Producers Roma Downey & Mark Burnett Interview – Son of God Movie
After screening the movie Son of God I was able to sit down with producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett to conduct an interview. First I must say their passion for sharing the story of Jesus’s life on the big screen was phenomenal. It was a true pleasure to be surrounded by their energetic faith in Christ.
Roma Downey said “As soon as I saw the intimate scenes shot for The Bible that showed some of the life of Jesus that it was epic“. The crew spent six months in Morocco filming The Bible mini series for television which was more than enough time so they decided to add extra scenes for telling the life of Jesus to their filming. Mark Burnett stated “What was the worse that could happen? We end up with a mini movie that no one wants and we pay for a couple of theaters ourselves to show it?” The husband and wife duo knew right away that what they were filming was really, really, good and deserved to be on the big screen. The original plan was to finish the movie with the budget they already had from making The Bible mini series and host a one night event to see how it went. After sending it around to some friends and receiving wonderful feedback 20th Century Fox agreed in October to do a major production and release it in February 2014.
“We could have never dared to dream Son of God movie would be this big. 20th Century Fox is distributing it in over 3,000 theaters and they also created a Spanish version.” ~ Roma Downey
Fun Fact: most things start on the big screen and end up on the small screen – Son of God started on the small screen and ended up on the big screen.
How long ago did you start pushing for The Bible mini series? I find it very interesting that since that came out last year and now with Son of God coming out this year there is a whole plethora of popular Christian films coming out like Heaven is for Real and Noah. Were maybe you the catalyst?
The Bible series came out last Easter {2013} and the ratings were astonishing so maybe the better word would be we energized the projects. 100 million people in America watched The Bible series and we beat hockey in Canada so it must have been encouraging to other Christian films. But no doubt they would have had to have started their projects before in order to be releasing this year. For a movie like Noah to come out in March 2014 they must have been working on it for two years. For them to have heard we were making The Bible series would not have made them want to make a movie without knowing how our ratings would turn out. Their projects would have been well under way by the time that news hit. Certainly our numbers got everyone’s attention and hopefully I am encouraged that there are a number of other programs that will appeal to our audience in the pipeline. We as Christians have been under served in the past and it would be great if Hollywood would pay attention and start bringing us more films including the stories we want to see.
“As Christians we are known to speak out against things… but I want us to also be known for what we speak out FOR and what we are all for despite of the different denominations is our love for Jesus.” ~ Roma Downey
What happened to the temptation? What happened to the devil? How did you decide to not include that part in Son of God?
We had some scenes in The Bible mini series that the devil was in and somebody made a poor joke that the actor we cast resembled our President and it created such an uproar. I was sure that we would wake up the next morning after Jesus had first come on screen with everyone discussing Jesus and instead we woke up with everyone discussing Satan. It became such a distraction that we knew we didn’t want that distraction in Son of God. This story is about Jesus and it is Jesus’s name that we want on everyone’s lips. So we cast Satan out and he is on the cutting room floor, where he belongs actually.
What else is on the cutting room floor?
There is so much more on the cutting room floor. We had maybe 20 versions of this movie at one time with all the extra footage. As you start constructing your material there are a number of ways it could go. We only had two hours to bring the fullest story of the most important life to the screen. For those of us that know the gospels we probably watch Son of God thinking ‘oh, man I wish I could have seen this or that‘ but remember there are many people that will come to see Son of God that do not know the gospels at all and we were hoping for a movie that would be invitational where you leave starting a conversation. A movie that leads you to gather around your kitchen table or break room table at work discussing Jesus’s life with others. It can be hard to ask somebody to go to church with you but it is very easy to ask someone to go to the movies with you.
On set were there any significant events that you felt filming Son of God or The Bible mini series changed someone’s life?
The filming of the crucifixion was very emotional and spiritually changing for many of us that were up on top of the hill that morning. It was the most challenging of all of our scenes to film from a physical and emotional stand point. It took us three days to film that sequence. We had a man that his sole job was to clear away snakes in Morocco. On any given day he would maybe clear away one or two snakes. The day before the crucifixion sequence was to be shot we asked everyone – crew, friends and family – to pray that we were able to portray the scene accurately on the screen and that everything would go smoothly. The morning we got to the filming site that same man had a cloth sack on the side of the road that was moving side to side on its own where he had collected over forty snakes from around the base of the cross. We look at the symbolism of the snakes trying to prevent us from being at the foot of the cross for Jesus.
When I decided to step into the role as Mary, the mother of Jesus, I had never imagined what it would be like. I have loved Jesus all of my life but had never tried to put myself in the shoes of his mother and what it would be like to watch my son crucified. Standing at the foot of the cross to see her son nailed to a wooden cross and murdered… We all know Mary is the mother of Jesus but we must also remember she is the mother of her son. Not only God’s son. We know that Jesus only said seven things from the cross yet he took time to acknowledge his mother and love his mother – think about what that says about him? Bringing the humanity to this story changed me.
Cast and crew were profoundly moved during filming that scene. It was very humbling to be reminded the love Jesus has for each of us.
Son of God releases in theaters across America on Friday, February 28, 2014. Do you plan to see it?