Jesus Movie Ideas--Anyone?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JB_Brother_4446
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
patrick457 said:
No, it isn’t. That was just a sort of ‘it’d be nice if we had something like this’-sort of post. AFAIK no Jesus film had ever attempted to do that kind of portrayal yet. All of them take it for granted that Barabbas was guilty.
Click to expand...
Speaking of which, if supposing that I ever get to make a film (or some sort of video) on Jesus, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna step on a lot of toes because I really want to break free from some of the established depictions. Y’know, Jesus as a soft-spoken, solemn-sounding, long-haired, handsome - even sexy - Caucasian male a la Jeffrey Hunter or Jim Caviezel or Diogo Morgado, “the Pharisees” and the chief priests as dour old men in dark robes and all that.

For some reason, quite a number of people out there are afraid of a ‘not-sexy’ Jesus. But then again, Jesus’ appearance or the shape and height of His cross isn’t dogma, is it? I mean, Tertullian thought Jesus must have been ugly because of Isaiah 53: “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” 😉

Obviously I wouldn’t be breaking core tenets of Christianity (so, no, no emo-y neurotic Jesus a la The Last Temptation or sly deceiver a la The Passover Plot), but in places where there is a leeway, I will break convention.

http://images.tcj.com/2011/05/Underwater10pg201.jpg


Fiorenzo Mattu (Su Re, 2012 - Sardinian Jesus film)

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
Colin Blakely (Son of Man)

Either that, or we could pull the same tactic as in Lance Tracy’s The Cross (or in that 1976 film about Muhammad, The Message) or in those 1950s films and either film things from Jesus’ point of view or just show His back.
 
if i did a “Jesus movie” i would emphasize His love, his humanity and His Passion and resurrection

i would plagiarize from the gospels 🙂
 
Okay, yet another idea: my film wouldn’t be live-action. Too much baggage in live-action. IMHO, animation is in many ways a better medium. Just look at The Miracle Maker; its strong point is that it wasn’t a live-action movie. Steven Greydanus speaking about that film put it very well:

Can one really accept a puppet as Jesus? Yes, just as one sees Jesus in an icon or a crucifix — in a way more easily than one accepts an actor as Jesus. An actor is always pretending; a puppet, like an icon, simply is. An actor has a life before and after a role; an icon or puppet exists solely to mediate the one it represents.

Heck, it doesn’t even need to be a major production or something. (Given that my particular film ideas are bound to get a few people out there offended - nothing easily offends people more than religion and related stuff 😉 - I doubt I could peddle it anywhere, because I wouldn’t really be pandering to anyone.) I mean, now with Youtube, almost everyone could make a movie and post it on the 'net.

So it’d be a totally amateur, indie, non-live-action production. Who knows? I won’t make any promises, but in the future I would really like to do this (it’s one of those things I would like to do before I die). It’s easier to pull this off nowadays even without being a formal director or having connections with a studio or something.

Oh, and I wouldn’t claim that my film presents the ‘real Jesus’ or be ‘historically accurate’/‘accurate to the gospels’. I wouldn’t claim to be objective. All of that’s pure hogwash. Any film, any book, any treatise or sermon that was made or will be made about Jesus presents that particular author’s particular interpretation of who Jesus is: there are as many ‘Jesuses’ as there are scholars, clerics and laymen. Plus, in a sense, no Jesus film is completely ‘accurate’ to the gospels, because all involve a degree of interpretation and artistic license.

Art is a very subjective medium. This film idea is my understanding and my interpretation of the Jesus story; you’re free to disagree with my version, because I know well that you have your own particular idea, your own (image of) Jesus. This is just ‘my’ Jesus, my understanding of His life and His teachings and His impact. Just like William Blake said:

The vision of Christ that thou dost see
Is my vision’s greatest enemy.
Thine has a great hook nose like thine;
Mine has a snub nose like to mine.
Thine is the Friend of all Mankind;
Mine speaks in parables to the blind.
…] Both read the Bible day and night,
But thou read’st black where I read white.

There is just one Jesus Christ, but there are many ‘Jesuses’ as there are Christians, many understandings and interpretations and ideas of that one Person.
 
My own rough synopsis for now. Will likely change later.

