The John-Henry Westen Show - An interview with The Chosen's 'Jesus' actor - a devout Catholic

00:00:00.000 Welcome to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show, where we are very privileged to speak with the actor who's playing Jesus on the super viral show, TV show that's going on right now called The Chosen. Stay tuned.

00:00:30.000 Jonathan Rumi, welcome to the John Henry Weston Show.

00:00:34.720 Thank you, John Henry. How are you?

00:00:36.500 I'm doing very well. We'll begin as we always do with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

00:00:46.140 I feel actually very privileged to talk to you. It's because your show has been a major impact on my life in this coronavirus crisis, because it is, I mean, it's a horrible thing.

00:00:58.220 I go to daily mass, and I've been deprived of that. And so it's been a very difficult time.

00:01:05.700 And yet, the advent of The Chosen, and for free, and hearing about it, has been an amazing thing.

00:01:12.440 I binge-watched it for a few nights, and it was just superb.

00:01:17.740 So I have tons of questions for you, as I'm sure many do.

00:01:21.000 And by the way, those of you who are watching this, if you haven't seen The Chosen yet, you've got to check it out.

00:01:25.820 There's an app online, The Chosen, but also you can see it on YouTube.

00:01:30.400 And so I encourage you to do that.

00:01:32.600 So, Jonathan, wow.

00:01:35.940 It's really stunning to be able to portray Christ in film.

00:01:41.720 The only one I ever saw in my life that I thought was good, this is good, is, of course, The Passion of the Christ.

00:01:48.520 And so we want to ask you, first of all, did you get any inspiration into how you're doing, what you're doing with watching The Passion of the Christ?

00:01:58.540 You know, well, first of all, thank you for having me on the show.

00:02:03.960 It's an honor to be here.

00:02:06.240 And thank you for all who are watching and who have seen The Chosen.

00:02:11.180 It's been quite an experience playing the Lord.

00:02:17.480 It's been the preeminent experience of my life to an honor to play our Lord and Savior.

00:02:25.380 Specifically watching The Passion of the Christ, one of the things I think that really generated a bit of inspiration for Dallas Jenkins,

00:02:39.460 the creator of the series, The Chosen, was this snippet of a scene in The Passion,

00:02:47.000 which is a flashback where Jesus is building a table and Mary is examining his work and then tells him to come in for dinner and reminds him to wash his hands.

00:03:00.140 So he washed his hands and then he splashes her. 0.97

00:03:03.680 And it's one of the very few light moments that you see in that entire film.

00:03:08.640 And also one of the first times we've ever seen Christ's humanity, his relationship with his mother that wasn't scriptural,

00:03:17.400 that was sort of in between and sort of gave us glimpses as to what, you know, Jesus the man might have been like.

00:03:24.720 I think that's something that's always resonated for me.

00:03:27.540 And I think that the depiction that we're able to bring for The Chosen is a testament to the writing and the Holy Spirit working through the writing of these scripts

00:03:43.820 in a way that allows us through the use of time and through the medium of episodic television to be able to pace ourselves telling this story.

00:03:57.120 So there's a lot more flexibility that allows us to see different sides of Christ that we haven't seen before.

00:04:05.640 So there was very little that I could say that I could go off of that, that I could base my own kind of work on.

00:04:13.640 And also as an actor, it's not something that I, that I would generally try to do because anytime you've got someone else's performance in your head

00:04:24.080 or their sort of depiction, it kind of starts to influence your own interpretation of the role.

00:04:30.660 And so what I try to do in that respect is essentially just, first of all, I pray and then I pray that I am sort of emptied of the role of whatever that I'm bringing to the role.

00:04:47.600 I'm just asking God to kind of use me as a channel and anything that's me, that's residual, that doesn't need to be there for him to move it out

00:04:57.560 and then just to send the spirit forth and that, you know, so people don't see Jonathan acting.

00:05:03.820 I'm not sure that they see the spirit of, in the heart of Christ, hopefully coming through these words that were very beautifully written by our writers.

00:05:11.480 Right, right. But I think the one burning question, despite your wanting to put our Lord first, is who is portraying Christ?

00:05:18.020 Who is Jonathan Rumi? I'm sure people are wondering about who you are, but perhaps even more importantly about your own faith life.

00:05:25.760 Yeah, well, I was raised with faith. I'm a practicing Catholic and I have always, Christ's always been in my life.

00:05:38.220 But in the last several years, that relationship has really, really gotten stronger and more sort of myoptically focused, I guess you could say,

00:05:50.860 on really trying to surrender my will to God's, you know, especially in approaching a business as chaotic as the entertainment industry

00:06:02.500 and a business that's so full of distractions as well.

00:06:08.960 My relationship in the last few years has come to a point of, I guess one would say reversion or deeper conversion.

00:06:21.120 And that now is the sort of guiding principle for everything that I do.

00:06:28.540 And I feel my mission on this planet is and why I'm here and why I'm playing Jesus in the chosen and not somebody else.

00:06:39.740 So it's led me to kind of really reflect on where God's brought me along in my journey.

00:06:47.000 And so, yeah. So, I mean, I go to Mass as often. I was going to Mass as often as I can.

