Antonio Gaudí designed the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona as an expiatory temple that would be built with alms and donations and would explain the life of Jesus. The filmmaker Dallas Jenkins has built the series The Chosen with the same philosophy that the Catalan architect used for his star project.
“The series, which narrates the life of Christ from the point of view of the people who knew him, is free for everyone and if the viewer likes it, they can pay to continue shooting it,” explain Amber Williams, Noah James and Elizabeth Tabish, three of the actors from The Chosen on their way through the Seminci in Valladolid.
The crowdfunding campaign to get the recordings off the ground worked better than Jenkins had ever dreamed of. The Chosen, which now comes in a Spanish version through Acontra, has already raised 40 million dollars and is in its third season.
“We started shooting in Texas and then in Utah, now a set has been built, also in Texas, to recreate the towns of Judea in the first century with maximum fidelity even in the interiors of the houses. In addition, the place is ideal for shoot the exteriors through the fields and the radiant sun”, explains James who plays the fisherman Andrew, the first apostle of Jesus.
“The team has carried out a rigorous historical investigation that has included details such as the fabrics of the time, which have been recovered in the design of the costumes, including those worn by the extras, in the decoration of the houses or in the utensils of the moment”, adds Williams, who plays Tamar and who does not hesitate to boast: “my wardrobe is the best of all”.
And it is that Tamar “is an Ethiopian woman, the only gentile, who in principle is not part of the group of followers of Jesus. But she witnesses one of his miracles, the healing of a paralytic, and although she is not Jewish and does not wait for the messiah, she does realize that Jesus is someone special and becomes one of his companions,” she adds.
For Tabish, who plays María Magdalena, getting the role changed her life, because “before entering the series I had depression and I was very bad, but when I started playing the character, in the sixth chapter of the first season , I felt renewed and my hope in human beings was also reborn,” she says.
For James and Williams, the experience has not been as cathartic, but it has been very rewarding. James indicates that “I am Jewish, but I have been fascinated by the message of Christ and playing Andrew has served as a learning experience for me.” And Willians concludes that “the human level of the series is so high that you don’t have to be a Christian to get hooked.”
