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CNN Live Sunday
Film Faithful to Biblical Telling of Christ's Life
Aired November 16, 2003 - 10:40 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There in the temple, he found people selling cattle, sheep and pigeons. And also the moneychangers, sitting at their tables.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: The life and death of Jesus Christ is playing on select movie screens across the country.
And before there's any confusion, we're not talking about the film backed by Mel Gibson, you know it is "Passion."
This one is called "The Gospel of John," and it's in English. It is lifted word for word from scripture.
The film's producer, Gus Drabinsky, comes to us now, live from Toronto this morning.
Thanks for being with us.
GUS DRABINSKY, "THE GOSPEL OF JOHN" PRODUCER: Good morning.
COLLINS: I want to ask you, what gave you the idea to do something word for word like this?
DRABINSKY: Well, it is -- I was approached by the company that owned an exclusive license from the American Bible Society to do word for word adaptations of both the Old and the New Testament.
And when they came to me, the first thing I said, "Look, if we're going to go through these very complex waters, I want the advice of a group of scholars of theology and religion to guide us."
COLLINS: But is it possible then, Mr. Drabinsky, if you needed someone to guide you, are you really trying to do it word for word? Is that something that's even possible to do, in fact?
DRABINSKY: Well, in fact, we did do it. And that is a demand of the license specifically.
The issue was, which one of the books of the Bible to begin the project with. And so the unanimous recommendation of this group was to proceed with The Gospel of John.
COLLINS: All right. Let's go ahead and take just a moment to listen in to another clip of the movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Early the next morning they went back to the temple. All the people gathered around him, and he sat down and began to teach them.
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teacher! This woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In our law, Moses commands...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Your company, Mr. Drabinsky, plans to do more word for word biblical films. I want to know what you think about the audience and who is looking forward to these types of films? Are people wanting this?
DRABINSKY: Well, there's no question that there's a fantastic response so far from the limited theatrical release that we've had. And it's leaving an enormous emotional impact on the audience.
Whether they're going to the leader for spirituality reasons or for education or for pure entertainment, the fact is that the film is working and is receiving a significant body of very positive reviews, both from the secular as well as the religious reviewers.
COLLINS: As we mentioned a little bit earlier, Mel Gibson's film "Passion" is also based on the gospels and has drawn quite a bit of criticism from Jewish scholars.
Now, you're Jewish. Tell us a little bit about what it was like dealing with Christian subject matter like this?
DRABINSKY: Well, obviously, one needed to deal with it with great sensitivity and reverence, given the majesty and the importance of this piece of literature to mankind.
But I believe that it was a very important involvement for us, because I think the film is going to contribute to a greater level of enlightenment and understanding between people of both faiths, both of the Judaic and the Christian faith, in trying to understand the origins of Christianity and where the departure came from, from an initially monotheistic belief, from a Judaic perspective, and as we saw the emergence of the church towards the beginning of the Second Century after the death of Christ.
COLLINS: What was the most challenging part of this production for you, now looking back on the project?
DRABINSKY: Well, obviously casting was very, very difficult. And we decided early on that what we were going to do was to bring our acting constituency from the theater, because of the demands of the text, which is quite Shakespearian in terms of proportion.
And another aspect was the attempt to create, in a meticulous way, the environment, the setting, the era and try to achieve the organic sense of that world, as opposed to giving it a Hollywood gloss that has been customarily the situation.
COLLINS: Right. "The Gospel of John" is the name of the film. And we've been talking with Garth Drabinsky, thank so much for being here. Appreciate it.
DRABINSKY: A pleasure. Thanks very much.
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 November 16, 2003 - 10:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There in the temple, he found people selling cattle, sheep and pigeons. And also the moneychangers, sitting at their tables.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: The life and death of Jesus Christ is playing on select movie screens across the country.
And before there's any confusion, we're not talking about the film backed by Mel Gibson, you know it is "Passion."
This one is called "The Gospel of John," and it's in English. It is lifted word for word from scripture.
The film's producer, Gus Drabinsky, comes to us now, live from Toronto this morning.
Thanks for being with us.
GUS DRABINSKY, "THE GOSPEL OF JOHN" PRODUCER: Good morning.
COLLINS: I want to ask you, what gave you the idea to do something word for word like this?
DRABINSKY: Well, it is -- I was approached by the company that owned an exclusive license from the American Bible Society to do word for word adaptations of both the Old and the New Testament.
And when they came to me, the first thing I said, "Look, if we're going to go through these very complex waters, I want the advice of a group of scholars of theology and religion to guide us."
COLLINS: But is it possible then, Mr. Drabinsky, if you needed someone to guide you, are you really trying to do it word for word? Is that something that's even possible to do, in fact?
DRABINSKY: Well, in fact, we did do it. And that is a demand of the license specifically.
The issue was, which one of the books of the Bible to begin the project with. And so the unanimous recommendation of this group was to proceed with The Gospel of John.
COLLINS: All right. Let's go ahead and take just a moment to listen in to another clip of the movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Early the next morning they went back to the temple. All the people gathered around him, and he sat down and began to teach them.
The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teacher! This woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In our law, Moses commands...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Your company, Mr. Drabinsky, plans to do more word for word biblical films. I want to know what you think about the audience and who is looking forward to these types of films? Are people wanting this?
DRABINSKY: Well, there's no question that there's a fantastic response so far from the limited theatrical release that we've had. And it's leaving an enormous emotional impact on the audience.
Whether they're going to the leader for spirituality reasons or for education or for pure entertainment, the fact is that the film is working and is receiving a significant body of very positive reviews, both from the secular as well as the religious reviewers.
COLLINS: As we mentioned a little bit earlier, Mel Gibson's film "Passion" is also based on the gospels and has drawn quite a bit of criticism from Jewish scholars.
Now, you're Jewish. Tell us a little bit about what it was like dealing with Christian subject matter like this?
DRABINSKY: Well, obviously, one needed to deal with it with great sensitivity and reverence, given the majesty and the importance of this piece of literature to mankind.
But I believe that it was a very important involvement for us, because I think the film is going to contribute to a greater level of enlightenment and understanding between people of both faiths, both of the Judaic and the Christian faith, in trying to understand the origins of Christianity and where the departure came from, from an initially monotheistic belief, from a Judaic perspective, and as we saw the emergence of the church towards the beginning of the Second Century after the death of Christ.
COLLINS: What was the most challenging part of this production for you, now looking back on the project?
DRABINSKY: Well, obviously casting was very, very difficult. And we decided early on that what we were going to do was to bring our acting constituency from the theater, because of the demands of the text, which is quite Shakespearian in terms of proportion.
And another aspect was the attempt to create, in a meticulous way, the environment, the setting, the era and try to achieve the organic sense of that world, as opposed to giving it a Hollywood gloss that has been customarily the situation.
COLLINS: Right. "The Gospel of John" is the name of the film. And we've been talking with Garth Drabinsky, thank so much for being here. Appreciate it.
DRABINSKY: A pleasure. Thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