00:06:52.520 I try to watch daily Mass.

00:06:53.900 I lead a holy hour every day at 3 o'clock Pacific time on my currently on my Instagram page.

00:07:01.500 I just did 40 days on Facebook through Lent and which was just something that kind of was born out of God putting this impression on my heart

00:07:11.700 that I needed to offer some kind of prayer for people that would allow them to feel a little less anxiety.

00:07:19.540 So we started praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, which I'm a very fond devotee of.

00:07:27.420 Yeah. And then we just started up again three days ago.

00:07:33.140 It'll be four days ago.

00:07:36.080 And it's really the fruits of just having that kind of public prayer time.

00:07:43.740 And while professionally it seemed very sort of strange suggestion to myself to kind of want to do, carry out,

00:07:54.600 but I feel pretty convicted about it.

00:07:58.100 So I'm doing it and people have just been responding wonderfully.

00:08:02.920 So you mentioned you went to Mass as often as possible.

00:08:09.800 And that means you're actually receiving the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the real Jesus.

00:08:16.480 And here you're called to play Jesus.

00:08:19.540 Has there been any connection between the two?

00:08:22.100 Have you been able to draw from your reception of Holy Communion to your being able to portray Christ?

00:08:27.760 Yeah, whenever we would film, I would try to go to Mass and receive the Eucharist because for me,

00:08:35.000 it really gives me a sense of His presence.

00:08:39.200 It gives me a sense of peace.

00:08:41.800 It gives me a sense of clarity and of focus.

00:08:44.300 And, you know, I feel that that allowed me to bring Him to the screen in a very, well, hopefully authentic way because it's changing my heart.

00:08:59.600 And so I feel that if you are, as an actor, our job is to play truth under imaginary circumstances.

00:09:09.620 So if I'm bringing this level of spiritual truth to my work from a human standpoint, it'll automatically have a resonance there that will be picked up on by, I think, the cameras and the people around me.

00:09:30.240 And, you know, having that accessible to me, I think, just was just part of, I mean, it was part of my prep, you know, it was part of my active prep, believe it or not.

00:09:43.820 Most people don't think of, you know, spiritual prep, but especially with something like this, it was mandatory.

00:09:52.940 It was vital.

00:09:53.460 Absolutely. Now, this is a neat thing for you as a Catholic, as someone who has loved Christ and loved the faith.

00:10:01.720 You had all sorts of prep, even a lifetime of prep, if you will, because getting to know Jesus has been sort of a lifetime occupation.

00:10:10.640 But as a Catholic, not only Jesus, you've got to know Our Lady before doing this.

00:10:16.740 And then also all of the characters, almost all the characters anyways, are saints.

00:10:20.840 So, did any of that sort of preparation, if you will, lifelong preparation, play into your interaction now with the different characters that play the different saints, Our Lady and so on?

00:10:33.240 I, yes, I would say for sure.

00:10:37.200 And for me, it was really important to have an understanding of, you know, Mary's, Mother Mary's place in the series and, you know, at least at this stage and to really have a connection to her.

00:10:56.880 I, I, myself, was consecrated to her, her immaculate heart two years ago.

00:11:03.380 It was something that, you know, some friends from church, they had kind of suggested I did it, I do it.

00:11:12.060 And then I, and I had some reluctance about it for my own personal reasons.

00:11:17.160 And I just, mainly that I just didn't feel that I could sort of live up to her standard.

00:11:23.380 And, you know, and the standards of, you know, what it meant to be consecrated to the Blessed Mother was kind of like, ah, man, I'm just, you know, I'm just a humble sinner here.

00:11:33.600 Like, I, I, I don't know if I'm ready to, if I'll, if I'll make the cut with that.

00:11:40.840 And then, and also, I mean, relatedly, I had had, you know, while I, I would say the rosary every so often, I, I, there was some kind of thing that was sort of, there was a little bit of resistance to, to, to sitting down to take the time to pray the rosary.

00:12:01.700 And then all of a sudden, I, you know, I said to this woman who kept saying, why don't you go get consecrated every, you know, first Friday of the month.

00:12:08.920 And I'm like, yeah, you know, I'll, I'm going to pray about it.

00:12:12.080 I'm going to pray about it.

00:12:12.960 And, and my prayer literally was, you know, uh, Lord, if this is something that you want me to do, you know, give me a sign.

00:12:21.020 And then, uh, it was like a year later or something in like June, um, like the month before I got consecrated, I just got this impression where I, I, I, I mean, I feel like it could have even been blessed mother just saying like, now's, now's a good time to do this.

00:12:41.220 You know, like now, now I want you to come do this.

00:12:44.800 And I just had to say, okay.

00:12:47.900 And so when that July, uh, I actually, the following month, I actually went and got consecrated.

00:12:56.200 And after that, any resistance I had about praying the rose would just disappear.

00:13:01.840 Everything just kind of doors just sort of opened up and, and, um, and my pastor really helped me also in making my decision, um, to understand the strength of her intercessory, uh, intercessory, um, power and, um, to really have a better understanding as to what role she could play in my life.

