Director Lotfy Nathan Shares Inspiration Behind R-Rated Jesus Film Starring Nicolas Cage—And Its Apocryphal Origin

ChurchLeaders asked Nathan to address those who will call his film “heretical [and say,] ‘Don’t watch this.’”

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“Well, I see there’s a few tiers of this,” he replied. “The idea of depicting Jesus as somebody who has human moral and psychological vulnerabilities and faults…to a lot of Christians, my own family included as Coptic Christians, that’ll never go for that.”

“So I wouldn’t even try to appeal, and say, ‘Well, why don’t you think of it this way?'” he added.

“I find that having that kind of entry point as a person with flaws is helpful in understanding the sacrifice and the journey of Christ. That’s just my perspective, though,” Nathan said.

“There’s also the horror aspect,” he added. “Some people say, ‘Well, just by virtue of it being a horror film, it’s got to be wrong.’ But to me, it’s no more than a color value, a color palette, you know, the horror genre.”

Nathan then asked, “Why can’t that belong to a Christian story? There’s a lot of art inspired by Christianity that shows the scary parts of it. I think that’s actually a strong thing in the Christian tradition—to show the light and the dark and create context and show what’s at stake.”

Watch the full interview below: