See all posts on this filmI've already written a couple of posts about the BBC's planned Easter drama The Passion which is due to air in Holy Week 2008. Earlier today I stumbled across an MP3 of an hour long interview with the producer of this series Nigel Stafford-Clark, which was recorded just a few weeks ago at the 2007 Churches Media Conference.
Pleasingly the interviewer is incredibly disciplined and just lets Stafford-Clark (Bleak House) talk, and, as a result, Stafford Clark's very forthcoming. Sadly he's unable to reveal the identity of the actor chosen to play Jesus, but otherwise even I am left with very few questions at this stage.
The series is due to run as six half-hour episodes airing nightly in Holy Week. Stafford-Clark is passionate about locating the story in its correct historical context (I picked up a few things along the way) and seems keen to avoid any kind of anti-Semitism. And whilst some well-known actors will be involved they will tend to play those characters who were well known at the time (like Caiaphas and Pilate) rather than Jesus and his disciples.
All of which sounds fascinating, particularly as filming doesn't start until August. It's meant to be a two month shoot in Morocco. Coincidentally, I'm going on holiday there in October, so hopefully I'll be able to catch some of the buzz from the end of filming.
Hey Matt, how'd you choose Morocco for your vacation? Is it because so many Bible movies have been filmed there? :)
ReplyDeleteHi Peter
ReplyDeleteActually that was largely irrelevant (although quite an added bonus). Basically Mel has taken Arts Teams out there several times, but I've never gone (being spectacularly unartistic). But the woman who runs the projects that they've worked on out there invited us over to stay with her, we got cheap flights (50p!) and decided to go for it. I have no idea where they'll be filming, so it's just a day dream at this point in time, but I will be trying to find out nearer the time if there is a possibility. I know Kingdom of Heaven was shot somewhere near where we're staying because they were filming it during one of Mel's previous visits.
By the way, I should add that the link above is not to an MP3, just a live listen thing.
Matt
Hi Matt
ReplyDeleteMy names Lewis, I was lucky enough to be one of the disciples in the TV show The Passion. You will no doubt have seen th advertisements for the show now, but in case you still have any unanswered questions, there is a webpage for it on:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thepassion/
It was filmed in Ouarzazate.. you may even have visited.. and you were right, it is next to The Kingdom of Heaven set.
The show was a joy to film and I think/hope you will be pleased with the finished version.
All the best mate
Lewis Clay
(Thomas)
Hi Lewis,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Were you at the première?
Looking forward to seeing your performance in this, particularly given what I've heard about the last episode.
All the best
Matt
When i try to contact you all i get is an error page:
ReplyDeleteFatal error: Call to a member function appendSegment() on a non-object in /var/www/vhosts/worthers.com/cm/includes/xml.inc.php on line 5