The immense weight of playing Jesus

I just felt completely out of my element for that scene because all of a sudden now I'm saying these words that Jesus said to these people that are like looking at me and and I'm there and I'm like what am I doing here so here we are it's about time yes and we have not talked about this publicly there are ears and some people might be surprised to hear me use the term years plural because this did not this whole Jesus director thing started a while before the chosen so about how long was it was a six year five years five years ago I was casting a short film for my church's Good Friday service and I was primarily focused on finding the two thieves and you auditioned for one of the thieves on the cross and I'm like we don't have a Jesus we don't of anyone to complete Jesus but I saw something in Jonathan that seems to have the tenderness that I'm looking for too so let's see if maybe he should audition for Jesus and you came back in addition does Jesus and about seven seconds into the audition I went decision made and then I remember when we were shooting and we'll get to that in a second because I want to hear from your perspective on this but when we were shooting I remember thinking to myself this is the best depiction of Jesus I've ever seen it's exactly what I've always envisioned the masculinity combined with tenderness that was five years ago we ended up doing several vignettes since then for my church again little scenes and whatnot always coming at it from the perspective of trying to show the same story but from different angles and different perspectives so tell me your perspective on this because we haven't talked a ton about the beginning we talked a lot about the process but yeah well to go back to the two thieves I was I was really interested in in that film and reading for the role of the thief the penitent thief and and I thought I had a pretty decent audition and and then when I got a call a couple days later I you know what to read for Jesus my first reaction was like oh he's got like five lines okay like I got the supporting role dimas like he's got that it's the whole thing is about his arc Mike uh-huh but I love me some Jesus so I'll read his Jesus and I had played Jesus once before for a multimedia project like literally for the first time like like six months prior I I read for that and then got it and I was like okay lo this is this is actually pretty awesome it's a pretty awesome culmination for that film and I was really really blessed to have that experience and then to be able to come back and do those vignettes that you talked about were were I was like well how this is great you know I get to and then that seeing people's reactions at the church when we would scream you know the the the film's on I think I was there for like Holy Thursday when we would screen the film's like seven different you know five different screening isn't like yeah we had yeah cuz my church had for Good Friday we would get about 15,000 people over the course of two days so we did four or five on Thursday yeah on Thursday and then few more on Friday Friday yeah and and then I started to really having people kind of start to connect with with like people that saw the films in the vignettes in the audience for the first time was like wow this is really this is really you know having an impact on people in a way that I just couldn't have even anticipated and then cut two years later where we're gearing up to do season one of the chosen you'd called me about you know it's it seemed so it's kind of like let's take the show on the road yeah but yeah we're gonna we're gonna go all the way with this now and I think you know and when you first talk to me about it it was probably like middle of 2018 and you're like hey we're thinking about this thing and you're very kind of like playing it very close and nothing was in stone yet and I was like alright man yeah if it happens it happens it'd be great I'm I'm down to do a multi-season series about the light of Christ why not I'm a working actor who most of whom are not working during you know during the year so I meant to finally get the scripts and say this is real it was like wow this is these are really good well you're reading up a third one you're going on Jesus only has five lines basically coming at the end and I've got like four lines what well at least episode two that'll be different nope nope he shows up at the end there too yeah okay I think I say hi marry but very good I give a wink and I'm down like what she doing to me here you know and Episode three was like okay good now now I get to finally Dallas has come to his senses finally right so I feel like some of those vignettes and the short film the two thieves were in many ways a test case we were figuring out some of the things that we're doing now and I'm so glad for though that we did that okay yeah that's where we discovered our first Jesus joke so in that vignette where you're sitting around the campfire and and you call Peter Peter for the first time and before that we we tried this idea of the disciples hanging out and joking and their arm wrestling and Thaddeus defeats Andrew in an upset I can't believe he even I didn't see that coming Jesus says even I didn't see that yeah and I remember when I ran that past my wife when I first thought of would it be funny if he kind of made fun of his own deity and she was like we'll see like yeah I'm not sure and and I remember when we were in the room watching it and there's two thousand people and I remember the laughter that came when you said that and it was a different kind of laughter it was a laughter of warmth and I remember people coming up to me afterwards saying thank you so much that the humor made Jesus more real to me and it was so unique and so different so I want to talk about a little bit the humanity of Jesus versus the deity we believe that Jesus is both God and man however the man part has seemed to be diminished in most Jesus portrayals in favor of the the piety of the God part some of the most famous depictions of Christ are of him a little bit more stoic a little bit more pious and one of the things that we loved about the Passion of the Christ is those scenes with Jesus and his mom where he's teasing her and splashing her with water because it made Jesus into a man you as the actor I want to get into later we're gonna talk about Jonathan playing the part of Jesus and the weight that that is but let's first talk about the character yeah I hate to use that term because he was a person but he's a person but as an actor the sake of this product as he carried as an actor approaching a character you can't exactly play God the goddness of it we can't capture that on film really and what's going on in jesus's mind so talk about how you approach it when you're reading the scripts and when you're you know for you this is very personal and I'm usually right before you know take one of seen one of each of these seasons you and I kind of step aside we hug we talk we might cry a little bit feeling the weight of what we're about to do but the humanity of Jesus how you approach it as an actor versus the deity you talk about that a little bit well I think one of the things that separates the chosen from other projects I mean there's a number of things I can speak to about that but what allows us to delve into the possibilities of what Jesus's humanity could have been like is the fact that we have time we have space we've got you know episodes and pages and we're not limited to two hours to try to cram it all in and I think that's a lot of what I've noticed in you know many portrayal of Jesus have been super stoic it's like well they're limited to the time that they have with the lines from the gospel from Scripture and then they got to move on and tell this story in a very limited window of time whereas we we have the opportunity to let this breathe a little bit so for me I think it's knowing that and then really just trying to empty myself of everything that is me in service to being open as a channel for the Spirit to come and work through me and essentially raise my game as a human being so to be the best version of myself around everybody at all times on set is how I approach the humanity of Jesus like how would he have just interacted with people and how does he deal with conflict and how does he deal with humour and surely a man that had such an intense ministry for those final three years in his earthly life had to have been bestowed with a sense of a human sense of humor to be able to deal with all the the characters and all the you know the the Cork's of the disciples and the people that he met and the people that are constantly asking him for things and for healing and and you know and he tired like we did he'd go and get out of the way and go to the mountains and kind of try to get away from crowds because you know he's he was in a physical body so he reacted like physical humans do and so I think dealing with people like Peter I mean you hey he's Simon Peter you had to have a sense of humor to deal with Peter you know there was no way around it so in my opinion this is off topic for a second but one of my favorite moments in the first eight episodes is you talking to even when you in there it's such a beautiful moment of saying I see you and and I want you to recognize that you have a role in all this and it's a very very precious moment one that I remember when we came up with the idea for it my wife and I were both crying to the notion of Jesus speaking to a wife who might not be feeling like she has a role as many of women felt back then and even sometimes today feeling when their husbands are doing ministry but as I love to do I love inserting humor into really emotional moments and when you say to Eden do you think you know Simon the real Simon normal Simon is difficult enough do you think I want to deal with a worried Simon and she says no when you go home no I do not know so such a great moment and we'll talk about the humor in just a minute but two moments that come to mind when I think of the humanity of Jesus and how we're portraying it that have impacted people significantly is episode three when you're getting ready for bed and we have you dressing a wound and stretching and making a fire and what's ironic about the fact that we that that scene is only about the humanity of Jesus is how much people have said that it's brought them closer to the deity of Jesus because of that you'd think people might go oh I don't like seeing Jesus as a normal human I want to think of him as God it's been the opposite so when you were doing a scene like that I remember you know you're trying to make the fire and that was real I mean you had we we hello yeah yes that was that you you had to be a really tough person to live in first century you know the first century world anywhere like if you're making your own fire you're trying to fend for yourself I mean it's hard enough now but if you had to do it with literally just sticks and you know like that those guys and gals they had to be a whole there's a whole other layer of thickness to their skin I think that we don't have today right because they had to be you know and that would have been Jesus - that's right Jesus was a craftsman he was not exempt from that right and the fact that he we have people commenting on social media like he could have just asked fire to come down and start the fire but yet he he was doing that doing it himself and you and I talk we have we have a running gag throughout all of this which I'll also get to in a second about how we kind of get through some of this weightiness is by making jokes but we had this bit of Jesus going I can raise the dead but I can't get a fire going you know but those moments efficacy no problem only impossible but we that that episode of seeing Jesus dress his own wound instead of touching it and having it magically heal we we you and I have talked about this as our belief theologically is that Jesus did diminish his Godhead for the sake of the humanity so that he could legitimately say to people I feel what you feel I know what you know now even saying diminish was probably the wrong word because he was still God but but and putting that aside to feel the pain of it I would imagine that helps you a little bit because then you don't have to be thinking all the time as an actor how do I act like God yeah I don't ever think of it as how do i how do I act as God would cuz I I can't I can't possibly wrap my head around that it's just it's but I know what it's like to bleed and so did Jesus and on you know and and in far greater depths and I will ever know but even just having that you know that first experience of I mean skinning his knee as a boy you know I mean I'm sure that that happened multiple times you know and having that be a reminder of for me you know potentially what's what the future holds and what his sacrifice is going to ultimately be for mankind it's I don't think he would have shied away from that you know I think it's like it's a constant reminder of why he's here yeah he avoids cutting himself because he's like I got plenty of that coming I'm gonna save up that for later but the other moment that this happened multiple times but this this example comes to mind of being in the moment as the actor and portraying Jesus episode 8 when you were with the Samaritan woman and it didn't say in the script that Jesus got emotional at the end but when she says I'm gonna tell everyone and just get so excited started running off you couldn't do it without getting emotional I mean I remember every time your eyes would get glassy and emotional thinking about it yeah because she was so beautiful in her portrayal of the joy that she experienced when she saw the Messiah so talk about that because I that's the part I don't I I can relate to the writing and talking with you about the character and preparing for the scene but some of those things that happened in the moment as an actor praying playing Jesus what is happening there what was happening to you what's in your thought process when Vanessa who plays that character is is is giving that performance and you're just reacting like you didn't expect for me I mean what was happening at that moment was that there this woman who I wanted to get to know the infinite and eternal love within me all of a sudden opened herself up to the possibility receiving love and receiving the spirit and receiving Christ and accepting a messiah that has converted her heart and and taken all this pain and now given her a reason to spread joy you know and to transform the the circumstances of her life to into something that is I think God wants for all of us and to be filled with this spirit of joy it's infectious and because it's it's coming from a place of profound love and acceptance and just watching her embody that as an actor it's like I you can't you can't help but react to that and just you know like she's so full of joy like a renewed spirit and a renewed strength and hopefulness and I think you know we're living in times where we need hope and we need faith through that that there is that it's not as bad as it all seems that at the end of the day that if we have our sense of faith and if we really tap into who Christ is and what he means what what he can do for us that no matter what the circumstances look like no matter how bad things get no matter what the Falls is that there's always something far beyond our comprehension and something greater that will sustain us throughout all of it yeah do you feel like exactly's will say in that moment I was the character I felt like I was that person it's a little different a little dicey err when you're playing Jesus when you've had those moments especially that were unexpected you've described this and I believe this has happened and this has happened on the set so many times where the Spirit is present and and and is guiding us whether it's guiding me in the directing guiding you in the performance but you're probably not ever feeling like I felt like I was Jesus in that moment where does that line begin or end in terms of in the moment I felt that moment I was I was emotional in response to her how do you navigate that I never feel that I have succeeded at being geez is in that moment to me to me that's impossible to actually ever achieve I think it's especially when you whenever you're playing a real person a human like a you know any like a biopic or something like that to actually attempt to to try to experience their being an impossible goal as an actor so what instead I shoot for is to just to try to get the the closest possible feeling that Jesus might have had and even then like trying to understand what that would be is difficult so the the best that I can do is try to just experience everything every emotion that I think is needed for a scene just on a much more intense level so whether it's mercy or compassion I try to have exponential amounts of mercy and compassion for the person in that scene and I try to feel that as an actor towards my scene partner and if it's humor and love or like mirth or something surprise its it's about trying to I think experience humanity on a much more tactile scale than I walk around as Jonathan everything that's the best way I can describe it it's like if I've if I've succeeded it's because I've been in the scene especially if it's got you know emotional constraints or there's something that needs to happen emotionally I feel I've succeeded when my best attempts at what I think that emotion is I can feel them myself and if that happens I feel I've done my job but it's not that's what Jesus was yeah you know what I mean it's more like this is what he might have felt and I hope I can get to that point which is great most to it yeah which is great but we've seen it happen I'm gonna say at least 10 times we're a day player actor for example a day player someone who comes in for one day two film which is a very difficult job or one of our regulars has been in a scene with you and they weren't expecting to be emotional or they weren't expecting to have goose bumps or whatever but they've we've seen it happen a lot especially when they're doing a scene