00:13:23.060 And so, uh, and so, uh, obviously coming up to, uh, and it was actually, this is the summer before we started filming the children.

00:13:29.500 Uh, and so, uh, a year later when we filmed the second half of the children, cause we filmed it in four episode blocks, um, I, um, you know, I was really like excited to get to, to work with whoever was playing, um, mother Mary, because now I had her, I had a revitalized relationship.

00:13:47.760 I had a renewed relationship, um, with her and myself and I tried to bring my love of blessed mother, uh, to the role.

00:13:57.660 Um, you know, there's a scene, for instance, when we reconnect, uh, which is episode five at the wedding of Kana.

00:14:05.480 Um, I kind of bear hug her and lift her up off the ground.

00:14:09.200 And, um, you know, I asked Dallas if it was okay.

00:14:12.600 I did that because that's something when, um, my mother lives in New York.

00:14:16.240 And so when I go home, that's how I kind of greet my mother.

00:14:20.640 And, uh, it's like, sure.

00:14:22.220 And, and, uh, it just felt something that connected me, not just to my earthly mother, but to our, uh, our lady.

00:14:31.800 Amazing thing.

00:14:32.680 You're, you're, you're going to, um, the, the sort of, um, formator, if you will, of, of the body of the Lord in that, you know, he was conceived in her flesh and in her womb.

00:14:44.100 And, uh, you, by going to her, consecrating yourself to her, are sort of being formed into her son.

00:14:50.560 And that's what we're supposed to be.

00:14:51.440 We're all supposed to be alter Christus.

00:14:53.460 We're all supposed to be, you know, uh, St. Paul said, I live no longer now, not I, but Christ lives in me.

00:14:59.560 Um, let, let's talk about that for a second, because I, I heard you on an interview with, with Dallas, uh, Dallas Jenkins, by the way, for everyone who doesn't know, is the writer, producer, uh, or excuse me, writer, director, and, uh, just fabulous Christian fellow.

00:15:13.020 And, uh, you talked together about, um, really trying to live your life for Christ, uh, you know, and, and we're called to this huge vocation to, to be Christ to others in, in a, in a very real way.

00:15:25.840 I mean, everyone, not only you and playing Christ, um, but you've now got this special role because you're supposed to, we're all as Christians are supposed to be Christ to others.

00:15:35.600 You're my hands, my feet, and so on.

00:15:38.240 And you're also called in this kind of special way to, to be Christ on screen, to attract people to Christ.

00:15:48.160 How is that playing out in your life?

00:15:50.460 Cause that, that's, that's challenging.

00:15:51.820 It's challenging anyway to try and pre-Christ to others, but this added dimension, how's that, how's that going for you?

00:15:57.680 Um, it can, it can be a little, uh, daunting at times, as you can imagine.

00:16:02.580 Um, you know, there's, there's definitely this, uh, weight of responsibility that I feel, uh, very often.

00:16:14.120 Um, and at one point, you know, it actually caught up with me in one of the episodes, episode six, we start seeing, uh, Jesus actually preaching to crowds, like a growing crowd outside of a house.

00:16:28.160 And it was the first time we had ever filmed something like that before.

00:16:33.440 And, uh, as we started, and it was a, it was a very conflict, uh, complicated scene to shoot.

00:16:39.860 It took five or six days to shoot this whole scene.

00:16:42.500 And there were all these different camera angles and we were outside and we were on the roof and we were in an alley and all surrounding this one central hub of activity, which was this house in the story, which was Zebedee's house in the story.

00:16:54.960 And, um, so most of the, most of what you're seeing as I'm, as I'm beginning to preach as Christ in the scene is of all this activity that's happening at the same time, these converging storylines.

00:17:08.560 So the camera wasn't focused on me, but I still have to deliver sermon, a parable.

00:17:14.940 I still have to preach as Jesus to a crowd of people that have to look like they're wrapped in, you know, my every, uh, uh, phrase and word and just hanging on every word.

00:17:26.500 And at one point, beginning of filming that it started to dawn on me, what I was actually doing and what, what I was actually saying to people and how this is going to be recorded.

00:17:40.420 And people are going to see this and like, all of a sudden it got very meta and it's just like the camera just kind of pulled back and, and, and in my mind.

00:17:48.880 And I, all of a sudden I had a bit of a crisis, I was going through a bit of a stressful point of anxiety attack.

00:17:56.880 I wouldn't call it a panic attack, but I was extremely stressed for a moment.

00:18:01.880 And I had to, I had to take Dallas aside for a second, just to say, Hey, can we hold on a second?

00:18:09.020 Like we were kind of running through certain shots and I didn't feel I was getting what I wanted to do.

00:18:13.920 And I, and I didn't want to screw it up.

00:18:16.680 And he's like, what's going on?

00:18:20.080 I'm having a hard time.

00:18:21.280 He's like, I mean, everything seems great, which, you know, like what, what, what's wrong?

00:18:25.320 And I said, I don't feel worthy to be saying these words.

00:18:30.020 I don't feel worthy to be here.

00:18:31.880 Right now.

00:18:33.620 And he kind of just stopped and said, Oh, and then he just kind of put a hand on my shoulder.

