Religion Unplugged‘s Bobby Ross, Jr. sat down with The Chosen‘s creator, Dallas Jenkins, and offers these tidbits about what’s to come in the next season of the series:
On how “The Chosen’s” portrayal of the Crucifixion will compare with that of “The Passion of the Christ”
“There are two ways that I think we’re going to be different.
“Number one, we have more tools in our toolbelt than Mel Gibson did, by the fact that we have five seasons leading up to this. So he was using a lot of violence and visual intensity to try to capture the reality of the Crucifixion and the weight of the Crucifixion. But it was a movie, so he only had a limited amount of time.
“So we don’t need to do that to communicate just how visceral and intense a crucifixion was. Because for many people, just a simple reaction from one of Jesus’ closest friends is going to break us because we’ve known these characters for so long. So, it has more emotional weight because of the backstories that we’ve had for over five years.
“The second thing is, it’s not going to be quite as explicitly violent. Mel did it already. I don’t feel like I have anything new to add to the physicality of it. We’ve seen dozens of portrayals. Mel’s was the most violent. I think we’ve got an idea of what that looks like.
“I think for this storytelling that we’re doing, we’re trying to tell a story not just of the Crucifixion but of the history of humanity. This movie is going to cover and remind you of the history from the creation of the universe all the way to the Crucifixion — to help establish the need for the Crucifixion.
“So we’re coming at it, I think, from a little bit more of an emotional journey and a spiritual journey than a physical one.”
On why Jenkins — nonetheless — expects that journey to make a powerful impact
“As we were filming it, we couldn’t get through the days without taking turns having some sort of emotional breakdown. I had my first experience on set where I couldn’t get myself together emotionally.
“I can’t predict how everyone’s going to react. But for us — and for what I believe we’re capturing and the story that we’re telling and the truths of the Crucifixion — I think it’s going to be easily the most emotional impact our show has ever had.”
