Podcast: The Passion

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Didn't have time to post this yesterday, but my latest podcast entry is up talking about BBC1's The Passion. I think that'll be the last time I discuss the film for a while. The other 15 entries are also still available to download.

Actor to Have Facelift to Play David

This is probably the bizarrest story I've heard for a while. The makers of a new film about David have announced that the actor who will play the leading role will undergo plastic surgery in order to play him as both an old man and a young one. It's actually the first I've heard about Marvin Jones' Shepherd to King, and the Variety story that broke the news has annoyingly little information. Here's a quick excerpt:

Marvin Jones has released a controversial detail about his new pic Shepherd to King. Telling the biblical story of David the pic's star, who is not being named at this stage, will film the middle and latter parts of David's life first before going under the knife in order to film the early episodes in the great king's story. Jones has been keen to downplay the controversy.

"For ages I've been trying to work out a way to film David in his whole life. The other films tend to use different actors or very unconvincing make-up. Then the actor concerned happened to mention that they were planning on having surgery and I wondered if that might be a novel solution. It's not like he's doing it specially..."

Even so, it sounds pretty odd, and I'm not really sure it will work. Whilst David wasn't what we'd call a boy, he was still younger than I can imagine than plastic surgery can make you look. Mind you maybe he's just got someone really really good. I'll keep an eye on this one.

Egan, McShane Head Kings Cast

I mentioned back in November that NBC were producing a modern day version of the life of David called Kings. Well Variety has just announced a couple of pieces of casting: Christopher Egan (Home and Away) will play David whilst Ian McShane (Lovejoy, Deadwood) will play the role of "the monarch". I'm guessing McShane's role will be akin to that of Saul, but it's also possible his role is the modern day equivalent of Achish or Maoch. Come to think of it he could also be playing David later in life. Time will tell I guess. McShane is, of course, no stranger to the Biblical TV drama having played Judas in 1977's Jesus of Nazareth and 1985's A.D. Anno Domini.

The Variety piece also clears up one other thing: This is not the David production that J. Michael Straczynski is writing. Michael Green (Heroes) is cited as the writer for this one.

Thanks to Peter Chattaway for spotting the story.

Decent Films Reviews The Greatest Story Ever Told

Over at Decent Films, my friend Steven D. Greydanus has just posted a great review of Greatest Story Ever Told. It's actually one film I've not posted a written review for yet, although I did record a podcast review for the film last year. I've heard Steven talk many times about the unintentionally hilarious baptism scene, but it's nice to hear him extolling some of the film's other virtues.

In trying to source some photos for this blog entry I also came across a review at thecinemalaser.com . I also just discovered that there was a 2001 documentary about the making of this film called He Walks in Beauty: The George Stevens Production 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'.

Easter 2008 TV Offerings

Usually, I like to highlight in advance some of the TV offerings that will be shown over Christmas (2006, 2007) and Easter (2007). Unfortunately this year I didn't quite have time, which is a shame as there was really quite a lot. Had I run a piece like this a few years ago I would have had almost nothing to report. This year, however, there was almost an unprecedented amount, including a number of Jesus films.

Obviously, top billing went to BBC1's The Passion, but there were at least 3 other major Jesus films shown over the Easter period. ITV got the ball rolling showing Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) on Good Friday, and Channels 4 and 5 followed suit with Easter Monday broadcasts of The Passion of the Christ and Ben Hur respectively (pictured). I also happened to noticed Huston's The Bible crop up on one of the cable channels as well.

But there was also more in the documentary department, with Robert Beckford back on Channel 4 with his look at the Secrets of the 12 Disciples and BBC2's festive offering re-examined the Shroud of Turin. Both programmes are currently available to view online, and I should be writing some thoughts on Secrets of the 12 Disciples in the next few days. Incidentally the shroud has it's own blog. Who knew?

FaithArts on The Passion

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As I've been trying to keep my ear to the ground ('scuse the pun) for reviews and comments on The Passion I've been kicking myself for failing to mention Brendan O'Regan's coverage of this production over at FaithArts. Regular readers may recall that I mentioned Brendan's site last year and added it to my blogroll, so it's a little embarrassing to have forgotten, especially as he was so good as to drop me a reminder a few days ago.

As far as I can see there's no permanent link (yet) to the individual posts on the film, so for now you just have to visit the main blog page.

Meanwhile, The Guardian is reporting the series' viewing figures as follows:

BBC1's Easter drama The Passion finished with the highest audience of its four-part run, 4.9 million viewers, a 21% share at 7.30pm.

The series, which starred Joseph Mawle as Jesus and James Nesbitt as Pontius Pilate, began with 4.1 million viewers last Sunday before dipping to 3.2 million for its second part and 3.7 million for its third instalment on Good Friday.

There's also a review of this film from the Sunday Times that I'd missed before.

Incidentally, the latest issue of the C of E's Reader Magazine has just been published including a brief piece I wrote about The Passion.

The Passion - Part 4 Scene Guide

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The Passion has just reached its conclusion so it's time for me to blog my thoughts on the final episode. As with the previous three episodes I'm giving biblical references in my usual scene guide format (citation guide). Passages in square brackets are extra-biblical episodes. My overall review of this programme is here, though I hope to add some additional points now I have seen the whole series.

