The Sermon on the Mount - The Real Jesus of Nazareth

Actor Robert Powell, star of the TV miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth," is on a journey across the Holy Land to discover the real story of the role he played decades ago. Guided by the Gospels and the latest archaeological and historical research, Powell will travel to Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. With the help of scholars and theologians, he will examine Jesus's lost adolescent years, the start and growth of his ministry, and his death and believed resurrection, which would spark the birth of one of the largest religions on the planet.

In 1977, British actor Robert Powell was cast as Jesus for Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth. Acting alongside Hollywood greats, like Anne Bancroft, Christopher Plummer and James Mason, Powell gave the performance of his life. The series was a huge success and was watched by millions of people worldwide. Even the Pope watched it, loving it so much he officially endorsed it, quite the review.

Forty years later and Powell returns to the character in Robert Powell on the Real Jesus of Nazareth. The four-part series follows the actor as he travels through the Holy Land exploring the life of Jesus Christ, asking questions and challenging the perceptions we have. We caught up with the actor to find out more.
"It's been very different returning to the story of Jesus because I was returning in a completely different way. This was one of the reasons I wanted to do the series. Originally, forty years ago, I was avoiding Jesus completely. Franco Zeffirelli and I originally thought that we could combine the divine Christ with the human one and that we would be able to show the human side of him, but we discovered that it was just not possible.
You go as an actor and work subjectively but the moment you start to try and play him as a real person you lose the divinity completely. With this story, the most important element that this character has to be is extraordinary. So from that moment on, I played it objectively without any recourse to giving him any particular idiosyncrasies, quite deliberately avoiding the normal human things. To try and play a god and get the idea of it is a shortcut to a nervous breakdown. So, I backed off completely. I found a way of doing it that was counter to the actor's normal approach.

[pcuser]

All I remember is that I was very much moved to tears. Thank You. I wrote a letter to say that I was grateful to see something so real for a change.

[bonnieuk]

I can distinctly remember the moment I saw Robert Powell as Jesus on ITV, Sunday night 7pm, in about 1974 he took my breath away, I was about 16 years old, and briefly for a moment, I actually believed it was Jesus Christ himself. An incredible performance. I am now an atheist.

[canuck-whrm]

Keep up what you are doing; it matters.