Joseph Fiennes talks ‘Risen’
Shakespeare in Love star Joseph Fiennes is headlining the new faith-based film, Risen, centering on a Roman soldier investigating the disappearance of Jesus Christ’s body which has mysteriously vanished from a sealed tomb. Fiennes spoke with Christianity Today in a newly published interview, beginning with how he joined the film.
Joseph Fiennes in “Risen”
“I met with our director, Kevin [Reynolds]. He is extremely intelligent—I loved his films and identify a lot with them. He had established a pretty brilliant pitch, which was really getting into the story of Christ through the eyes of an agnostic. I thought that was a brilliant, original approach. It also appealed to me that it was like a detective story as well. There’s this ticking clock to prove that the resurrection is a hoax and designed to bring about the uprising. Clavius is against it, and I love that sense of pressure….”
Fiennes talks about his fictional character, a Roman Centurion named Clavius, and how he had to attend gladiator school.
“I went to gladiator school of my own volition. I went to Rome. (Kindly, the production paid for me to get beaten up by some professional gladiators showing how it used to be done.) I worked with a wonderful guy called Darius and he basically showed me what the Roman soldiers would have learned from the gladiators, because a lot of their techniques were very brutal, but with a sort of economy and precision. The physicality gave me an insight into the mindset, which was very economical…The Roman Empire was a machine, and it could only become an empire because it was a machine. So they were all amazing cogs in this very unique piece of machinery. It got me thinking into the mind-frame and the culture and the mental and physical preparation that those beings would’ve gone through. It was hugely beneficial.”
The extensive interview can be found at the link and is highly recommended reading — click HERE
Risen also stars Tom Felton (HARRY POTTER), Peter Firth (THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, MI-5), and Cliff Curtis (Fear the Walking Dead).
Risen arrives in theaters on February 19, 2016