00:18:41.300 And he said, listen, brother, none of us are worthy doing this.

00:18:49.020 And that just kind of clicked.

00:18:51.800 And I'm like, yeah.

00:18:53.700 So what can we do?

00:18:56.080 We can just continue to serve through our art the best we can.

00:18:59.360 And God has us here for a reason.

00:19:01.520 And all of us on this planet are here for specific mission and reason and to draw others to him.

00:19:10.380 And I feel that it kind of clicked for me in that moment.

00:19:15.980 Like it's me standing there and not somebody else.

00:19:19.780 And I have to, I have to, I have to not question that because that was designed by God.

00:19:25.860 And then as I look back and see all these little moments in my life that connect my experiences that lead me to that present moment,

00:19:36.720 which is right here right now in this world in 2020 as the man playing Christ in this series that is now reaching every part of the globe.

00:19:46.740 And I have to, I have to, I have to, I have to honor that and say, okay, God, God is using me for something pretty big.

00:19:54.820 And I have to, I have to, I have to, I have to, I have to, I have to accept it and I have to be ready to just, you know, take on whatever comes my way.

00:20:09.740 But trusting in him and knowing that he's got me, he wouldn't put me here if, if I couldn't handle it or if he wasn't going to take care of me, you know?

00:20:22.040 Absolutely. Absolutely. There, there's so much there now. I want to ask you that.

00:20:25.500 So first of all, you were mentioning points in your life that might have led here.

00:20:31.420 Are there any specific points in your life, uh, your, your, your acting career, your early life that, that you feel led you here specifically?

00:20:41.740 Any, where do you want me to start? Um, I'll tell you, I'll tell you the first, the first moment that was very, very, very specific.

00:20:53.680 Um, growing up every Easter, I used to watch Jesus of Nazareth, the miniseries that premiered on NBC,

00:21:00.720 I believe in like 1977. And it was just, and I'm sure, you know, it was just, uh, a beautifully directed, um, rendition of, uh, faithfully depicted, uh, rendition of scriptures, uh, in the form of a miniseries in six hours.

00:21:18.400 And it dealt with the birth of Christ and, and then Christ's ministry through his death and resurrection.

00:21:25.580 And as a 10 or 12 year old, I was probably closer to 12 years old as, but, um, as a, as a 12 year old kid that had seen this story, uh, and watched, you know, the passion as it was portrayed in Jesus of Nazareth.

00:21:44.740 Um, I was, I had this memory come up about five or six years ago, uh, of being so profoundly moved by this depiction in the show and watching Christ go through his, his passion and his road to Calvary and, and, and the cross.

00:22:01.160 That I remember after watching it, going outside my house, grabbing a couple of two by fours, building a cross, hammering nails into the hand, where the hands and the feet would be.

00:22:17.200 Um, literally doing my own stations of the cross in my backyard as a kid, all the way to the hill, which was the side of my garage, where I would plant the cross, lean it against the garage wall, put a little cinder block to keep it in place and to step on the cinder block.

00:22:39.840 Um, and just pretend I was crucified, like as a kid, like as a kid, I'm thinking, first of all, like, how did the cops not show up and start asking questions to my parents, you know, um, so, and then like what triggered that memory was, you know, X amount of years later, I'm performing the living stations of the cross here in St. Monica's, uh, in Santa Monica at St. Monica's church.

00:23:09.520 And he, 15, I think it was for the first time and doing this very thing.

00:23:16.900 And then five years later, four years later, I'm doing it for a TV show.

00:23:22.960 That's, um, revolutionary.

00:23:25.400 And it's when, what it's doing for faith, faith genre and how it's being, um, broadcast to people.

00:23:33.360 Uh, so one of what, that was one of, of a few stories I could tell you about.

00:23:39.520 Wow.

00:23:40.280 Give us, give us just one more, if you would.

00:23:42.640 Uh, okay.

00:23:43.440 So the very first time that I played, uh, Christ on film was for a, um, uh, a one woman traveling show about the life of St.

00:23:53.620 Blaschina.

00:23:54.580 Uh, um, and that's, that's done by a Catholic production company called St.

00:24:00.120 Luke productions.

00:24:00.740 If you know them.

00:24:01.580 Um, so they would do lives of the saints and they would send out these shows around the country.

00:24:07.420 Uh, also in Canada, they would also perform in Canada where an actor, uh, and one or two assistants would travel around from church to church or school or wherever that, uh, these, these shows.

00:24:20.140 Those would be, uh, subsidized and put up a play and you would have the actor, a couple of set pieces and the screen, um, on which was broadcast, uh, other characters, other locations.

00:24:32.940 And, and the person on stage would interact with the characters on screen.

00:24:36.840 So everything was timed out.

00:24:39.020 So in 2013, I got cast to play Christ for the divine mercy, uh, show about, uh, St.

00:24:47.280 Faustina.

00:24:47.760 Um, about 10 years prior to that, I started getting interested in the devotion of the divine mercy.

00:25:00.060 Yeah.

00:25:01.460 And I was only familiar with, um, one of the, uh, portraits.

00:25:06.140 I think it was the portrait done by the artist, uh, Tyler.

