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What Would Jesus Do in This Scene?
The revival of"Jesus Christ Superstar" opened on broadway on April 16, starring Glenn Carter in the title role. And on May 14, CBS will broadcast the first installment of "Jesus," a two-part mini-series that stars Jeremy Sisto. By any standards, the son of God is a daunting role to step into. Does playing Jesus pose any special dramaticchallenges? And does it present any special hazards for the typically impressionable egos of actors? Here,Carter and Sisto discuss what it's like when your agent calls you and tells you you're the Savior of all mankind. Participants: Jeremy Sisto (left) and Glenn Carter Subject: Actors Who Play God Carter: I don't think my religious background had any bearing for me playing the part. Jesus was a Jew, and I'm not Jewish, so I tend to play a man in extraordinary circumstances as opposed to a religious icon. Sisto: That's definitely how I played him -- very much like a normal man, someone you can relate to, someone with fears and doubts. I also don't think my religious background had any bearing on me getting the part. I had five days to prepare, so I really didn't have any time to really feel the weight of what I was doing, which was probably a blessing. For me it was just like any role, except that he goes through some extraordinary things. And he has to do all those Jesus things. We had a priest around the whole time, and he was a sweet man, but it was sort of like playing this guy's best friend who had died. He had such a specific notion of who Jesus was. I realized early on I was never going to satisfy everyone. Carter: I don't think you can. I don't feel any particular weight of responsibility in playing the part of Jesus, because nobody knows what he was like. And there's no way I could play the real Jesus -- to start with I'm using European language, not Aramaic. And he was unlikely to be Caucasian with long curly hair like I've got. There is no way of conforming to other people's ideas of him. Therefore I think it's best not to try. Sisto: I did read the Bible a lot more than I ever had before. And I thought about the possibility that some higher power is sending people like Jesus to send some message. But I tried not to decide anything in case I was wrong. Carter: I don't think it's necessary to believe in God to play Jesus, just like it's not necessary to think that murder's a good thing to play a murderer. You just inhabit somebody else's thought process and the situations they're put in. I do have faith, but my own faith is very separate from playing Jesus. Sisto: I think I was picked to play Jesus because I'm handsome. Carter: Yeah. And I have long hair. Sisto: But really, my friends said, "You've been working on this part your whole life." I think it's because at times I take responsibility for a lot of people and Jesus did as well. Like, the whole world. I've always been very sort of earthy, connected to that side of life. Carter: I've no idea why I was cast. I've been cast as Jesus five times. It's not more of an ego trip than any other part I've done. Sisto: Whenever anyone sneezes I'm sure to bless them -- no, I think it's just novel more than anything else. And I wonder privately to myself whether there's some preordained path I'm on that led me to get the part. It's possible. But I don't think it buffers my ego. Carter: I find it very difficult to escape. I walk down to the shops for a cup of tea or whatever and people go, "Oh, it's Jesus!" because my image is all over the place and on TV. People start pointing at you and you wonder if your fly is open. Sisto: I get a lot of Jesus jokes, to the point of irritation. Like "Hey, would you make my water into wine? I want to get drunk." And so you chuckle, a little harder than you want to. It gets really old after a while. My dad loves that I'm playing Jesus. My mom thinks it's because he thinks it makes him God. But I don't have any kind of God complex. Carter: I think I'd be committed if that were the case. Quite rightly so. I knew the story of Jesus from Sunday school when I was a kid, but I think so much was edited out of the Bible. I can't imagine that Jesus was crucified for telling people to love thy neighbor. There was more to it than that. Sisto: I don't think it's an act of hubris to play Jesus, because we're just trying to make the story more accessible to people, to take away his inherent divinity and make him a real guy who has doubts about his mission, his journey and even his belief. He knew he had this mission to fulfill, but it was scary. Carter: I think that's true. But I'm just kind of waiting for some guy with a machete to come out and start hacking me to death because I'm not doing a portrayal of Jesus as he sees it. There are strange people in New York. |
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