Writer Walon Green explains adapting ‘Killing Jesus,’ decisions and goals

National Geographic drops their new film Killing Jesus, based on the book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, on Sunday at 8pm. The film’s writer Walon Green spoke with Dispatch Radio about the film, making decisions on the scope, perspective and historical content.

“It’s sort of a behind-the-scenes view of the life of Jesus,” Green explains on how the film focuses more on the hisotrical elements, how political and religious leaders viewed Him as a “menace.”

Haaz Sleiman as Jesus of Nazareth in National Geographic Channel’s Killing Jesus.

(photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Kent Eanes)

Void of the miracles and mainstream theology, Killing Jesus sets apart a different “thrust from the book” on history, says Green, contrasting the film with Son of God, but does highlight the “miraculous thing of someone coming from something so small, and such a level of humility and humbleness of his beginnings and becoming… the great linchpin or hinge of western history…”

Haaz Sleiman plays Jesus with True Blood’s Stephen Moyer starring as Pontious Pilate and Rufus Sewell as the Jewish high priest Caiaphas. Listen to the full Dispatch interview with Haaz, here

Green is candid about some of the choices of inclusion and exclusion from the well known Biblical narrative and defends these decisions: “…the more we understand about the world Jesus came into and we understand about the struggle, his human struggle, to become what he became and the more we can link into the courage of this person…the man who makes the statement of love and love thy enemy…a story of heroism and immense courage, even for the non-religious…”

Green’s analysis really gives fans insight into the creative process, how hard adapting this rigorous book into the film. “Let’s show pieces people don’t know,” he says, referring to the Sanheddrin, Roman political struggle, John the Baptist and much, much more.

Check out the full interview below.

Visit the official page for film at Nat Geo: http://killingjesus.nationalgeographic.com/

Read the full review of Killing Jesus by Brandon Jones here

Visit the full INTERVIEW PAGE HERE: dispatchinterviews.com

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