Roma Downey as Mary in The BibleSo, your current work The Bible is currently showing here in the UK – how did you go about putting the show together?
Ah, it’s just been an amazing journey - about 5 years, and until now, it came through as an idea that nobody had made The Bible as a TV series before from Genesis to Revelation - of the whole thing. Individual stories have been told, individual films have been made and some of them very well, but this hadn’t been done and we thought it was just time to do it. We tackled it, we spoke to scholars and theologians and we tried to get it as accurate as we could. We wanted to tell it in a way that would be engaging, that would be emotionally connected to people, that people would feel the contemporary theme, the universality of the themes, so that it would be a series for the ages.
I’m sure you felt a lot of pressure to get all the details spot on, because it’s such a respected and world-renowned story.
We did. It came with a huge responsibility to try and get it right, but it has been an amazing unfolding. As you know, we aired in the United States earlier this year to huge ratings – we had a hundred million people check it out in the USA, and it has continued to ripple around the globe. Big numbers in Australia, Hong Kong, South and Central America – so we’re delighted that it’s finally on over in the UK, because I hail originally from Northern Ireland and my husband is from Essex, so finally our own school friends and families get to see it.
You talk about the massive figures, but I’ve even heard about the influence it’s had in other ways; I read that a Pastor in the States claimed to have conducted 3,000 Baptisms as a result of the show. Do you feel you’ve achieved what you set out to originally do?
Yeah, our hope and our intention have been to breathe fresh visual life into the greatest stories ever told, and to touch people’s hearts and awaken people’s hearts and that’s been great, you know. There has been an opportunity I think for people who don’t know the stories, or people who don’t read the bible or go to church, but here was a chance to just turn the television on and I think that we should at least know the basic stories because our whole culture, our whole way of life is influenced by this book and the values that it instils in us. So I think we’ve seen the faithful have enjoyed it but there has also been an opportunity for people who haven’t been that interested in the past and things of a religious nature. But the TV series has been made in such an exciting and such an engaging way that teenagers are enjoying it. You know, the people you might not have expected have turned it on and become huge fans.
And what was it like taking on the role of Mary?
Oh, it was a great privilege, you know what I mean? I am a mother myself so all I can do really is to feel the role through a Mother’s heart, to see it through a Mother’s eyes because as much as we know Mary was the mother of the Son of God, Mary was also the mother of a son, and so the scenes were every emotional to film; the scenes of the Passion of Christ and of the Crucifixtion of Christ. Very, very emotional - and that’ll be coming up for you guys I think in the next few weeks; you’ll be seeing those scenes play out.
Can you tell me a bit about what the chemistry between all the actors and crew was on set?
Oh, it was brilliant! We shot over in Morocco and we were there for almost 5 months in extreme climates. I think when you’re thrown together on a location like that, it gives you an opportunity to really get to know each other, to spend time together and we did a lot of reading together. The actors were all so interested in their storylines and wanted to dig deeper, and bring as much as they could to the roles. Diogo Morgado, a wonderful Portugese actor who plays Jesus, gives an extraordinary performance, and most of our actors are UK based and really did phenomenal work for us. So it was great. We will all remain very close.
I bet, you must be very proud.
Oh, so proud and humbled too. It has been just extraordinary. We dreamed it would be successful. We didn’t dare to dream that it would have been this successful – and it continues! We have a film that will come out in the United States in February called Son of God - and just yesterday in the US, it was announced through the NBC network that we will be doing the follow-up series which is tentatively called AD, which will be following the lives of the disciples against all odds. How did the 11 remaining disciples move forward? How did the faith grow from 11 fearful men as they were after Jesus was crucified to 2 billion people? (laughs) I mean it’s an extraordinary story, isn’t it?
It really is – and what was your experience of producing the show alongside your husband, Mark Burnett?
You know, there are so many amazing miracles that are inherent in the bible, and we often joke that the biggest miracle might be that as a husband and wife working shoulder to shoulder, we’re still speaking to each other! (laughs) We did well - it wasn’t without its moments, but we’re best friends and we’re completely reliable. We have each other’s back and bring very different complimentary skillsets, so we worked well together. We’re going to do the next series together as well – yeah, it’s good stuff.
There’s nothing better to do than what you love to do, and with the person you love to do it with. It’s a blessing really. We’re very grateful.
Is there anything you can tell me about your new series The Dovekeepers?
Oh yes, The Dovekeepers is a fantastic novel written by Alice Hoffman, it was a bestselling novel and I fell in love with the book and bought the rights to it. NBC have just picked up the series that we’re going to film as a 4 hour miniseries. It’s the story of (the ancient Israeli fortification) Masada, for all you history buffs who know the epic story. We’re hoping to film that in 2014 to be on CBS in 2015. It’s been a big year, a successful year, a busy year and as we go into the Christmas season, our hearts are full of gratitude.
Lastly, are there any new British projects you and your husband are thinking about – perhaps a return to the UK for Survivor?
Well, as you know, our big hit in the UK is The Apprentice. It does so well there. You know, my husband hailed from Dagenham, he’s an Essex boy. Me myself, I come from Derry City in the northwest of Ireland, so we love to get back. Our company, Lightworkers Media – we have a UK wing of that company and in fact it was out of that UK wing that we produced The Bible. So many of our crew and our cast of course came out of the UK, and so we get back frequently. I have loved working with our team there.
The Bible is released on Blu-ray and DVD on 26th December 2013 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.