00:25:10.000 And, uh, as an artist and an illustrator myself, I, I, I was very particular about my portraits.

00:25:16.320 Um, and I wasn't a huge fan of that style portrait.

00:25:21.700 And, um, I also have Orthodox roots, Greek Orthodox roots, because my family, uh, my dad's side is Greek Orthodox from the Middle East.

00:25:28.700 And so a lot of my cousins in the Orthodox were getting married in the Orthodox church.

00:25:33.960 And so I was going to a lot of, um, uh, ceremonies and events and, uh, really kind of revisiting those roots and, and admiring the art.

00:25:43.400 And I really loved icons.

00:25:44.660 And so at this one point, it had to be about 2003, I was going through a, uh, kind of a tough time.

00:25:52.300 And I, my dad had already been a, uh, devotee to the divine mercy, you know, Vena and the divine mercy chaplet.

00:25:58.840 And, you know, and I always knew for him that it was very powerful spiritual weapon.

00:26:04.440 And so I wanted to pray and, you know, you're supposed to have, um, the, the icon with you, or it's, it's just something to kind of help focus.

00:26:14.040 And I just didn't like the, the, the image that I knew.

00:26:17.140 And I, I said to myself one day, or I prayed, I said, man, you know, and I was living in New York City in an apartment in Queens.

00:26:25.000 And I said, you know, it would be really lovely if I could just find, uh, like a divine mercy icon or a divine mercy, you know, image in the style of a Greek Orthodox icon.

00:26:38.060 Um, you know, something that would be nice and, and, and, and small, it could fit in my little apartment here in the city.

00:26:43.740 I think, I think I'd really enjoy that, you know, um, more than, than the image I have here.

00:26:50.460 I really wish I could find something like that.

00:26:54.580 Three days later, this image showed up.

00:26:57.540 Wow.

00:26:59.820 Outside my door, three days later, after I made this little prayer.

00:27:05.500 Wow.

00:27:06.720 And not asked for?

00:27:08.700 I'd never seen this.

00:27:10.440 I didn't know this existed.

00:27:12.660 I prayed for this very thing, very small, perfect for an apartment, the wall.

00:27:19.380 And, and outside my, my door or the, or the mailboxes where people would leave stuff where you could get a, you know, you'd take something, leave something like books, DVDs.

00:27:30.540 But for that to show up so specific to me, it was just another sign that God was starting to call me.

00:27:40.780 So I told that story 10 years later to the director of Faustina.

00:27:46.400 Um, uh, he said, when can you start?

00:27:50.040 I mean, clearly, I mean, clearly there's a guy to be playing this story.

00:27:53.600 If that's happening to you, divine mercy is getting into your life in this way, in a sort of a supernatural divine, divinely intervened kind of way.

00:28:04.320 You know, um, yeah.

00:28:07.080 Yeah.

00:28:07.440 And then six months later, I did my first film with Dallas Jenkins.

00:28:11.500 It was a short film, which was the second time that I played, um, Christ.

00:28:15.380 And then he and I did films over the course of five years before the, um, Chosen happened as a series.

00:28:23.060 Wow.

00:28:24.540 Wow, wow, wow.

00:28:25.760 Another thing you mentioned in there that's very interesting, and it was, uh, recognizing your own unworthiness.

00:28:33.580 Uh, we, you know, we call it mostly humility to the understanding that we're not worthy to represent Christ.

00:28:39.540 And yet we all do in a way as Christians, we're all called to, uh, we're called to, to our children, to our families, to our friends, and so on.

00:28:45.900 Um, none of us are worthy to do that.

00:28:48.440 You bring that to, to your understanding, to your practice of your, of this role, which has not only, um, that aspect of, of your, you know, you're trying to be Jesus to your fellow actors and the director and everything else, but also portraying Jesus.

00:29:04.740 But in a, you know, also in a very specific way, you are, uh, people see you now at post-production.

00:29:13.080 Hundreds of millions of people have seen this and been massively affected by it.

00:29:18.840 And so you're probably getting quite a bit of fan adulation, but in a weird way, the kind of way that, that, um, perhaps, uh, Jim Caviezel would express, uh, because people are looking at you kind of funny in a way right now.

00:29:32.380 Um, yeah, uh, yeah, there's, there's definitely been a little bit of that.

00:29:37.200 Um, but, uh, I have to say that the fans that I've had and, and have been so wonderful and beautiful and, and of the best intentions and, um, praying for me and sending me message of prayer and support and encouragement.

00:29:54.340 Um, and, um, um, it's been overwhelming, the love and support has been overwhelming to me.

00:30:01.540 Um, I have made, uh, a bit of an effort, um, in my, um, I guess through this devotional prayer hour that I felt called to do, um, you know, to express at times parts of my journey, which is a very human and, and broken road.

00:30:19.940 Um, and, um, um, people's response to that has been, um, super encouraging and super supportive.

00:30:29.100 Um, and I think it's, it's good in a way that people see that I'm a flesh and blood broken human being, like every one of us, um, that I'm no different than anybody else.

00:30:41.720 Um, because I think it can, there is that room, um, for people to sort of have that line kind of waver.

