A Muscular Casting Choice for 'Killing Jesus'
OUARZAZATE, MOROCCO — The director of National Geographic Channel's upcoming "Killing Jesus" movie says audiences will not be getting the standard issue "wimpy" Jesus, but instead a "muscular" messiah who is every bit as human as the people who made him famous.
"We wanted to go for a muscular Jesus, someone who was in a way a sort of a rock star in his time," director Chris Menaul told The Christian Post in October during a visit to the set of "Killing Jesus" in the rocky plains of Ouarzazate, a city dubbed the "Hollywood of Morocco."
Menaul, known for Fatherland and The Passion of Ayn Rand, noted that news of Jesus' miracles traveled word of mouth, and that every time he entered a village "it was a huge event."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
He used the shooting of Jesus' Triumphal Entry as an example, saying he was "very pleased with the entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday when he went on the donkey colt to fulfill the prophecy" recorded in the Old Testament Book of Zechariah.
"That's what we've gone for, a muscular Jesus with a lot of energy," Menaul added.