where they're on camera and you're not and you'll just kind of stand near the camera and just look at them where they're saying I felt something I felt the spirit including people who aren't believers even you and I have talked about this before of people kind of they feel compelled to share their story with you I mean you'll come to me and say yeah I was just talking to so-and-so he's he's dealing with a lot in his life and he he God is doing something his life right now and and this happens so often and again it could it could start to cross the line into people thinking I feel like I'm looking at Jesus and when we're performing a scene that's a good thing you want people to be in character does that make you uncomfortable at times I think well first of all thank you for sharing because I didn't know about they players have people in the scenes getting goosebumps I had never heard that so it was that's new that's news to me and that's really interesting to me and and that's to me that's that's the presence of the Spirit in the work you know touching people's hearts right but we also remember some of our regulars like the scene I I won't name names to protect their own personal story that the one actor telling us that he couldn't he couldn't say a certain line to you without weeping every time and he was trying not to weep because it was he was trying to get the words out and it happens often when the actors are doing lines that that actually express that they believe that moment where the character is having a change of heart or an acceptance of Christ in some way something happens to their bodies that I believe God is doing in that moment you know so that I didn't want to keep rambling about it but no no but does that ever field make you feel almost uncomfortable or have you come to grips with it I mean it's it's a it's extraordinary to know that people are experiencing that and that is being any kind of that goes beyond any kind of role I think that any of us have ever played or any kind of experience working in this business in this industry doing these this job that anyways can speak to know I never really kind of get a hold on that or come to come to grips with that I think what's onset it's one thing to kind of feel that and experience that and to channel that where it gets a little surreal sure is when you meet people outside of set you've seen the show who've seen the show like I I know there were some I think I we'd run into some investors in in Texas when we were out and about grabbing lunch and stuff cool were just all of a sudden it was like there's a little bit of starstruck thing going on and and I'm not used to that and I don't know how anybody ever gets used to it but I've gotten yeah well it's it's been meaning to talk to you about that so but you know and it's not just like all here my favorite character like there is this other thing in some people's eyes where it's like wow yeah you know and they're like whoa what's going on and and it for this particular role it's taken a different thing I guess that does get a little scary at times because you want people to know that I am human I'm completely flawed I'm probably one of the most flawed people on this entire project but here I am because this is where God put me for reasons unbeknownst to me and all I'm gonna do is just show up and try to serve him and and and be the best representation of his love on earth that I can be right we decided in episode 3 to just really I really wanted to introduce Jesus in a whole episode where unlike all the other episodes we're just we're just getting to know Jesus and we thought that one of the best ways to get to know Jesus was besides being alone with him was to see him interact with children and so we kind of gave this prelude of Jesus's ministry a preview of Jesus's ministry with these kids and then there's another glimpse in Episode five when everyone is talking and milling about and drinking wine or whatever in Jesus is with the kids and he's doing tricks we've gotten comments about episode three of one of the favorite moments is when the kids are praying the Shema and the notion of Jesus hearing a prayer to his father and to him being recited by these children and on with his children in that moment and then to see Jesus listening to get emotional was that something that on the day in that moment kind of came on you a little bit a similar to the scene later when you're teaching the kids and little Joshua raises his hand and says Isaiah after you quote why you're here I come to bring good news to the poor he says Isaiah and you go I say and there's this emotional moment is that made easier by working with children who are just so so fresh and in the moment I I think it I think it absolutely is I also think with that those specific scenes and hearing the kids read back Scripture and essentially revering God in their language and praising God and worshiping God I I think it's why we were created as to to want to choose God you know God made us and and he wants us to choose him you know and when we do it's like this is this nothing better than this there's nothing better than this and so in my mind that's Jesus is reflecting that that idea that like these kids are doing the thing that they were created to do and they're choosing to do it and they're doing it so well and it's it's like it's what to me it's like it's what God wants you know it's what he's wanted and he's getting it from these kids before life has a chance to get its claws on them and people have a chance to influence and change them but right now it's it's the purity and the perfection of praise and worship you know brought by these magnificent and incandescent souls one of the reasons we haven't done BTS stuff with you much even b-roll on the set we try not to show much of you screwing around with the actors and whatnot is because we're not screw around the actors of course not perfect but we're trying to protect a little bit in some ways protect you because there are some audience members who are like well I don't necessarily want to see Jesus acting