00:30:52.400 And, and I noticed it when we were, uh, especially when we were filming last summer, uh, episodes of five through eight, um, I would have to, um, not, I would have to, but, um, I would inevitably, um, run into many people that were either investors of the show

00:31:11.080 or fans of the show, um, and, and, uh, and gratefully so, uh, meet them and, and acknowledge that how like we couldn't do the series without the investment and support and, and financial, uh, you know, the contributions of everybody that, uh, helped get the show off the ground.

00:31:31.580 Um, uh, but there, there, there was, there would be moments that from time to time, and this might've even happened with some people that were a little more well-known or in the public eye where they kind of look at you and like, they're, it's, you can see, it's like, they're looking at Jesus, you know, they've seen the first four episodes.

00:31:53.660 So there's this thing and it's, I think it goes a little beyond like seeing your favorite actor, uh, because it's, you're now representing the most personal relationship that they have in their life.

00:32:08.900 Um, so, um, my, my, uh, my acting, uh, mentor, um, uh, the founder of the system that I studied, uh, Eric Morris,

00:32:21.660 he, he, he calls, um, talks about, uh, levels of, of consciousness in performance.

00:32:29.440 So, um, the 11th level of consciousness.

00:32:33.200 So what you hope to have happen when you're performing a scene and when people are watching you perform is that on a scale of one to 10 of consciousness, uh, you are fully immersed in this world that you are inhabiting as an actor.

00:32:51.060 You're fully engaged in the character emotionally, physically, mentally, but on the 11th level, you know, that this is not real, that there's, this is a facade.

00:33:03.620 There's camera people.

00:33:04.860 I'm wearing a costume.

00:33:06.380 This isn't how I really dress.

00:33:08.600 I'm, I don't actually speak with a middle Eastern accent.

00:33:11.700 So I think it's kind of gently trying to also remind people that that 11th level exists when we have a face-to-face encounter so that they, that there's not all this expectation put upon me as, as a person.

00:33:30.400 Cause you know, they'll watch, uh, on, uh, NBC on a Wednesday night.

00:33:35.480 I turned up on Chicago med and I, I'm shooting heroin, not shooting heroin, but like, you know, I'm in the ER with, uh, with, uh, heroin track marks, you know what I mean?

00:33:44.720 So they're like, wait, is that Jesus?

00:33:46.620 You know, why is he, what happened to him?

00:33:48.500 He's doing heroin.

00:33:49.360 No, it's not, it's not Jesus.

00:33:51.380 Yes.

00:33:51.660 The character is named Christian as well, which was very funny.

00:33:54.300 It was just a recent episode that I did, but like, you know, hopefully, and I'm sure, um, Jim Caviezel could speak to this as well.

00:34:02.500 Um, be curious.

00:34:03.700 I, I'd love to have a conversation with him one day about it.

00:34:06.860 Um, that hopefully you get to do a variety of things because as a performer, I can, I can still bring my spirituality to all these other stories.

00:34:16.980 Obviously this being the greatest story ever told and the most important and the most impactful character that I will ever play in my life.

00:34:25.820 Um, I never lose a focus of that, that is front and center, but, um, you know, Jesus died at the age of 33, you know, after that, as I get older, uh, hopefully there will be other things.

00:34:43.140 And even while I'm my age now, I can still find, uh, in between the chosen projects to do, um, that again, will, I think anchor people, um, without, hopefully without detracting from the experience that they, that they get by watching the chosen, that the spirit is present in this work, in this depiction, in the, in, in these, uh, portrayals and in, in, in, in the scripts.

00:35:08.100 So that the message is, is received by, by anyone and everyone that watches it.

00:35:13.800 And I think that's something that has been profound to see.

00:35:16.900 That's, that's been the overwhelming feedback as well.

00:35:19.740 So, um, at the end of the day, you know, we all just have to trust that God knows what he's doing with all of this and he's not going to steer us wrong as long as we're, uh, our hearts are aligned to him.

00:35:31.560 Absolutely.

00:35:32.100 And that's a really astounding aspect of the chosen.

00:35:35.760 Um, I, I mentioned at the top of the show, I, I, I'm, I'm rather critical of tons of portrayals, saints films, and, and especially films about our Lord, because it's just not, you know, it's cheesy and whatnot.

00:35:51.540 And, oh my gosh, I was so blown away.

00:35:55.360 I, I, I, I, I was waiting, I was looking for, I was waiting to see when is it going to screw up?

00:36:02.160 When's it going to, when's it going to go downhill?

00:36:03.780 And it was, it was unbelievable.

00:36:06.580 It was, that's why I, I know, I mean, I just as a, as a, as a layman, but I can tell that the Holy Spirit is, has been in charge here because this is the most, I said, this is stunning.

00:36:22.160 I, I, I, I was caught totally off guard.

00:36:25.720 The Holy Spirit's moving here is, is very evident.

00:36:28.960 It's very real.

00:36:30.240 Um, and you're working with, uh, someone who obviously loves Jesus.

00:36:35.940 Dallas Jenkins is so funny.

00:36:37.920 He's an evangelical Christian, um, who obviously is in love with our Lord.

