Check out New Biblical movie ‘Risen’

Biblical movie ‘Risen’ isn’t only for the spiritual, says actor Joseph Fiennes

When Joseph Fiennes goes into a church, he's "overwhelmed" by the potent and concentrated atmosphere of spirituality. He had a similar feeling, he said, when shooting scenes of Risen that involved Jesus. "You feel like this material is powerful," he says of filming process, "and one enters with great respect towards it. Whether you're religious or not, when you see a man strung up, dripping with blood on a cross, if you have one aspect of humanity you can't help but be arrested by that.

Our film centers around those sorts of images a huge deal, so it is emotional and arresting." Fiennes, who has portrayed major characters like Martin Luther, William Shakespeare and Merlin, stars in Risen as Clavius, a Roman soldier present for the crucifixion of Jesus. When Christ's tomb is found empty three days later, Clavius is put in charge of the investigation to find the body -- and those responsible for stealing it. Aside from the pedigree of the film's director, Kevin Reynolds, it was this twist on the well-known Jesus story that Fiennes found compelling.

Everyone knows the details of the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, he says, and dealing with that subject matter alone is a challenge. "But what I loved was the angle from which we come to that story which is dear to so many," he said. They approach the events through the eyes of a skeptic. "Although [Clavius is] a fictional character, nevertheless we know that a high-ranking official must have been there [at the crucifixion]. What gave the film momentum, to me, was the detective story. As the events unfold, Clavius' conditioning begins to falter, and I love that aspect."

Fiennes took his research for the role seriously, spending time both in a gladiator school and with a detective in order to get the different aspects of Clavius right. "The film is structured as a number of interrogations towards Jesus' followers," he says, "and I thought that honestly I wouldn't know how to interrogate anyone. I'm not very good even with my kids when they're naughty. So I thought, 'I'm going to ask a detective.' So I worked with this gentleman, and that gave me a great insight into Clavius." He knows, though, that Christian films are often polarizing. They tend to be deemed either "too much like Sunday School" or not true enough to Biblical text. But Fiennes thinks Risen avoids those problems, and he hopes it means a wide variety of people will see the film... see full post HERE
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check out new book Risen: The Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ HERE