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Hollywood Insight 03/12/15

On Location: Sights and Soundbites from the Set of "Killing Jesus"

The crunch of Moroccan dirt and rocks under my new boots was the only sound I dare make as I walked toward the set of National Geographic’s Killing Jesus. Stepping into the courtyard of the production design team’s recreation of the temple in the time of King Herod, my eyes surveyed every detail from the cream-colored stones holding up each wall to the costumes adorning the local extras milling about as they waited for the next take.

On the outskirts of Ouarzazate, a popular filming town in Morocco with big projects on its resume (incl. The Nativity Story, Gladiator, and Kingdom of Heaven), fellow journalists and I were welcomed to the set of Ridley Scott’s new TV project based on Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard’s best-selling book with the same name.

Ushered over to a shaded corner of the temple set, we sat just in time for the cast and crew to film a group walking shot. Small monitors set up in front of our seats showed us what the camera would soon capture once the actors entered the scene.

Across the courtyard, they appeared. Dressed in the finest robes, John Rhys-Davies and Rufus Sewell, as High Priests Annas and Caiaphas, and Kelsey Grammer and Eoin Macken, as King Herod and his son, Herod Antipas, walked tall among the extras, up the steps and through the upper courtyard toward to the temple’s impressive doors. A yell of “cut” called them back to the their places to do it again…and again…and again. This first introduction to Killing Jesus confirmed that this series was being crafted with care.

Hot from the Moroccan sun and the weight of heavy costumes, Rhys-Davies, Grammer and Sewell retreated between takes to the shade we were enjoying. From then on, all signs pointed to this set visit being one of the most accessible I’d ever experience. Over the next few days, we watched Bible stories unfold before us and sat down with the cast and crew to get their take on Jesus.

“In the end, you come back to this most extraordinary story,” says Rhys-Davies. “It’s so implausible. It’s so unlikely. It has changed the world so much for the better, sometimes the worst. And yet many of us are really like Thomas, ‘Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.’”

In-depth coverage from my visit to the set of Killing Jesus will be posted in the coming weeks as we count down to its premiere on Palm Sunday, March 29, at 8 p.m. on National Geographic.

For now, I’ll leave you with a story Grammer, a professed Christian, shared about his first moments on the set of Killing Jesus.

“A lot of the gals who are producing the show are Jewish. And when I first arrived, they told me, ‘we just shot the Sermon on the Mount scene. Oh, It was so moving!’ (So I said,) ‘Well, imagine what it must have been like the first time!’ (Laughs) ‘Oh, oh, yeah!’”

More stories from the set and a review of the three-hour television event are coming soon to CBN.com. Stay tuned!

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