00:36:42.680 And he, it's sort of, you know, it, that sort of speaks itself out of his person.

00:36:47.560 He can't help open his mouth without that happening.

00:36:50.060 Um, so it's great.

00:36:51.720 Uh, are there other members of the cast too, or where is this spirit coming from?

00:36:56.080 Is it all driven by obviously yourself?

00:36:58.000 You're, you're, you're practicing your faith very, very, uh, stridently with, with the help, you know, with, with all sorts of the spiritual help that you can get.

00:37:04.720 But, but tell us a little bit about Dallas and, uh, perhaps others who are directing this effort that, where is this spirit really coming from?

00:37:13.700 Um, well, thank you for, for asking.

00:37:16.340 Um, I, I can't quite speak to, um, anybody else, um, and nor do we, uh, sort of feel that it's our, um, that we're, that I'm able to, to, to, to speak about anybody else's spirituality.

00:37:31.420 But all, all I can say, I mean, you know, Dallas is very open with it.

00:37:35.540 I'm very open with my spirituality.

00:37:37.640 Um, the overwhelming sense on set is a, one of, um, spiritual presence.

00:37:48.460 Um, you can feel the love of God amongst, um, the cast and crew.

00:37:56.280 Um, you know, there's, there's such a, um, a sense of love and pride about what we're doing, um, that it's, it's hard to, it's hard to ignore.

00:38:08.760 Um, and I know, I know there are very, there are a lot of believers on, uh, on the set, both cast and crew, um, that I think contribute to the overall, um, gift that we've sort of been, um, given in the form of this, uh, project.

00:38:32.660 Um, I mean, just how the project came to be, it was clearly the work of the Holy Spirit.

00:38:42.580 I mean, if you, if you hear Dallas's story about the origins of, you know, how the Chosen came into existence, I mean, it was, the fact that it was crowdfunded, um, is, and, and doubled the, the record of the previously crowdfunded, highest crowdfunded project.

00:39:00.020 It's just, it's just, uh, I mean, it's clearly, you know, there's a need for this.

00:39:06.280 God wants his story to be told and he wants it to be told now.

00:39:12.040 And he's, um, he's given us the opportunity to tell it and do it well.

00:39:20.020 And he's brought, um, the nominations of every kind into the project.

00:39:26.380 Um, and it's been such a wonderful ecumenical experience that has been, um, you know, a testament for me to, to the strength of, um, you know, um, you know, that it ultimately God is in charge.

00:39:46.400 And, you know, if, if he wants something to happen, he'll find a way to make it happen and he'll find the right people to use, um, in the process of, of getting it done.

00:40:00.320 Absolutely.

00:40:01.140 So a couple more things for you before I let you go.

00:40:03.620 Uh, first of all, this whole thing seems to be a, a total effort of self-giving.

00:40:11.640 I mean, you're, you've put your, uh, heart into this, your soul into this, your career into this, uh, everything into this.

00:40:19.100 Um, can you speak to that a little?

00:40:22.640 Yeah.

00:40:23.460 Um, because of the amount of times, um, I've played Christ in a variety of projects in the last six, seven years.

00:40:37.480 Um, it's, it's, it's became clear to me that God is using me in this, in this very specific and very literal way to bring people closer to his son.

00:40:50.120 Um, and I, I don't even know if I can really truly wrap my head around the ramifications of that and, and, and the responsibility of that.

00:41:02.360 Um, but, um, it's become a mission for me.

00:41:08.560 You know, I, I always felt that he had given me artistic gifts for a reason and to use them to glorify him.

00:41:15.640 And, um, this is, this particular role is, uh, he couldn't get clearer than that as far as wanting to me to use my gifts to glorify him.

00:41:27.420 I mean, it's literally like, he, sometimes I, I think for me, he knows I need, um, I need sometimes a sign like held up, like do this, do this for me.

00:41:41.760 Like now, you know, I'm like, Oh, wait, what?

00:41:44.560 Oh, Oh, I should do.

00:41:45.920 Oh, okay.

00:41:46.640 I'll do that.

00:41:47.360 You know, I'm a little hard headed when it comes to subtlety.

00:41:50.580 So he, uh, he, he took a much more, um, you know, uh, pronounced, uh, action by allowing me to, um, to play the role of his son and, and, uh, draw people closer to him.

00:42:07.500 Um, and, um, the response as, as kind of, uh, born, born that out in, in that people have really been so, um, infusive in, in, in their, the revelations of, of themselves having a newfound relationship with Christ or having any kind of a relationship with Christ.

00:42:30.000 I, I, I got a message from a woman in Japan who had had a very, a very tough life.

00:42:36.840 And, um, and she was, she, for years, she worked in the pornography industry and, and finally quit that. 0.99

00:42:45.280 Uh, and she got divorced and she had, was raising four kids on her own. 1.00

00:42:50.120 And, uh, just like three, four months ago was studying, uh, you know, got involved with, uh, missionaries in Japan.

00:42:59.140 And, and, and they, uh, she'd never picked up a Bible before and her particular mentor, missionary mentor recommended the chosen to her.