Joseph Asks for Jesus's Body - Mark 15:42-45
[EBE - Disciples Discuss Jesus's Death]
[EBE - Caiaphas Criticises Joseph's Decision]
Burial - Mark 15:46-47
[EBE - Holy Saturday - The Two Marys]
[EBE - Holy Saturday - Disciples Worry About What to do]
[EBE - Caiaphas's Wife Reassures him]
Soldiers at the Tomb - Matt 27:62-66
[EBE - Marys and the Disciples]
Magdalene at The Tomb - John 20:1
Caiaphas Told of the Empty Tomb - Matt 28:11
Mary, John and Peter Go to the Tomb - John 20:3-10
Jesus Appears to Mary - John 20:11-17
Mary Tells the Disciples - John 20:18
[EBE - Caiaphas and Joseph Argue]
Road to Emmaus - Luke 24:13-33
Jesus Appears in the Upper Room - Luke 24:36-49
[EBE - Pilate and his Wife Return Home]
[EBE - Caiaphas's Son is Born]
Jesus and Peter - John 21:15-19
I Will be with you Always - Matt 28:20

Spoilers follow:
I'd like to start by talking about the post-resurrection appearances, mainly because I've known about them for some time. I'd heard a good while back that this film was going to do something interesting with the resurrection, and I wondered then if it was going to use a different actor for the resurrected Jesus. My suspicions were confirmed at the première when Nigel Stafford-Clark accidentally let it slip that my hunch was correct. Fortunately, I managed to keep this all to myself, and settled for just giving it a passing mention in my review. But, suffice to say, I've been positively bursting to talk about it ever since.

What they did so well is keep the facts largely as they are. The gospels are nowhere more divergent than they are on the subject of Easter morning. Mark mentions some women, an angel and an empty tomb and precious little else (later additions aside). Matthew elaborates by having Jesus meet the woman and having a guard placed at the tomb. Luke omits Matthew's story about the seal, but adds the story about the Road to Emmaus, and an appearance to Peter, before bringing things to a climax with the resurrected Jesus appearing to all the disciples. Finally John gives an almost totally different account with Mary Magdalene alone finding the empty tomb, not seeing an angel, returning to tell Peter and John before she meets the risen Jesus for herself. We then two appearances to a room full of disciples and doubting Thomas, breakfast on the beach, restoration of Peter and a cryptic comment about John.

Of course many previous Jesus films omit the resurrection altogether, or give it a more spiritual interpretation, and even many of those that do include it skip by fairly quickly. Among those that do include it, a surprising number actually go on to show the one thing the gospels don't talk about - Jesus leaving the tomb. What we have here is the story as it is presented - albeit based on a harmonisation of the story - and not only that but it's one that seeks to offer not one, but several possible interpretations of what actually happened and leave the viewer to decide for themselves.The first such interpretation will be the one that pleases scholars such as Tom Wright. Wright holds that the failure to recognise the risen Jesus was because his resurrection body is a physical body, but one that is significantly different from his pre-resurrection body. This is the interpretation that I had been wondering if ever anyone would try.

But the other interpretation, that the filmmakers were keen to leave as a possibility was that actually Jesus wasn't resurrected. This is dealt with far more visually. Firstly the empty tomb, far from being somewhere that might require a gardener (John 20:16) is in the middle of the desert, and, at the crucial moment the soldiers leave their post. (Incidentally Matthew's account has the soldiers told to say that the body was stolen when they were asleep whereas here it occurs whilst they go off to buy food - a move that, in itself is open to various interpretations). Then we have the two appearances using the different actors which could be read to be fairly damning, and whilst Joseph Mawle eventually resumes the role these appearances are all shot from a particular character's point of view, rather than in a more objective setting.

A further interpretation is that the use of different actors is just to show the confusion in the disciples' minds and once they realise that Jesus has risen we see Joe Mawle back in more corporate settings. So there are at least three interpretations and I look forward to unearthing more over the next few days. Either way, it will be a talking point. Incidentally the two actors who appear here are listed in the credits as "Man at Tomb" and "Man on Road to Emmaus".There are a few other points to make. The final scenes are also very interesting, in particular the birth of a son to Caiaphas, and his evident relief and prayer of thanks. The point here is that Caiaphas, at least, seems to interpret this as confirmation of God's approval. He has done the right thing, his wife and child are safe and his line will continue. But other possibilities are possible. Perhaps it's just chance, or perhaps it is a reward from God for being a pawn in his master plan. What's interesting is the correlation between Caiaphas interpretation and those of viewers interpreting the rest of the story in accordance with their own beliefs. This also happens to a far lesser degree with Pilate whose house is beginning to take shape once more.

I also noticed a nice touch in one of the scenes between James and John. The portrayal of these two disciples has been one of the series' minor delights. John has for so long been played as a wet blanket, that it was great to see him acting more like he could be one of the sons of thunder. If I ever write up my Jesus Film Dream Team, Jamie Sives will be on it. Anyway, there's a nice irony at the point where a sceptical James tells warns his brother that if he carries on he's "going to get himself killed". Tradition has it that John was the only one of the disciples not to be martyred whereas James was one of the first to be killed..Following on from that, at the start of the episode John reports back on Jesus's death. It's interesting that this could be taken as the start of his traditional role as the disciple who wrote the fourth gospel. There's further intrigue, though, because John recalls Jesus's last words as "Your will is done" (variation on "it is accomplished" which appears only in John) whereas his last words were actually shown as being "I've loved you with all my heart". Whether this is intended to show John deliberately altering Jesus's words, or just that he didn't recall these things perfectly, or whether it was just a glitch in the production is, like much of this final episode, open very much to interpretation.

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As with previous episodes a few others have blogged the final episode. Doug Chaplin at MetaCatholic continues his generally excellent coverage and Gerard O'Collins is the fourth author for Thinking Faith. I also came across Stephen Barton's Reformed Christian UK site which has also posted a few thoughts on all four parts (1, 2, 3 and 4). The BBC has also added an article on their portrayal of the crucifixion.