FIRST PART

= Introduction (Extrabiblical)
= Pilate arrives in Judaea (Extrabiblical)
:: The standards (Josephus, Antiquities 18.55-59; War 2.169-174)
= Messianic claimant arrested (Extrabiblical)
  • John the Baptist (Mark 1:4-8 + John 1:29-34)
  • Jesus appears; baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:9-11)
  • Calling of the first disciples (John 1:35-51)
- John and Jesus (Extrabiblical)
  • Kingdom of God is coming (Mark 1:14-15)
  • Jesus and disciples baptize (John 3:22)
  • Question of fasting (Mark 2:18-19)
  • “He must increase” (John 3:25-30)
= Jesus returns to the Galilee; messianic claimant crucified (Extrabiblical)
  • Miracle at Cana (John 2:1-11)
  • Rejection at Nazareth (Mark 6:1-6; 3:31-35; 3:20-21 + Luke 4:14-30)
    = Mary, Jesus and ‘brothers’ (Extrabiblical)
  • Flashback: The Annunciation / Nativity (Luke 1:26-38; 2:4-7)
  • Healing Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2)
  • Jesus in Capernaum (John 2:12 + Mark 1:21-34)
  • The catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11)
  • The blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)
  • The budding fig tree (Mark 13:28-31)
  • “The day of the LORD” + I am the door (cf. Isaiah 2:11ff.; John 10:7, 9)
    - Rejection at Bethsaida (Extrabiblical)
  • Woes to unrepentant towns (Matthew 11:20-24)
SECOND PART

= Herodias and Antipas (Extrabiblical)
= John preaches against Antipas (Extrabiblical)
= Jesus heads to Judaea (Extrabiblical)
  • John arrested (Mark 4:14a)
    = Public uproar over arrest (Extrabiblical)
  • Jesus withdraws to the desert; tempted (Mark 1:35, 12-13 + Matthew 4:1-11)
  • Kingdom of God is now among you (Luke 17:20-21)
  • Demonstration in the temple (Mark 11:15-17 + John 2:13-24)
    = Temple priests discuss Jesus (Extrabiblical)
    = Judas Iscariot follows Jesus (Extrabiblical)
  • The Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42)
  • The ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19)
  • The royal official’s son + 'centurion’s servant (John 4:43-53 + Matthew 8:5-13)
  • The paralytic (Mark 2:1-12)
  • Calling Levi (Mark 2:13-17)
  • Calling the Twelve (Mark 3:13-19)
  • Parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20)
  • Disciples pick heads of grain (Mark 2:23-28)
  • Jesus sends out the Twelve (Mark 6:7-13 + Matthew 10:5-15)
  • Healing at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15)
  • The greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-34)
  • Jesus heals man with deformity (Luke 14:1-6 + Mark 3:1-6)
    = Disagreement on rulings (Extrabiblical)
  • “Are you the one?” (Matt 11:2-6)
:: Aqueduct riot (Josephus, War 2.175-177; Antiquities 18.60-62)
  • Repent or perish (Luke 13:1-5)
  • The disciples return (Mark 6:30-31)
  • Death of John reported (cf. Mark 6:17-29)
 
If you believed in a lake crucifixion date you would have a much better storyline, Patrick.

For instance, Jesus would have returned to the Galilee in the year before his death because John the Baptist had been executed and he was fearful for his life.

Now that’s a movie!
 
steve53 said:
If you believed in a lake crucifixion date you would have a much better storyline, Patrick.

For instance, Jesus would have returned to the Galilee in the year before his death because John the Baptist had been executed and he was fearful for his life.

Now that’s a movie!
Click to expand...
The thing is I don’t, or rather, I don’t care much about the ‘when’, so, no. This isn’t a documentary or some sort of NatGeo/‘History’ Channel feature I’m having in mind anyways. 🤷

And seriously, scratch Hollywood suspense. Give me one of those Indian masala movies or those Italian neorealist thingamajigs any day. 😛
 
I pared down the synopsis on the last post a little bit. For the record, this is for the ‘straight’ Jesus film I had in mind.