like Jonathan and we're gonna have to I mean one of the reasons I'm doing this conversation with you is to is to kind of get it out in the open and just go alright at the end of the day guys this is the show it's not Scripture right we say that all the time because we don't want to be a replacement for the for the Bible but this is a show and it's played by actors and Jonathan is a flawed human being who's playing Jesus and one of the things that makes him so effective as Jesus is the humility of being willing to make yourself a broken vessel and when you're a broken empty vessel then that does allow the spirit to use you even more that leads me to something I've wanted you and I talk about occasionally offset is your own personal relationship with Christ and how that has grown or changed as you've played this role because when I met you five years ago and we were doing the two thieves I wouldn't describe you at nearly as tuned in and we're and close to Christ as you are now is it accurate that your were getting closer to the Christ through this absolutely in the last couple of years having played Christ before this specific project but with with the work I've done with you and and two other instances I feel like God sort of set me up to kind of go deeper by putting these projects in my life I've done a bunch of secular projects at various TV shows and and and stuff like that and I do a lot of voiceover work and that are not faith based or faith friendly even some of them not anteye but just there's just not you know taking that into account of completely different kinds of characters and I think part of it has come out of my own sort of a bit of I guess a personal reconversion about me about a year and a half ago brought on just through life and and you know the circumstances of life and and in pain and and and heartbreak and all sorts of things that break you down and and coming to a point in my life where I literally just decided to just surrender everything that I I I realized I was at a point where no matter how I tried to control my circumstances it just wasn't enough I did everything I was supposed to do I went above and beyond I'm a bit of a workaholic and so I could just keep finding things to do I had like all these I was putting all this effort into all this other stuff as well that weren't even related to the industry just just to survive and it wasn't working and I finally literally got to my knees and I said God if you want this to work if I'm doing the right thing if I'm here doing what I'm supposed to be doing on this planet I'm in the right place you got to help me because I can't do this on my own I've been trying I've been trying I've been trying to do everything I think you're telling me to do and it's not working so you know what I'm I just turned it over now you you got to step in and take the reins and that very day a couple things happen that changed my life circumstances and made me realize that okay this is so this is how it's gonna be oh okay complete and utter surrender okay okay and since I committed to that three or four months later this was this the chosen was confirmed for me two months later we were filming and I haven't had the same kinds of stress I haven't had the same kinds of wants and if I had even remotely similar financial circumstances I haven't dealt with them in the same way I I no longer worry about any of it none of it because it's not up to me that's what this project has done for a lot of us and my story is out there in other videos as well that I've talked about I think it sounds like you're saying something similar which is you come to that point where you realize it's not my job to feed the 5,000 it's only to provide the loaves and the fish and and I mean I it's the same for me in the last year and a half almost two years that how I handle stress or negativity or whatever is is I'm a different human being and this project has done that to me and it's done that to you and and within that to so many people our partners on the project the producers and whatnot a number of times that they have faced in their life over the last year and a half something significant or pressing that they have been pressed upon them by the by the Lord this is not your job to feed the 5,000 has only provide the love some fish and also that God brought the Israelites in the Old Testament to the Red Sea he brought them to this place of extreme danger just like how he got just sounds like Jesus got the people hungry after three days of preaching so that the only thing left was a miracle and that understanding that God is just as much in the suffering or in the pain or in the confusion as he is in the victory is life-altering and I think it's what's allowed this project to succeed so far is that we're just kind of like yeah we don't know why it's working I just we're just vessels show up yeah yeah we're we're passengers on the train just like you are and I think that I think the audience can feel that so on that note there was a day on set when we were shooting the the in Episode six all the stuff that happened is a buddy's house the healing of the paralytic which came at the end of a view preaching and teaching and sharing with the people whose five days of shooting and extreme heat and there was a moment when you were about to do shoot the the sequence of you preaching to the crowd and on in the script mmm and and in the scene visually we don't see you on screen much the preaching is mostly in the background because that scene like a lot of scenes in the Chosin is less about the miracle is less about what Jesus is saying as it is about the response to it so I wasn't taking that scene that we were about to shoot of you as seriously because it's like oh he's not even be on camera much this is more about the people's reactions so we're kind of rushing through it and you stopped me and said can you please slow down for a second I need you to know how hard this is for me and when we talked about that because I said why why is this hard and you talked about the weight of preaching this is the first time in the