Actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus Christ in “The Chosen,” recently sat down with Russell Brand, where he detailed his experience portraying the savior of humanity. Notably, Brand recently converted to Christianity, placing his faith in Christ.
Brand noted that, in light of his coming to Christ, he felt that it was fitting to host some Christian guests on his podcast, “Locals.” During the conversation, Roumie stressed that he doesn’t want fans to view him as the outward face of Christ but rather as a portrayal of the historical events of his life.
Roumie said, “One of the things, I think, as humans, that we need, especially if we have a relationship with our Creator, or we desire a relationship with our Creator, it’s only human for us to want to put a face to who that is. And so, what do we have? We have the relegations of culture, and paintings and imagery. … People have been trying to depict our Lord and Savior because that gives us an opportunity to reference what it is and who it is that we’re putting our belief system into.”
He continued, “I think we need to have a face (image of Jesus). And in the age of film and television and social media and popular culture … Robert Powell was that for the two of us. … Even now, you still see images of Robert Powell’s face as Jesus Christ.”
Roumie further outlined how, during the filming of one episode, he realized how the face of Jesus can easily be associated with the actors of those who portray him in cinematic works. He noted how natural this is as Jesus was once in human form.
“We were promoting season four (of ‘The Chosen’) in Mexico earlier this year, and I was in a church in rural Mexico, and I went in, and there was a depiction of this scene with a particular religious person, like a priest or someone from the region, or it was a saint, and he’s in this painting with Jesus, and the image they used for Jesus’ face is Robert Powell. I think it’s the more saturated we are with certain kinds of images, whether it be my face, whether it be Jim Caviezel’s face, whether it be Robert Powell’s face, inevitably, your mind just naturally wants to go there. Because you’re like, ‘Oh, no, no, He was a person.’”
The actor continued discussing the artistic rendering of Christ in the millennia following his resurrection, further illustrating how Jesus was in fact a real person and not a mythical deity. “And for me, obviously, I’m not thinking of myself. But you know, if it’s not Robert Powell, I get images of renaissance paintings that come into my head, you know, or something by Carl Bloch will just pop into my head. And he’s one of my favorite artists who depicted Christ. And so, I want to have somebody to think of, to imagine, because He’s a real person. Jesus was a real person. He continues to be a real person.”
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