= Introduction (Extrabiblical)
= Pilate arrives in Judaea (Extrabiblical)
:: The standards (Josephus, Antiquities 18.55-59; War 2.169-174)
= Messianic claimant arrested (Extrabiblical)
  • John the Baptist (Mark 1:4-8 + John 1:29-34)
  • Jesus appears; baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:9-11)
  • Calling of the first disciples (John 1:35-51)
    - John and Jesus (Extrabiblical)
  • Kingdom of God is coming (Mark 1:14-15)
  • Jesus and disciples baptize (John 3:22)
= Jesus returns to the Galilee; messianic claimant crucified (Extrabiblical)
  • Miracle at Cana (John 2:1-11)
  • Rejection at Nazareth (Mark 6:1-6; 3:31-35; 3:20-21 + Luke 4:14-30)
    = Mary, Jesus and ‘brothers’ (Extrabiblical)
  • Healing Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2)
  • Jesus in Capernaum (John 2:12 + Mark 1:21-34)
  • The catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11)
  • The blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26)
  • On retaliation and loving one’s enemies (Matthew 5:38-48)
  • “The day of the LORD” + I am the door (cf. Isaiah 2:11ff.; John 10:7, 9)
    - Rejection at Bethsaida (Extrabiblical)
  • Woes to unrepentant towns (Matthew 11:20-24)
- John preaches against Antipas (Extrabiblical)
  • John arrested (Mark 4:14a)
    - Public uproar over arrest (Extrabiblical)
  • Jesus in the desert (Mark 1:35, 12-13 + Matthew 4:1-11)
  • Demonstration in the temple (Mark 11:15-17 + John 2:13-24)
    = Temple priests discuss Jesus (Extrabiblical)
    = Judas Iscariot follows Jesus (Extrabiblical)
  • The Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42)
  • Chuza the royal official’s son = 'centurion’s servant (John 4:43-53 + Matthew 8:5-13)
  • Joanna follows Jesus (Luke 8:2)
  • The calling of Levi (Mark 2:13-17)
  • Calling the Twelve (Mark 3:13-19)
  • The sower (Mark 4:1-20)
  • Disciples pick heads of grain (Mark 2:23-28)
  • Jesus stays at Lazarus’ house (Luke 10:38-42)
  • Jesus sends out the Twelve (Mark 6:7-13 + Matthew 10:5-15)
  • Healing at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-15)
  • The greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-34)
  • “Are you the one?” (Matt 11:2-6)
    :: Aqueduct riot (Josephus, War 2.175-177; Antiquities 18.60-62)
  • Repent or perish (Luke 13:1-5)
  • The Twelve return (Mark 6:30-31)
  • Death of John reported (cf. Mark 6:17-29)
This is the first part.
 
This is the second part.
  • Jesus on John the Baptist (Matthew 11:17-19 + Mark 9:11-13)
  • The beatitudes and the woes (Luke 6:20-26)
  • On prayer (Matthew 6:5-9 + Luke 11:2-5)
  • Jesus feeds five thousand (Mark 6:30-44 + John 6:1-13)
  • Attempt to crown Jesus as king (John 6:14-15)
  • Jesus’ fame spreads (Mark 1:28 + Luke 4:37)
    = Rumors of Jesus’ miracles (Extrabiblical)
  • Antipas learns of Jesus (Mark 6:14-16)
  • Someone casting demons in Jesus’ name (Mark 9:38-40)
  • Pharisees warn Jesus (Luke 13:31-32)
  • Jesus in Caesarea Philippi; Peter the rock (Mark 8:27-30 + Matthew 16:13-20)
= Pilate in Caesarea Maritima (Extrabiblical)
= Some rebels crucified (Extrabiblical)
  • Take up your cross (Mark 8:34-37)
  • Jesus predicts His death (Mark 8:31-33)
  • Jesus, Peter, James and John go up on a mountain (Mark 9:2a)
  • The raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-45)
  • Chief priests are alarmed (John 11:46-54)
  • Triumphal entry (Mark 11:1-11 + John 12:12-18)
    = Pilate enters Jerusalem (Extrabiblical episode)
  • Jesus goes to temple, speaks of the temple’s destruction (Mark 11:15a + 13:1-2)
  • The tenants in the vineyard (Mark 12:1-12)
  • Paying taxes to Caesar (Mark 12:13-17)
  • Apocalyptic discourse (Mark 13:14-27; 32-37)
= Pilate learns of ‘Jesus’ (Extrabiblical episode)
= Minor riot; Jesus Barabbas arrested (Extrabiblical episode)
= Chief priests and Jesus learn about Jesus Barabbas’ arrest (Extrabiblical episode)
  • Chief priests plot against Jesus (John 12:9-11, 17-19 + Mark 12:12; 14:1-2)
  • The weathered fig tree (Mark 11:12-14; 20-24)
  • Jesus anointed at Bethany (Mark 14:3-9)
  • Nicodemus (John 3:1-14)
  • Judas sells information about Jesus (Mark 14:10-11)
= Pilate and Caiaphas interact (Extrabiblical)
= Passover preparations (Extrabiblical)(
  • Washing disciples’ feet; last supper (Mark 14:12-26 + John 13:1-8)
    = The chief priests and Judas (Extrabiblical)
  • The agony in the garden (Mark 14:31-42)
  • Jesus arrested (Mark 14:43-50 + John 18:1-13)
  • Peter denies Jesus (Mark 14:53-54, 66-72 + John 18:15-18, 25-27)
    *= John meets Judas and confronts him (Extrabiblical)
  • Disciples in hiding (Extrabiblical)*
= Pilate and wife (Extrabiblical)
  • Jesus before Pilate (Mark 15:1-5 + John 18:28-38a)
  • Jesus before Antipas (Luke 23:8-12)
  • Mocking of Jesus (Mark 15:16-20 + John 19:1-3)
  • The choice between the two Jesuses (Mark 15:6-14 + John 18:38b-40)
  • Pilate sentences Jesus to death (Mark 15:15 + John 19:16)
  • Women from a distance (Mark 15:40-41)
  • Jesus dies (Mark 15:33-37 + John 19:28-30)
  • Burial (Mark 15:42-47 + John 19:38-42)
  • Guards at the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66)
  • The empty tomb (Mark 16:1-8 + John 20:1-10)
  • The miraculous catch of fish (John 21:1-14)]]
    = Epilogue: Reports of resurrection appearances; the rise of Christianity
All of this is still subject to revision, note.
 
