What you didn’t know about Jesus of Nazareth film

CONSTANTINOS PSILLIDES takes a closer look at an Easter classic

Jesus of Nazareth, the 1977 British-Italian epic TV series directed by Franco Jefirelli about the life and death of Jesus Christ, is probably one of the best-known series among Christians. The sprawling epic has been broadcast on Cyprus TV every year during Easter week for over 30 years. Watching the series every night during Easter week is like a tradition, just something you are supposed to be doing, like going to church or paying taxes.

Here are seven things you probably didn’t know about Jesus of Nazareth! Dust off your Aramaic and don your shawls, we are going on an adventure!

The secret to Jesus’ stare? Eyeliner

Even if you haven’t seen the TV series, you must have seen one of the countless posters, pictures or even memes showing the now-famous ‘Jesus Stare’. Haunting, gripping, tortured Robert Powell nailed the look and every time he looked into the camera I thought he was looking directly into my soul.

The secret to that effect? Eyeliner and clever makeup. The eye makeup for Powell consisted of a thin line of dark blue eyeliner on the upper lid and a thin line of white eyeliner on the lower lid. This had the effect of highlighting the piercing blue of his eyes, thus giving him a penetrating stare.

According to IMDB, because Powell looked so much like Jesus in pictures, every time he exited his dressing room in costume, the foul language the crew was using would suddenly stop.

Any given (Easter) Sunday!

As is the case with many iconic roles, Powell was not the director’s original choice. In the early stages of production, Zeffirelli was seriously considering either Dustin Hoffman or Al Pacino. Powell was still considered as a casting option but for the role of Judas. Which ended up going to Ian McShane.

The idea to cast Powell originated from executive producer Sir Lew Grade’s wife, Kathie Moody, who told her husband the actor had “wonderful blue eyes” after watching him perform in Jude the Obscure.

He is not the Messiah!

When the series was first shown, it was an instant success. It was critically acclaimed, highly praised and inescapable if you owned a TV in a predominantly Christian country. The cast of Monty Python later went on to shoot another legendary film depicting the life of Christ, sort of. The Life of Brian is now a cult classic and shares a lot with Zeffirelli’s epic: Both have a similar plot, some of the same sets were later re-used, and in particular, the scene with Michael York as John the Baptist declaring he’s not the Messiah, is part inspiration for the famous scene ‘He is not the Messiah, he is he’s a very naughty boy’.

Blink 002

Scarcely do any of the actors depicting Jesus blink their eyes throughout the movie. This decision, made by Zeffirelli, serves to establish a subtle aura of mystique surrounding the character. It sets Jesus apart from the other characters, a choice that proves hauntingly impactful. Interestingly, the young Jesus blinks twice in the Temple scene, while the adult Jesus blinks only once on screen.

The Virgin Virgin Mary

Zeffirelli had planned to cast Irene Papas as Mary with an unknown Tunisian girl to be assigned the character’s scenes as a younger woman. After it occurred to Zeffirelli that Olivia Hussey, the star of his Romeo and Juliet (1968), would make a convincing Mary throughout the series, he personally phoned Hussey, saying: “Darling how would you like to be a virgin again?”

The Crucifixion was cheesy. Literally.

When Powell was preparing for the role, he went on an extreme diet, so that he would look gaunt and emaciated during the crucifixion scenes. To drop weight quickly, he decided to forego all food and restrict his diet solely to cheese.

Jesus of Nazareth has no sound

The filming of the project took place mainly in Tunisia, where local regulations required hiring locals as background actors. However, many of these locals didn’t speak English. Despite this challenge, Zeffirelli proceeded to film numerous crowd scenes without live sound, opting to add it in post-production.

Interestingly, it wasn’t just the extras who underwent dubbing. Lorenzo Monet, the actor portraying the child Jesus in the temple, faced a similar fate. Being Italian, Monet struggled with delivering prayers in Hebrew, resorting to mumbling them during filming. Consequently, Zeffirelli replaced his dialogue with a dubbed English version.

Moreover, even Powell experienced occasional dubbing. In a scene where Pilate questions Jesus about being a king, we hear Jesus affirming, ‘Yes’, while his mouth movements indicate otherwise.