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CNN Live Today

Passion About 'Passion'

Aired February 17, 2004 - 11:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More on the marketing of "The Passion" now. Raymond Arroyo is news director for the Eternal Word Television Network. He joins us in New Orleans this morning.
Mr. Arroyo, good morning, and thanks for being with us.

RAYMOND ARROYO, NEWS DIRECTOR, ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK: Good morning, Daryn. Thank you.

KAGAN: As I understand it, you had a chance not only to visit the set of this movie as it was being made, but to interview Mel Gibson on a couple of different opportunities.

ARROYO: Right. I interviewed him first in March of -- what was it -- last year, and then again in November of last year. We did an interview -- an extensive interview at his home, and it was fascinating to watch the development of this man, first in Rome and then to see him reflecting in the editing process in this film after all of the scorn and criticism had come in. And he was a changed man by the second interview, I think.

KAGAN: How so? What kind of changes did you see?

ARROYO: I think he was very reflective. Mel Gibson, you know, as far as celebrities go -- and, you know, we've both interviewed a fair number of them -- basically, and maybe I'm over-generalizing here, they're not the brightest bulbs in the machinery. This fellow is extremely philosophical, much deeper than one would take from his on-screen persona, you know, the Mad Max and the gun slinger.

And so, I found a very reflective, deep, interesting man here, who was struggling and mystified in some ways by the criticism that had come in for what was to him a deeply personal pet project. He told me, you know, this is my most personal film. You know, it's what I believe. So...

KAGAN: Well, he put his own money behind it. Let me ask you this. Have you seen the movie?

ARROYO: I have. I've seen it a few times.

KAGAN: So, you're a step away from it. Can you understand some of the flurry that has built up around the film?

ARROYO: I do and I don't. I can understand there was -- you know, when that script was taken, what Icon claims was a stolen script, and analyzed before anything had been edited or even film had been developed, they were criticizing this early draft of the film. That fueled and sparked a lot of this. And it was a guy in the Bishops Conference from Washington, D.C. who distributed this script and convened this ad hoc committee of Jewish and Catholic scholars.

But I must tell you, by and large, they are in adherence to something called the historical critical method, which separates the divine Jesus from the human Jesus. It's really -- this is an inside (UNINTELLIGIBLE) theological dispute more than about this film. So, I think that has erupted on to the headlines across the world and on to papers across the world and fueled a lot of this, but it's off the mark, it seems to me.

This is a work of art that should be evaluated as such, and on its face it does comport with the gospels. And I didn't see anything anti-Semitic to my eye, and a lot of Jews who have seen it seem to concur.

KAGAN: Yes. I've been just been fascinated that, you know, how people -- the same people who can see the same movie they come away from it completely different. Some people moved with an incredible religious experience, and some people offended by it more than anything that they have ever seen.

Also, a big discussion, because it is so violent and Mel Gibson saying that it was necessary for that to take place just to get his message across to what he believes that Jesus went through. The discussion of should children see this movie, and I know there are some churches believing that children as young as 11 or 10 years old should see the movie. What do you think?

ARROYO: Well, when I interviewed Mel last year, he said he thought no one under 12 should see it, and even then it should be case-by-case thing. It is a brutal film. It's extremely graphic. And his point was he wanted people to have a visceral reaction and an experience and to see what he believes Christ went through.

And let's face it, after seeing this movie, no man could survive what this God man goes through and survives. Obviously, Gibson is winking at the divinity here. And you see Christ just, you know, laid out, and then he wills himself back up, and that's the point. I think that was the point he was trying to make with the violence.

And there is a lyricism. There is a beauty in moments of this violence. I don't know if that's the right word. But one gets a sense that it's hypnotic. It's never repellent. It's never repellent. So, there is always that sheen of art to it, at least to my eye.

KAGAN: Well, thanks for sharing your eye and your perspective and your interaction with Mel Gibson.

ARROYO: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Appreciate your time today.

ARROYO: Great. Thank you so much. KAGAN: Raymond Arroyo, he's the news director of the Eternal Word Television Network. Thank you.

ARROYO: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired February 17, 2004 - 11:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: More on the marketing of "The Passion" now. Raymond Arroyo is news director for the Eternal Word Television Network. He joins us in New Orleans this morning.
Mr. Arroyo, good morning, and thanks for being with us.

RAYMOND ARROYO, NEWS DIRECTOR, ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK: Good morning, Daryn. Thank you.

KAGAN: As I understand it, you had a chance not only to visit the set of this movie as it was being made, but to interview Mel Gibson on a couple of different opportunities.

ARROYO: Right. I interviewed him first in March of -- what was it -- last year, and then again in November of last year. We did an interview -- an extensive interview at his home, and it was fascinating to watch the development of this man, first in Rome and then to see him reflecting in the editing process in this film after all of the scorn and criticism had come in. And he was a changed man by the second interview, I think.

KAGAN: How so? What kind of changes did you see?

ARROYO: I think he was very reflective. Mel Gibson, you know, as far as celebrities go -- and, you know, we've both interviewed a fair number of them -- basically, and maybe I'm over-generalizing here, they're not the brightest bulbs in the machinery. This fellow is extremely philosophical, much deeper than one would take from his on-screen persona, you know, the Mad Max and the gun slinger.

And so, I found a very reflective, deep, interesting man here, who was struggling and mystified in some ways by the criticism that had come in for what was to him a deeply personal pet project. He told me, you know, this is my most personal film. You know, it's what I believe. So...

KAGAN: Well, he put his own money behind it. Let me ask you this. Have you seen the movie?

ARROYO: I have. I've seen it a few times.

KAGAN: So, you're a step away from it. Can you understand some of the flurry that has built up around the film?

ARROYO: I do and I don't. I can understand there was -- you know, when that script was taken, what Icon claims was a stolen script, and analyzed before anything had been edited or even film had been developed, they were criticizing this early draft of the film. That fueled and sparked a lot of this. And it was a guy in the Bishops Conference from Washington, D.C. who distributed this script and convened this ad hoc committee of Jewish and Catholic scholars.

But I must tell you, by and large, they are in adherence to something called the historical critical method, which separates the divine Jesus from the human Jesus. It's really -- this is an inside (UNINTELLIGIBLE) theological dispute more than about this film. So, I think that has erupted on to the headlines across the world and on to papers across the world and fueled a lot of this, but it's off the mark, it seems to me.

This is a work of art that should be evaluated as such, and on its face it does comport with the gospels. And I didn't see anything anti-Semitic to my eye, and a lot of Jews who have seen it seem to concur.

KAGAN: Yes. I've been just been fascinated that, you know, how people -- the same people who can see the same movie they come away from it completely different. Some people moved with an incredible religious experience, and some people offended by it more than anything that they have ever seen.

Also, a big discussion, because it is so violent and Mel Gibson saying that it was necessary for that to take place just to get his message across to what he believes that Jesus went through. The discussion of should children see this movie, and I know there are some churches believing that children as young as 11 or 10 years old should see the movie. What do you think?

ARROYO: Well, when I interviewed Mel last year, he said he thought no one under 12 should see it, and even then it should be case-by-case thing. It is a brutal film. It's extremely graphic. And his point was he wanted people to have a visceral reaction and an experience and to see what he believes Christ went through.

And let's face it, after seeing this movie, no man could survive what this God man goes through and survives. Obviously, Gibson is winking at the divinity here. And you see Christ just, you know, laid out, and then he wills himself back up, and that's the point. I think that was the point he was trying to make with the violence.

And there is a lyricism. There is a beauty in moments of this violence. I don't know if that's the right word. But one gets a sense that it's hypnotic. It's never repellent. It's never repellent. So, there is always that sheen of art to it, at least to my eye.

KAGAN: Well, thanks for sharing your eye and your perspective and your interaction with Mel Gibson.

ARROYO: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Appreciate your time today.

ARROYO: Great. Thank you so much. KAGAN: Raymond Arroyo, he's the news director of the Eternal Word Television Network. Thank you.

ARROYO: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.