never said well obviously he knew the whole time um kind of makes me think similar things about this right that after the fact it looks like obviously it was going to be a win but kind of forget that it wasn't always certain well that's that's great ideas isn't that when you see a great idea when you're part of it you go why didn't somebody think of this before because really it's just bringing stories that we've read for thousands of years to life on the TV screen but I think it's the way that they've done it and when you watch the show you don't get any of those man this is cheesy you know kind of cheesy Christian Media Vibes you get that sort of wow this is really well done and in fact a lot of the actors and production staff while they are appreciative of the story some of them aren't even Christians some of them don't have a faith and they told us when we went into some of these interviews hey this person isn't a Christian they don't have your beliefs so just make sure that your questions fit accordingly and it was kind of interesting to to hear them filter playing you know a disciple or whatever their role is but we're going to hear from um two of the writers Ryan and Tyler and they're both incredibly passionate guys with amazing CVS one of them actually was one of the main script writers for hacksaw Ridge wow the very famous Hollywood film and you know just love the idea of taking a passage of scripture and then just developing in to what you see on the on the screen all right well let's take a look at that right now then we're going to have a chat to uh well watch Luke's chat with two writers from The Chosen this is Ryan and Tyler uh the writers I always feel like you know you don't get any of the glory really but you do so much of the hard work uh are you cool with that role being behind the scenes so to speak yes we're invisible people don't want to recognize us on the street um but it enables it it enables us to really focus on the work of writing the Chosen and not have to deal with so much of the kind of noise around the show um but we do all we people are very gracious you know when they find out whether or not they really understand what writing is they always say thank you and and it may be a mystery to them how it all works sometimes it's mystery to us yeah um but the audience is just so gracious and and we're we're loving it we're having a great time well it's on vile some of the mystery I mean what what is your process for writing do you write together do you write individually or how does that work well we we write as a team with our third Dallas um we're we're effectively we service Dallas's vision for this show much of which has crystallized throughout his entire adult life as a filmmaker um he's he's had uh moments that we've built an entire four or five even a season around of episodes um to get to the place that he's imagined I I tell you the pool of Bethesda was a moment that he had imagined telling that story for years and so we are every time doing the same thing we're we're we're just iterating so we come up with uh the beginning and the end and we figure out whether it's an episode a season or the whole series how do we move through this space in a way that allows us to tell an emotional story for our characters that you are invested in how do we get you invested in our characters how do we stay true to the moments of the Bible and not touch those at all to tell them as faithfully and as factually as we can and then work in the margins to tell that and that involves us breaking story at a retreat we usually go to some place uh fairly remote or a neutral location Tyler and I live in Los Angeles Dallas is in Texas here and so we we meet at a place where we can just walk through the entire season and um and then we we break it incrementally into episodes we write an outline one of us writes an outline one of us writes a first draft and then it passes to the next writer and then Dallas is always putting his final touches on the episodes to make them what he wants to shoot so it's always collaborative as if it's something that you write that you sort of say please don't touch this like I think this is perfect quietly yes sometimes I'll have a draft and then I'll pass to someone and I'll just be praying like I just I hope that one part survives and then when it comes back or the notes come back and it survived the scalpel I'm always like ah and then that's what I'll say like I was hoping you would leave that part in so it's yeah we get attached but we try not to be too precious it is a collaboration and we trust each other so something that one of us has written isn't Landing with the other two or even with one we listen to each other and um and and we push back and we fight for things that we really believe well Dallas usually says may the best story win yeah yeah I mean that's the nature of collaboration yes that's how a team works it's something you know we the best argument wins if it's 50 50 you go with who's more passionate about this who's going to be who cares more squeakier wheel if we don't go in the this direction um and we've got we've got people like our story editor Maisha who can also weigh in on things to break a tie or I get most upset if my jokes are changed that's great um obviously there's a plan to do seven series we're at season three three now which is fantastic um do you have all of the secrets for all seven series are you kind of two of the people who are in on what's going to happen and and the rest of the chosen series or is that still held by Dallas we've made it a secret I mean well this first material you know the ending um the end of the Bible I read the book yeah you've read the book yeah so we have actually charted out how how the rest of the seasons will play out but it's broad Strokes like I think there are still discoveries to be made there's still things that all three of us haven't discovered yet or haven't realized yet oh that's exactly how we're gonna do it we have a general shape of it and yeah there are there are secrets we hold pretty close to the chest even the actors will say well what's gonna happen with this and we're like um just because who knows it could change and also we want to just keep it under wraps uh so that it's it's fun for the audience to be surprised I guarantee you you're going to be surprised uh with season three yeah um I think what has been so amazing about the Chosen and it really comes down to you guys is how you have developed characters who we know from the Bible but we have very little detail in scripture about what made these men and women Tech and you've been able to bring out their empathy and their Compassion or you know how they relate to people and their hardships I think it was exemplified for me in the story of Mary Magdalene and also the woman at the well for me two very powerful stories that you guys told through the chosen has there been a real highlight for you as writers something that you thought you did very well that you were very proud of well I mean I think that probably goes to each of our skill sets you know we we are servicing Dallas's