show that Jesus is going to preach and I Jonathan Rumi do not feel worthy of filling those shoes and compelling and and and directing a large crowd of people if you talk about that that day and and and that moment because I think it reflects how you felt a few times of the weight the weight of this part when I think about it clearly I mean it's it affects me there's a part of me that just wants to get it right it's so important for me to get this right and I just felt completely out of my element for that scene because all of a sudden now I'm saying these words that Jesus said to these people that are like looking at me and and I'm there and I'm like what am I doing here I don't I shouldn't be here I felt like I'm like this you know and I told Mike that this just it just feels wrong for for the for the moment and but I know I'm here for a reason I'm here to say this for a reason I'm here and somebody else isn't here so I have to you know I have to take that into account and know that God's trusted me too to represent his son in this project and so I can't dishonor that but the initial weight is just like wait a minute what am I saying like he's I'm I'm supposed to now attempt to look like I'm teaching these people even though I'm not on camera to me it doesn't matter your camera could be two miles away if this scene has to go on I gotta be convincing I gotta attempt to teach these people and they have to look like they're following they're receiving teaching and instruction and life-altering life-altering information things that they've never heard before what am I doing here saying you remember what I said to you you probably don't because you were in your own space but you said I'm struggling to feel worthy and I said me too and I said this is that's right this is the story of this project and I said you're not worthy and neither am i and that's the whole point is when we recognize that and if we can we can actually embrace that and then when I was in Israel last year doing research and I'm in Magdala where Mary from and I'm at the Wailing Wall and I'm at the temple and I was there for my first time I must have been overwhelming it was overwhelming because I knew we were going to be telling the stories that took place here and my wife would say how's it going or how the hell is it and I said it's hitting me it's hitting me and I was like this is and you just said for some reason God has trusted me to portray his son and I felt like for some reason God has chosen me to tell his story is the series of his people in a way that hasn't been done before and if that's not humbling that's a major problem you've got you've got much deeper issues it should be humbling and that's why when you I think what you were expressing to me on that moment was what was what I felt in Israel was oh yeah I can't make you feel better right now I can't like sorry I can't help you if you're feeling unworthy I got nothing for you cuz I'm unworthy to my number but I think it I did I do think it helped that that it's like yeah don't try to feel worthy of this cuz it's not but you can't yeah here's the good news is something that God pressed on my heart very strongly when I was in Israel was I felt this very very strong feeling of I'm not going to let you screw this up they thought she wasn't gonna let you screw yeah yeah God isn't you got like yes you've been chosen to do this and yes I want you to be faithful and I want you to listen and I want you to obey I want you to get your sleep and be healthy and being kind to others but I'm not going to let you screw this up if this is too important you know that's that's why I think I've been able to be as relaxed as I've been although I still fail every day and feel the pressure and feel the responsibility of that but that's not gonna let you Jonathan screw this up either thank God yes and that's been a that's that's that should be comforting but also at the same time my wife reminds me once a week she's like when I read the Old Testament it's not in the low moments that you should be the most scared it's actually when you're doing the best because you look at the kings of the Old Testament who fell or the leaders of the Israelites or Moses or Joshua and Moses didn't see the Promised Land you know God God held him to a pretty high standard and so I think we've got to remember to be humble every day that that's the point and we need to feel unworthy yeah every day well I can check that box pretty good yeah yeah so on that note feeling the weight of it I think one of the ways that you and I deal with it is humor and I'd love to talk about that a little bit cuz I'm not sure I do some some of it maybe not but to be giving people a little bit of glimpse behind the curtain of some of our running gags on set for some reason and you know I'm fairly confident that God's okay with it but we have these running gags that Jesus is can raise the dead he can heal the sick but he's horrible with directions directions are not his forte so those who haven't noticed at the end of episode 8 at the end of the credits there's a little Easter egg of this alt take that we did awesome yeah so there's the scene in episode 8 where Jesus meets the other disciples at the southern fountain and you even told Nicodemus meet me at the southern fountain and we're going to leave and really for our ministry and you did it take where where what what happened in that take so I thought it wouldn't be funny if he got there because we actually were in this one shot that we were doing it was just me and and Jordan who plays little James and we were kinda like Yvonne Yvonne is here and then and then we there was nobody else there like I think the the cue wasn't called or the actors hadn't come out yet or something and I said wouldn't be funny like if they just didn't show up No then turns out that Jesus actually told them the wrong fountain the wrongs what is the wrong corner yeah you said you had said so yeah so you're like something fountain right and then and little James and when you guys did it without missing a beat just cuz no no you said the