patrick457 said:
This is the second part.
  • Jesus on John the Baptist (Matthew 11:17-19 + Mark 9:11-13)
  • The beatitudes and the woes (Luke 6:20-26)
  • On prayer (Matthew 6:5-9 + Luke 11:2-5)
  • Jesus feeds five thousand (Mark 6:30-44 + John 6:1-13)
  • Attempt to crown Jesus as king (John 6:14-15)
  • Jesus’ fame spreads (Mark 1:28 + Luke 4:37)
    = Rumors of Jesus’ miracles (Extrabiblical)
  • Antipas learns of Jesus (Mark 6:14-16)
  • Someone casting demons in Jesus’ name (Mark 9:38-40)
  • Pharisees warn Jesus (Luke 13:31-32)
  • Jesus in Caesarea Philippi; Peter the rock (Mark 8:27-30 + Matthew 16:13-20)
= Pilate in Caesarea Maritima (Extrabiblical)
= Some rebels crucified (Extrabiblical)
  • Take up your cross (Mark 8:34-37)
  • Jesus predicts His death (Mark 8:31-33)
  • Jesus, Peter, James and John go up on a mountain (Mark 9:2a)
  • The raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-45)
  • Chief priests are alarmed (John 11:46-54)
  • Triumphal entry (Mark 11:1-11 + John 12:12-18)
    = Pilate enters Jerusalem (Extrabiblical episode)
  • Jesus goes to temple, speaks of the temple’s destruction (Mark 11:15a + 13:1-2)
  • The tenants in the vineyard (Mark 12:1-12)
  • Paying taxes to Caesar (Mark 12:13-17)
  • Apocalyptic discourse (Mark 13:14-27; 32-37)
= Pilate learns of ‘Jesus’ (Extrabiblical episode)
= Minor riot; Jesus Barabbas arrested (Extrabiblical episode)
= Chief priests and Jesus learn about Jesus Barabbas’ arrest (Extrabiblical episode)
  • Chief priests plot against Jesus (John 12:9-11, 17-19 + Mark 12:12; 14:1-2)
  • The weathered fig tree (Mark 11:12-14; 20-24)
  • Jesus anointed at Bethany (Mark 14:3-9)
  • Nicodemus (John 3:1-14)
  • Judas sells information about Jesus (Mark 14:10-11)
= Pilate and Caiaphas interact (Extrabiblical)
= Passover preparations (Extrabiblical)(
  • Washing disciples’ feet; last supper (Mark 14:12-26 + John 13:1-8)
    = The chief priests and Judas (Extrabiblical)
  • The agony in the garden (Mark 14:31-42)
  • Jesus arrested (Mark 14:43-50 + John 18:1-13)
  • Peter denies Jesus (Mark 14:53-54, 66-72 + John 18:15-18, 25-27)
    *= John meets Judas and confronts him (Extrabiblical)
  • Disciples in hiding (Extrabiblical)*
= Pilate and wife (Extrabiblical)
  • Jesus before Pilate (Mark 15:1-5 + John 18:28-38a)
  • Jesus before Antipas (Luke 23:8-12)
  • Mocking of Jesus (Mark 15:16-20 + John 19:1-3)
  • The choice between the two Jesuses (Mark 15:6-14 + John 18:38b-40)
  • Pilate sentences Jesus to death (Mark 15:15 + John 19:16)
  • Women from a distance (Mark 15:40-41)
  • Jesus dies (Mark 15:33-37 + John 19:28-30)
  • Burial (Mark 15:42-47 + John 19:38-42)
  • Guards at the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66)
  • The empty tomb (Mark 16:1-8 + John 20:1-10)
  • The miraculous catch of fish (John 21:1-14)]]
    = Epilogue: Reports of resurrection appearances; the rise of Christianity
All of this is still subject to revision, note.
Click to expand...
Mine would actually be a T.V. series of maybe 12 episodes and 3 seasons.

