The powerful and inspirational story of Jesus comes back to the big screen in the new film Son of God.  It has been ten years since we experienced the story of Jesus in a motion picture. Back in 2004, we saw the film Passion of the Christ, which elevated quite the controversy. Thus, that was only three days in Jesus’ life. It’s been over two decades since the entire story of Jesus was experienced as a movie. Producer Roma Downey describes the responsibility of creating and working on such an important project. “Bringing the gospels to the big screen in this way brings a huge responsibility and one that we took very seriously. We worked with a team of scholars and theologians and faith leaders along the way to ensure that we told the story accurately… We love the Bible and love Jesus. We couldn’t pretend to be experts.”

While the cinematography is beautiful and includes extraordinary landscapes from where they filmed in Morocco, its international cast is what really brought life to the story. Producer/Actress Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Roma Downey, who also plays Maria, the mother of Jesus explained the journey of casting the central role of Jesus. Just a few weeks from beginning principal photography and they had not yet cast the role of Jesus, which was given to Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado. “He really showed up as the answer to a prayer. We were looking for an actor who would have strength and presence and we never for a moment thought that the biblical description of Jesus as being meek meant weak… In Diogo Morgado we found the lion and the lamb,” said Downey.

Diogo Morgado, who is already a star in Portugal, mentioned he wasn’t too familiar with filmmakers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey but after speaking with them, he knew he wanted to work with the couple. “The first impulse I was like, I don’t know who they are. I don’t know what they’re gonna do, but I want to be around these guys because they feel so passionate about it. That’s part of who I am. I am really passionate about everything. It was the beginning of an epic journey.”

Five time Emmy Award winner Mark Burnett, who seemed just as pleased to work with Diogo explained, “What we have here is a very tense political thriller with the Romans led by Pilate and the temple authorities led by Caiaphas, and Jesus leading the disciples, converging on Jerusalem with a ticking clock of past overcoming. And Diogo’s ability to be in that tense situation but to still have the loving and the strength… Diogo gives you that feeling, that you would follow him”.

The actor, who was named one of GQ’s men of the year in 2013, told Newsweek in a recent interview “There’s no way you can do something like this without having a relationship with Jesus. My interpretation comes from what I believe.” Similarly, producer Mark Burnett mentioned that they sent Diogo to Jerusalem before filming to experience for himself where Jesus had walked, “He came from Jerusalem back to Morocco and he said to us ‘you know I realized something. You can’t prep for this, you can’t. I just have to let it come through me’.”

Morgado told us about understanding the responsibility of playing such an iconic figure, “ We’re living in a visual world now. If you give a kid the chance to read the bible or see the bible, see the bible! They’re not gonna read the bible. So it’s important.” He continues, “When I got this I was happy... beyond happy and then I was really scared. I went to Jerusalem. I remember I was next to the crying wall and I saw this father with his kid, ten-year-old kid, and they were praying… I realized what I was about to do would be way more important to that kid than to his dad.”

Son of God is making headlines worldwide as churches and organizations have booked private screenings to watch this compelling story. Reverends and bishops have endorsed the film, including pastors like Rick Warren who said, “This is a tool… This allows us to attract people to the church and make them feel and know Jesus.” In addition, the film will be subtitled in other languages including Korean. The audio has also been dubbed for Spanish speakers and performed by top Mexican actors.

But this journey began some time ago when Mark Burnett and Roma Downey produced the series The Bible, which became the number one cable entertainment telecast of the year and was nominated for three Emmys. The couple launched their own American Christian film and television production company called LightWorkers Media back in 2011. Recently, Republic Records teamed up with 20^th Century Fox and LightWorkers Media to release the original motion picture soundtrack album for the film, already in stores.

Son of God tells the story of Jesus from birth and follows his journey beyond resurrection. This epic and iconic story is powerful, inspiring, and beautiful and as producer Roma Downey said, “This is a big epic sweeping feature film. It deserves the stand alone experience.”

Son of God will be released in theaters this Friday, February 28^th.