northern fountain and this notion of I did it again so we that became a running gag of almost every scene that involved travel you were always turning left instead of right the disciples were always coming this way no less than its dick yeah I always turned around so the so there's that Jesus can't get directions correct for the life of them and then also he can't land a punch line we had because we had you know joke well it came because in the scene with Matthew and the at the feast of Matthew's house at the beginning of episode eight very famous story from the Bible where Jesus was dining with with tax collectors and sinners and we had the scene where they're all kind of joking with each other and they're all saying oh I thought the Pharisee would trip on his robe and and I was laughing and OH looking at the look on your face was priceless than everyone laughs and then and then rifka says I thought I was going to be arrested and everyone laughs and you say with your luck you know that's good that's what would happened and and it was always the actors just wouldn't react at all just bombed it just bombed it's for you for like nothing at one time I literally you can hear me in one of the outtakes laughing off camera because it was every time you tried to say something and we would say look let's try different why I switch if there's Adler a little bit and try to say something funny and every time it was just crickets just crickets then you're like I can heal that sick but I can't land a punch line God why couldn't you've given me the ability to tell but you got healing that's all you get yeah but I for me that has helped through through the shoot oh yeah has given us like like it's it's helped to free me from the waiter that at times because I think too much about it about some of the scenes that we're about to portray it's overwhelming I mean remember when we were gonna shoot the scene at the end of Episode one with Mary Magdalene and you you and Liz and I were all in our separate corners Cheers streaming down our faces like knowing that we were about to do the most important scene in the show and feeling the weight of all of that to nip is also you know six below zero but I think for me that the joking has been the the constant riffing and and the alternate universe that we've created of Jesus as as bad with directions and and bad with punchlines and I thought to me as it helped you yeah I think I think for the same reasons that it's helped you and for me playing specifically Jesus like because it can get overwhelming thinking about what it is we're doing to be able to have a very innocuous and gentle outlet and and I you know I I pictured Jesus like just kind of like shaking his head you know like like I think he'd appreciate it and I think he would think it's funny and and if I if I didn't or if I thought it was offensive or in some way harmful to his image like I wouldn't do it but to me I mean this is as good natured as any of the other jokes that are written in the show well and that's the thing I think some of the humor that we've explored off-camera has been helpful to inform some of the jokes that we do and I've we hear people all the time the humor of Jesus in the show is one of their favorite parts because you know him winking at barnaby when Barnaby says and good can come from Nazareth and you wink at him and it's like it's okay and everybody's like yeah yeah music and it's fine yeah and the the episode seven or eight when Simon is saying you know it's you know what's in my head and you go out everyone knows what's in your head it doesn't take out to Westham see that's what I mean you already know anyway Simon everyone here knows what you're thinking most of the time it does not take God's wisdom hmm those those kind of bits I think help not only do they help alleviate the weight of the show I think they actually enhance the weight of the show and sometimes because it makes people more connected to Jesus which brings me to a very weighty question have you thought yet about what's coming in the future seasons you know we're doing this one season at a time I know some of our fans are starting to say things like when I think of where this show is headed it's almost too much to bear when I think now that I've seen Jesus joke and I've seen Jesus with his mother and I've seen Jesus with the disciples laughing and I've seen him dresses wound when I picture what I know is coming in a few seasons it's almost too much to even imagine and I can't imagine how difficult it is gonna be watch that have you thought much about have you have you thought much about the crucifixion I mean the the few times that it has crossed my mind I I just I know it's gonna be gut-wrenching for everyone involved it's gonna be extremely difficult to do to get through yeah I think it's one of those things that I just choose not to think about at this point because to really imagine all these relationships that Jesus has with these people in these first eight episodes and then all of a sudden not having that and even the the prelude to the crucifixion and the sense of abandonment and and and you know with these people he's breaking bread with now that you know and yeah it we give little little hints even in season one when you're talking to Eden and she says you say it hasn't been easy or it's not gonna be easy and she says well that's not our people's way and you say no it hasn't been nor will it continue to be and there's a look on your face that is a bit of a foreshadowing of what's to come I know the scene with Nicodemus hints of sadness at what's to come hints of sadness that he isn't gonna be there with you and the journey that's gonna spur Sanel with you and Nicodemus but also hints of what's to come again delivering the most famous verse in the Bible God so loved the world that He gave His Son and whoever believes in Him will not perish just a little hints of you know what the future holds but we again we don't want to be you can't play that 4 5 C knows every time you meet someone going I'm going to die soon yeah it's gonna be a little bit a