Season 1 27 A.D.-28 A.D.
Episode 1: John’s Ministry, Jesus’ Baptism
2: Jesus Temptation in the Wilderness
3: The Calling of the First Discples and the Wedding at Cana
4: Jesus First Passover
5: Jesus in Samaria and in the Jordan, Arrest of John the Baptist
6: Jesus return to Cana and Nazareth
7: Jesus in Capernaum
8: Call of Matthew
9: In Jerusalem and Healing at Bethesda
10: Return to Capernaum and Sabbath Incidents
11: Jesus Chooses Apostles, Sermon on the Mount
12: Other Healings at Capernaum

This is what I have for Season 1. Any other suggestions on chronology of this season would be helpful.
 
steve53 said:
If you believed in a lake crucifixion date you would have a much better storyline, Patrick.

For instance, Jesus would have returned to the Galilee in the year before his death because John the Baptist had been executed and he was fearful for his life.

Now that’s a movie!
Click to expand...
i just had this idea: What if we could do a TV series instead of a movie?
 
patrick457 said:
I can tell you how I will not portray Pilate: not a mere spineless coward, and not a mere cruel butcher.

There are four Pilates that have stood out to me the most. Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita’s grumpy Pilate with a headache, the BBC’s 2008 The Passion’s Pilate with the Irish accent (The Passion IMHO has the most balanced and interesting portrayals of Pilate and Caiaphas that I know of to date, which is why I like that series), Robert Hardy’s Pilate in Dennis Potter’s play Son of Man (granted, this Pilate is on the ‘butcher’ end of the spectrum - he’s even portrayed as a sort of proto-persecutor of Christians, having one of his maids who believed in Jesus scourged to death - but the way this violent Pilate is sort of obsessed with and haunted by Jesus and His teaching to love one’s enemies is rather cool), and Telly Savalas’ Pilate in The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Oh yeah, special mention: the Pilate of the medieval English mystery plays. In one (the Towneley/Wakefield plays), he’s depicted as a negative, Antichrist-y character, describing himself in exalted terms (dominus dominorum ‘lord of lords’, vir deitatis et maiestatis ‘man of god-like nature and majesty’). He’s set up as a foil for the silent, meek Jesus. He even gets to deliver this rather boastful (and blasphemous) soliloquy, where he - ironically - compares himself to David:

Myghty lord of all
Me Cesar magnificavit.
Downe on knees ye fall!
Greate god me sanctificauit,
Me to obey over all
regi reliquo quasi Dauid.
Click to expand...
The portrayal that stood out to me was Gary Oldman’s. Pilate is a calcutating politician who is indifferent to Jesus and His message and treats Jesus’ trial as a game. This by far is the most historical accurate portrayal of Pontius Pilate, not a butcher but not a coward.
 
JB_Brother_4446 said:
The portrayal that stood out to me was Gary Oldman’s. Pilate is a calcutating politician who is indifferent to Jesus and His message and treats Jesus’ trial as a game. This by far is the most historical accurate portrayal of Pontius Pilate, not a butcher but not a coward.
Click to expand...
I agree. Gary Oldman’s Pilate is almost perfect, except he kinda seemed way too hammy. Someone even thought that he had a sort of lisp - kind of like what Michael Palin’s Pilate in The Life of Brian had. 🤷
 
JB_Brother_4446 said:
i just had this idea: What if we could do a TV series instead of a movie?
Click to expand...
That’s a neat idea.