Vision but it's very much a shared narrative so Dallas doesn't hold secrets from us we we're all in on the planning of it all and I think that depending on what we each bring which are different skill sets the things that we see ourselves in they might be uh something we reflect on or learn from where there's just as much learning from the process as there is reflecting on a win you know we I I think for both of us it was it was fun to move through uh episode one of season two to watch the things that Tyler brought creatively historically from his background as an Old Testament scholar I mean these things were all discovery for me um because you know I can lay out the framework for it but when it's populated by details that come from Tyler I can then be just as surprised as the reader or the the the the audience um the same thing happens with Dallas so I'm I'm frequently in awe of my collaborators what about for you highlights from the series um in terms of like scenes that came to life or yeah we're we really both actually really love the ending of season one episode two when all the different characters are celebrating Shabbat in such different ways from the very opulent Pharisees with their like gold plates and their jewelry to Mary Magdalene and her like one bedroom studio apartment with a blind woman and a limp guy and some strangers just weighing out her first one to Matthew having Shabbat alone with the dog in the street because he couldn't go into his family's home like we thought so much about that and then when it came to life even in the rough cut when we saw it in Burbank we were just like that's that's right exactly was in our minds yeah that's awesome it's been very successful I mentioned 107 million people have seen I know there's a goal for a billion people to see it um are you surprised by the success did you expect it to be as big as it is always both yeah you know I mean we you have to go into it believing that this can be something it's just too much work to not go in with the kind of motivation or belief in what you're doing and at the same time nothing works right like it's never the way you wrote it on page that it ends up on film it's it's never received at the right time I mean these are the realities of like film and TV and I think most art like you just can't can't uh presume to know how your audience will accept it so we've both been surprised and come in with a real belief we have the best source material in the history of the world we have we we have passionate faithful uh fans for whom this is a life and so we just wanted to Fellowship we wanted the show to be an active Fellowship um and so we're never surprised by the power of God in in in moving people moving mountains but we're always surprised when something works yeah because it's such a collaborative comedian one last question you mentioned before you know how the story ends and obviously you're working towards things like the crucifixion does that play on your mind I mean those are very very big historical moments that mean so much to so many people are you already thinking about when it comes time to put those down on paper and how are you going to do it we've thought a lot about the big moments and how we'd like to do them in a unique way as is the way of the chosen we tend to approach things from a different angle and you're even going to see that in season three there are a couple iconic moments that people are familiar with from scripture but when you see the way the chosen has approached it it doesn't change it it just is infused with a different kind of meaning and so we're hoping to do that with kind of these big Temple moments like the crucifixion it's not going to be like anything you've ever seen before because that's kind of how we roll yeah wow fascinating team what was it about this that surprised you the most when you learned about the collaborative process and how they're writing these episodes uh well they've done a lot of the writing over the covid-19 pandemic so they're writing in their various parts of the United States they don't even live in the same state and obviously meeting on on video and writing whole rafts of it by themselves and then bringing it together and saying well I like that or I don't like this or this is really powerful but you know I think what surprised me the most is just the fact that they're all pretty much singing from the same hem sheet like they just get it and I think that really is a testament to the fact that Dallas Jenkins knows exactly what he wants and they're just kind of processing his vision I guess in a way yeah and I mean there's certain characters as well that taken the story of and expanded upon as well you've kind of alluded to how they've done that see people like Mary Magdalene for example who you know we know of had a significant part in Jesus story but we don't really know much more about her life outside of that what do you know about how they've expanded on her story within this well anyone that's seen the episode will know that it is very poignant it's very powerful they take you right back to her childhood her father passes away he had taught her uh Jewish Customs but then she because she's orphaned grows up in this you know very tough set of circumstances and you sort of see her again really conflicted by demonic possession and it's beautiful how they've done it actually because one of the members of the Sanhedrin tries to come in and deliver her from her afflictions he's unsuccessful but has a real burden for what she's facing into Jesus who harks right back to her childhood links it beautifully together and you get this amazing introduction to Jesus as a character as well yeah for me that was the most poignant of the stories I think they did that beautifully well and you get a chance to speak to the actress as well who plays Mary Magdalene as well what was her connection to that story yeah so her name's Elizabeth tabish she is a Christian woman loves the fact that she's able to bring that character to life and really felt the the two sides to their person you know person with a real history and a past who would have been frowned upon in Jewish culture and in religious Society but who is Forgiven so much and so becomes such a passionate follower and then actually joins the disciples on their Quest on their mission for three years so is very much a key character in the story from here on in well it's been fascinating getting these insights and as we've heard this whole series The Chosen is about seeing Jesus Through The Eyes of the people who knew him his followers so next time we're going to meet the actors who are bringing Jesus Apostles to life hope to see you very soon for part two of getting to know the chosen kakite [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Shine TV

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Keywords: shine tv, christian tv, when calls the heart, christian new zealand tv, christian, shineathon, christian media, christian movies, new zealand on demand

Id: OkYquHi9zDk

Length: 26min 43sec (1603 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 15 2022