Using the Dark Side to Spread the Light

Judas, an ABC Movie that premieres March 8, 2004, 9 p.m. ET, is a very unconventional look at the life of Jesus through the eyes of one of history's great antagonists. The television movie was executive-produced by multi-Emmy Award-winning writer-producer Tom Fontana (Homicide: Life on the Streets, Oz), who also wrote the screenplay; directed by Charles Carner (Crossfire Trail) and produced by Ann Wingate.

Judas is an accomplishment for several reasons: The unique perspective on Jesus' life and death; the sets, costumes, and makeup reflect the grittiness of the times; and the esthetic parallels — especially between the death of Christ on a tree and the death of Judas from a tree — developed something I knew, but never recognized.

I had the chance to talk recently with Carner about Judas. Here are excerpts of our conversation.

WILLIAMS: You shot this long before Mel Gibson shot The Passion.

CARNER: We shot it in the summer of 2001, actually. At the time we were completely unaware that Mel Gibson was contemplating doing The Passion and obviously his film went into production after we completed our film. But the timing turned out to be fortuitous in the sense that now that The Passion is being released, and has gotten so much attention in the press, and has raised awareness in the minds of the audience, ABC considered it an opportune moment to put our show on and take advantage of the heightened awareness.

WILLIAMS: This is an unconventional story about Jesus. The opening title card says that the movie is an “interpretive dramatization.” That obviously gives you some leeway with the story and history. Were there still discussions or concerns about the story?

CARNER: There were on-going theological discussions, and there were a number of Biblical scholars who were involved from various perspectives, including a Rabbi who helped us with the Jewish aspects of it because we were very concerned about presenting Jewish life in first century Palestine.

WILLIAMS: I think this is the first time I've seen a movie about Jesus and the disciples where we actually see the disciple praying as Jewish faithful would be doing at that time.

CARNER: We were trying to capture some of those details and illustrate the Jewishness of Jesus and His followers. What attracted me to the project originally, was that the manner in which Jesus was viewed in the script is what I would call a very traditional point of view. He is clearly the Son of God, He’s clearly capable of performing these miracles, so His divine aspect is well represented as is the human aspect. I felt it was a good melding. It wasn’t a revisionist, or neo-modernist look at Jesus, and I was pleased about that. And of course, the way that Judas was portrayed I think is the singular triumph of Fontana’s script. It takes what we know about Judas from Scripture &#0151 that he was a disciple, that he betrayed Jesus, and that he committed suicide &#0151 it takes those three facts, and spins a believable, human portrait about how a human being can go through those different changes.

WILLIAMS: So, what is your response to the criticism that this can’t be a Christian movie because there is no Resurrection?

CARNER: One of the big things we were worried about is that the movie essentially ends on Good Friday. It doesn’t have the Resurrection. We were very nervous about that, which is why the cutting down of Judas and praying over him was so important. The subtext of that scene is that this is an example of the Resurrection. This is an example of the Spirit of Jesus living on, as the disciples are praying over the very guy who betrayed the Messiah. Also, in the scene in which they pray over Judas, Jesus’ voice is heard mixing with the prayer of the disciples, and ultimately mixing over the prayer for them. The idea was to imply, prior to the Resurrection, with Jesus’ voice.

WILLIAMS: Tell us a little about your vision for the grittiness of the film. It certainly isn't like a lot of earlier pictures that deal with Jesus' life.

CARNER: The goal from the beginning was that these people lived their entire life outside. When you spend your time outdoors, in the same clothes, particularly in a land where water is kind of precious, you’re not going to look like you stepped out of a pageant. That has been a problem for all those other movies. They never managed to convey the sense of reality of living, cooking, eating, sleeping and everything outside. These disciples were on the road. They weren’t staying at the Motel 6. The other thing is, that in Morocco, the light is incredibly beautiful, and it has a tendency to transform anything that you photograph into a postcard. So, we always had wind machines blowing and throwing dust and dirt into it, so that after a while it became kind of a joke because whenever they walked on the set they were hit in the face with a sandstorm. But, it was what I was trying to convey.

WILLIAMS: Any more thoughts on comparing Judas to Mel Gibson’s PASSION?

CARNER: I’m happy anytime the story of Jesus is told on film with any kind of integrity and serious intent. So, I’m very happy that Mel Gibson has made his film. And I’m also happy because it has provided an impetus for ABC to broadcast our movie about Judas. Although I’ve never met Mel Gibson, I’m kind of in his debt. [The film sat on ABC’s back shelf for 2 years.] I’ve seen The Passion, which is a brilliant film. It is a masterwork. To some extent it’s a bit daunting to have a little television movie come out and face an immediate comparison to a $25 million dollar film directed by an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, but that is the situation we’re in, so we’ll take the bad with the good. It’s a very different story. Mel Gibson’s movie concentrates entirely on the trial and crucifixion of Jesus &#0151 the very last 12 hours of Jesus’ life. So, it’s quite a different film, but obviously deals with many of the same characters and issues. Mel Gibson made a brilliant movie and I think our film is a good movie that takes a different look at the same story. I think that hopefully the two movies will complement each other.

WILLIAMS: What did you learn spiritually from this effort?

CARNER: There are two ways to go about making a movie about Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. One is be so egotistical that you don’t even think about the importance or the responsibility and you just go, and serve your ego, and make your movie. What I tried to do was the opposite, which is every day I begin with a prayer that I would remove myself from the process, keep my ego as far out of it as I possibly could, and try to open myself up to the Spirit and let the Spirit guide me. That was my prayer every day, and that is what I hoped to do. And I hope that people will watch the movie and that they will be moved emotionally by it and they’ll be touched by the spiritual side of it. And if it does anything to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, then I’ve done my job.