Although, if you’re gonna ask me, I prefer the thing be kept within the bounds of a single season, i.e. around twelve to fourteen episodes at the most, because IMHO you can only pad the story so much before you become derailed and long-winded. I think that’s more than enough to cover the story of Jesus - at least, if you’re going to use only the gospels. I mean, Jesus of Nazareth (in its fullest length) had more than six hours - four to five episodes, supposedly - to do the Jesus story, and that was enough.

(That was the main problem I had with Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: they had to make it into a trilogy, whereas the story could have fitted in the space of a single movie or two - which is what they originally planned to do. I mean the last part was good, but they had to pad out the length by devoting about more than half of that running time to just the Battle of the Five Armies. 🤷)
 
patrick457 said:
That’s a neat idea.

Although, if you’re gonna ask me, I prefer the thing be kept within the bounds of a single season, i.e. around twelve to fourteen episodes at the most, because IMHO you can only pad the story so much before you become derailed and long-winded. I think that’s more than enough to cover the story of Jesus - at least, if you’re going to use only the gospels. I mean, Jesus of Nazareth (in its fullest length) had more than six hours - four to five episodes, supposedly - to do the Jesus story, and that was enough.

(That was the main problem I had with Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: they had to make it into a trilogy, whereas the story could have fitted in the space of a single movie or two - which is what they originally planned to do. I mean the last part was good, but they had to pad out the length by devoting about more than half of that running time to just the Battle of the Five Armies. 🤷)
Click to expand...
Just saying, Jesus’ ministry lasted 3 years. It is my judgement that we could have maybe three seasons instead of just one. One season would probably cut out too much.
 
JB_Brother_4446 said:
Just saying, Jesus’ ministry lasted 3 years. It is my judgement that we could have maybe three seasons instead of just one. One season would probably cut out too much.
Click to expand...
IMHO, not necessarily.

Again, this is just my opinion, but film kind of works differently than real life.

Even if Jesus’ ministry lasted for two or three or three-and-a-half years or ten or whenever, I don’t think we have enough material at our disposal to do three seasons’ worth of episodes. (Assuming that we’re talking of a length of thirty minutes to an hour per episode.) Even if we combine all the pericopes in all four gospels and never cut out anything (including all those long discourses by the Johannine Jesus), three full seasons would still be too long. I’m just guessing off the top of my head, but I don’t think the filmed result would go beyond ten hours, twelve at the most.

As mentioned,* Jesus of Nazareth* managed to stuff in as many ‘filmable’ - as in, those incidents that are adaptable and do work on film - incidents as it could within six hours. While it did omit a number of incidents, it included more than most other Jesus films made before or since - and a segment of those six hours are even original additions. Its only rival would be the so-called series from the 1950sThe Living Christ (which roughly has the same total running time: six hours), and even that managed to stuff in many of the ‘filmable’ material from the gospels within twelve, thirty-minute episodes’ worth (without adding in original segments and expansions to the story to the extent that Jesus of Nazareth did).

That is, unless, you’re trying to do a sort of full life of Jesus, covering all the years of His life including those parts the New Testament does not talk about - His ‘hidden years’ and such.

It kind of reminds me of those Indian ‘mythologicals’ (TV series based on Hindu mythology) like the 2008 Ramayan: that one ran for 300 twenty-minute episodes, and in a way, it really kind of dragged. The creators padded out the length of the series by introducing ‘original’ material and devoting around tens of episodes to just a single event, so it took around two episodes or ten for the resolution to an incident to happen: it wasn’t odd for a single episode to be mostly just small bits of dialogue and then people staring at each other / closeups of peoples’ faces, showing their emotions, or - during the battle scenes - for the combatants to just shoot arrows and hurl divine weapons at each other and dodge the opponent’s attack in the meantime. (Of course, you have to remember that Indian filmmaking is different from the Western one: Indian mythologicals usually have a tendency to dwell on and milk a given scene for as long as possible. You might notice in the clip that the action is also accompanied by a song describing and commenting on the action or the inner thoughts and motives of the characters - a convention from traditional theatre.)
 
I will actually make James son of Alphaeus a different person from James the brother of Jesus.
Eliza10 don’t get mad at me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top