From Page to Screenplay: About The Young Messiah

March 07, 2016 by Focus Features

Continued from Page 2

Like Lazzaro, Walsh was slightly intimidated by the prospect of playing this important character. "It's been one of the biggest challenges I've ever had to face. I was going in cold, as there's not much to draw from. I'm a father of two, so I drew a lot from that and took it from there." He also responded to the relevance of the material for a modern audience, "Any father can relate to protecting his family, especially today with what's going on around the world. There are so many displaced families who have been forced out of their country and are just trying to get home."

In terms of the partnership between Mary and Joseph, Lazzaro comments that despite being one of the only actors in the film who isn't a parent yet herself, through working with Walsh she really "understood the teamwork it entails to be a parent."

Walsh adds, "Mary believes in her husband and for a relationship to be solid there has to be that trust."

Lazzaro comments, "I think Adam is quite incredible. I was so curious to meet him. When I finally did I was drawn to him. It was very easy to be his mother."

The next crucial casting decision to be made was for the newly written role of Severus, a character who was not featured in the novel. Severus is a Roman Centurion hired by Herod to find and kill the boy Jesus.

Sean Bean, who had worked with 1492 Pictures on both Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Pixels, was immediately drawn to the project from a historical perspective, as well as to the complexity of the character of Severus. "He's reluctant to get involved. He sees the rebellions that are happening and the brutality of the environment around Jerusalem with the various factions, but he has orders from Rome to obey Herod. He's in the middle of two worlds, but you can see compassion there."

Cyrus Nowrasteh notes, "When we were writing the script, I wanted Sean Bean from day one. I've been a fan of Sean for years. I've seen him play villains, I've seen him play heroes, and I think he's a tremendous actor. Sean has a presence about him and a believability. He seems to have an interior life and he always seems to be thinking. There's a lot to him. The character he's playing is a guy who's seen a lot, done a lot, knows a lot, and felt a lot — and we have to see that on his face without his saying much. Sean's that kind of actor."

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3/7/2016 5:00:00 AM

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