00:43:10.300 And, and she watched the whole thing and she, I was convinced at that point after seeing that and after watching, um, the interview that Dallas and I did that she needed to give her life to Christ.

00:43:23.580 And she was, she was telling, writing me to tell me that that's what she was doing.

00:43:27.860 Um, the prayer hour that I've been doing for 40 days throughout length, um, on my Facebook page and now on my Instagram page, um, you know, I've got Christians and non-Christians, people of all denominations and faiths coming to this page.

00:43:44.460 Um, my, my, my whole thing is like, leave your denominations at the door and don't get into, into denominational bickering.

00:43:53.540 No, no wars on theology, like nothing.

00:43:56.440 We're here to literally worship Christ, to ask for his, um, uh, blessings and his mercy and immerse ourselves in, in infinite compassion through the chaplet of the divine mercy.

00:44:08.740 And, you know, I've got, you know, people writing me saying like, I'm Protestant, but I bought some rosary beads to say the chaplet because I love this concept.

00:44:18.500 I love this prayer of divine mercy.

00:44:21.020 I've never heard of it before.

00:44:22.400 People have told me that they're, they've just gotten enrolled or they're getting enrolled in RCIA now.

00:44:27.880 And like, you know, that the Catholicism has always spoke to them, but they never knew much about it.

00:44:32.380 They had a lot of misinformation about it.

00:44:34.160 So I also try to like tell them what's true and what isn't true and, and, you know, who we do worship, which is the man himself.

00:44:41.540 Like that's, that's our God, you know?

00:44:43.520 And, and so, um, I try to shed a little light in on, because so much light has been shed on my own journey, my own, uh, you know, uh, road to faith, um, that I just feel that, you know, to share that is now an extension of my mission as an active and to bring faiths together.

00:45:03.760 Um, it's been something that's been such a huge gift for me.

00:45:07.320 And, and that's how I think God is really trying to use me, especially now that we're wanting, you know, what else are you going to do?

00:45:16.440 Right.

00:45:18.060 Right.

00:45:18.940 That's right.

00:45:20.860 That's right.

00:45:21.540 If you had a message to give a lot of our fans are very faithful Catholics, um, and, uh, there, there's some others as well who, who watched this program.

00:45:31.520 Um, but what would your message be to them?

00:45:34.360 Uh, and what would you be, uh, encouraging them to do right now, especially during the coronavirus crisis?

00:45:39.660 Um, I'd encourage them to pray the divine mercy chaplain, whether it's on their own, people are happy, welcome to join me, say it in the three o'clock hour Pacific time, um, prayer, um, share your faith with other people.

00:45:57.800 But if you're going to share, share it with boldness, but humility and love, and those are three components that I think have really kind of stuck with me.

00:46:12.160 So, um, we're, we're, we're all God's children.

00:46:26.440 Nobody has, um, the right to tear somebody else down.

00:46:30.980 We're all broken and flawed.

00:46:33.220 Um, but we can learn from each other.

00:46:35.280 So, um, stay humble.

00:46:38.580 Um, with everything, uh, share everything, speak everything in your life with, uh, with love, uh, and compassion and, and forgiveness and mercy.

00:46:50.260 Mercy is, um, mercy is one of the greatest traits that we can ever possess.

00:46:57.080 And there's not enough of it now, especially at a time that we should be sharing, um, love and mercy and compassion with, with all our neighbors, you know, regardless of what they think.

00:47:08.320 And what they, give them a pass, give people a pass.

00:47:13.120 Yeah.

00:47:14.300 Nothing along with it.

00:47:14.940 Beautiful.

00:47:16.540 Jonathan Rumi, thank you so much for being with us on this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.

00:47:20.800 May God bless you.

00:47:21.720 And I pray so many people are blessed by your portrayal of Christ in The Chosen.

00:47:26.480 Thank you, John Henry.

00:47:27.420 It's been an honor.

00:47:29.400 God bless all of you.

00:47:30.420 We'll see you next time.

00:47:31.280 Hello, this is John Henry Weston.

00:47:34.740 I'd like to invite you to subscribe to the John Henry Weston Show YouTube channel if you haven't already done so.

00:47:40.840 There you will find all the past episodes and much more.

00:47:44.500 Thanks again for watching.

00:47:46.000 And may God bless you.

00:47:47.140 See you next time.

00:48:00.320 We'll see you next time.

00:48:04.600 Bye.

00:48:05.200 Bye.

00:48:05.760 Bye.

00:48:05.860 Bye.

00:48:06.220 Bye.

00:48:06.960 Bye.

00:48:07.760 Bye.

00:48:08.560 Bye.

00:48:08.880 Bye.

00:48:08.940 Bye.

00:48:09.760 Bye.

00:48:09.880 Bye.

00:48:10.940 Bye.

00:48:12.000 Bye.

00:48:12.360 Bye.

00:48:12.380 Bye.

00:48:13.340 Bye.

00:48:14.680 Bye.

00:48:15.560 Bye.

00:48:15.700 Bye.

00:48:15.880 Bye.

00:48:16.200 Bye.

00:48:16.580 Bye.

The John-Henry Westen Show - May 01, 2020

An interview with The Chosen's 'Jesus' actor - a devout Catholic

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