little bit rough and I and I think also you know Jesus was somebody that was probably one of the most present people that anybody could ever meet you know in order to to really know people there's a certain level of presence that he has to be at all times and you know I think while he and again this is my choice while he will make reference to and and predict I choose I make the choice that he's not spending his time dwelling on the crucifixion at this point because he's building his ministry now he's still he's still getting to know these people and seeing how the more immediate future what what what positions these people are going to be playing in his ministry even maybe beyond his resurrection and so I can't I almost I don't want to allow myself to sort of think that far ahead you know but when I need to I can go there a little bit for the lines that suggest that but when I have sat and thought about it I think I may have even said this to you at one point like you know with what we're doing here now that that final season is gonna be it's gonna be horrible for people to watch you know like it's it's like getting to know we was talking about this before it's like getting to know a friend for years and then all of a sudden watching them go off to die and like willingly and you're like you you trying to comprehend what are you just trying to you're trying to come to terms with death of a friend after several years there's nothing can do to house nothing you can do and you've got to take it you know and so yeah that's yeah I uh I don't I really don't even know how to approach that at this point so so I want to talk we will close here in a few minutes but I want to talk about your favorite scenes so far of season one you know the majority of the most iconic scenes from Scripture involved Jesus so you've had a chance now looking back on season one we've got you know the water to wine we've got the miracle the fish we've got the Shabbat visit the redeeming of Mary the Samaritan woman the calling of Matthew the call I mean it's it's a laundry list of greatest hits yeah you have a part you have a favorite I think one of my favorite moments was was just my entrance because it's it's such a stark introduction if you're really paying attention you can sort of see that outlet the fabric of my elbow as I get up off the table in the bar to meet Mary you know just the drink the hand on top of the hand and then the cut to me looking at her and then back to her and she was like what's going on Jesus just looking at her and he just knows everything about her in that instance and they just said that's not for you and like his first ones yeah that's not for you yeah and in which and we know now is has a whole host of meanings as to why that's his first line and it's so beautiful I think that to me and that scene is one of my favorite scenes because most all of us can relate to some form of redemption in our lives through which God has been a major part if not the reason for it you know I watched the scene still and I recently was was recutting my reel my actors and I put that scene in there and I'm tweaking and I'm fine-tuning and I'm I've seen it like 30 times and every time I watch it it's not and it's not me watching myself it's me watching this exchange within with these two characters in this scene and I still get like goosebumps I'm like how is this still happening and I was I I performed it like it's I don't understand it I don't underst other than that it's it's a divine intervention in this moment on film and and it's just it's still so impactful from the the second half of our season here there were so many great scenes that I enjoyed filming I think the other it's hard to choose but if I had to pick by hairs it would be the scene of the woman at the well the Samaritan woman at the well mostly because of how that scene ends and just the joy that she runs off with and what it did to me in that scene watching her run off with this newfound joy just you can't put a price on that it's just you know again still even thinking about it just it was so beautiful it was so beautiful to watch what she was doing in - and Vanessa's and as an actress it was just she handled it so so beautifully and I just could not help but be affected by our performance and they say ensemble acting is the highest form of acting and so when you have those opportunities to being in it in a place with somebody in a scene and you're just both dropped in and you're just living that moment out and there just happened to be cameras around catching it it's it's indescribable and so what she did and how that made me feel and watching her and now it looks it's I think that's probably my second favorite well this last year of my career has been the most impactful and rewarding of my life without a second a close second and working with you and doing these scenes of you and exploring Jesus with you in a way with the goal of introducing an authentic Jesus to the world has been one of the joys of my entire life and I wouldn't want to do with anybody else so likewise it's been the reason for it's been the clarity of my mission doing this with you and I'm honored to be a part of it and an honor to call you brother yeah love you brother I'll be bro yeah yeah yeah [Music] you

Channel: The Chosen

Views: 572,232

Rating: 4.954946 out of 5

Keywords: the chosen, the chosen tv series, bingeJesus, GetUsedtoDifferent, Faith-based, Bible show, Bible study, Christianity, church, Jesus show, what to watch, tv show, actors life, directors life, filmmaking

Id: CZdB7H8ty8g

Length: 54min 37sec (3277 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 11 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/tycoondon]

The guy playing Jesus is 45 now. They have announced there are going to be 7 seasons. With the way funding is going, it looks like they'll be about one a year. That means this guy is going to be in his 50's when he is crucified when Jesus was 33. Does anybody else think that maybe this should have been thought of by the directors? Seems like a lack of foresight on display.