- Content: 
Jonathan Roumie Talks ‘Impossible’ Role of Jesus with Russell Brand
By Movieguide® Contributor
Jonathan Roumie of THE CHOSEN and Russel Brand recently discussed Roumie’s approach to his role as Jesus and its impact on viewers.
“It’s almost an impossible acting job,” Brand said of Roumie’s role. “I would have thought almost impossible to get the humanity, to get the warmth, to get the divinity, the full masculinity and maleness, and then also this is God, but you actually…have done such a good job of playing, portraying, Jesus.”
Brand mentioned that some viewers have reported seeing Roumie’s face in their mind when they pray. Roumie shared his thoughts on this.
“One of the things I think as humans that we need, especially if we have a relationship with our creator…it’s only it’s only human for us to want to put a face to who that is,” he explained. “And so, what do we have the relegations of culture and paintings and imagery, and since man could create and since Jesus lived, people have been trying to depict our Lord and Savior because that gives us an opportunity to kind of, you know, reference what it is and who it is that we’re putting our belief system into.”
“My sister said she was praying once and, you know, in church, and all of a sudden, my face popped into her prayers. She’s like ‘no no, get out of there, get out of there,’ and they kind of freaked her out for a second,” he shared.
Movieguide® previously reported on how Roumie prays when he portrays Jesus in his role on THE CHOSEN.
“Grace is the first word that comes to mind,” he said. “Before approaching the role, before approaching each season, there’s always a substantial amount of prayer that goes into trying to take on, as best as I can in my own sort of feeble humanity, the mind or personage of God; which is impossible. So all I can do is bring the fullness of my humanity… to the role and then ask God to utilize me sort of like a mirror to reflect his grace, his mercy, his love, his compassion, in all of the scenes.”
“My preparation begins with prayer. It begins with Mass, confession, Eucharist, and a kind of spirituality cleaning myself out so I can be a greater, a cleaner, sort of a mirror if you will,” Roumie added. “It’s like wiping a dirty mirror and just saying, ‘Okay, God, You reflect off of me the things that You want the world to see, the qualities that You want people to feel from Jesus’ portrayal in the show, and let me be a mirror to what You want people to experience.”
Brand has been diving into his faith following his baptism earlier this year.
Movieguide® reported:
One month after his baptism, actor Russell Brand is sharing how his newfound relationship with Jesus has changed his life.
“I’ve been a Christian a month now, and it’s been a big change,” Brand shared on his X page. “Not that I’ve entirely changed as a person, of course I haven’t, but I’ve taken on a lot of new concepts, and it changes you to accept that it’s not like you’re in a game show and by doing really, really good things you can get redeemed.”
“No, repentance — to repent — means that you have to continually change and acknowledge that I am in a battle against myself,” he continued. “That I need to surrender myself to an ever-present, eternal and accessible Jesus. That mercy is something that’s been given to me, been granted to me, that I live with through love, not something that I can sort of win or achieve by doing good deeds.”
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +3