01/02/2013 - Filmmakers not worried about potential blasphemy accusations

Director Chris Cullen has wrapped principal photography on micro budget independent Irish feature Jesus: The Remake for Cork-based Epic Productions. In the film, Jesus is a musician who uses his songs to get his message out to the world. He, along with his girlfriend Maggie, form a band with some of the apostles and begin to tour locally in Ireland with his songs being his sermons, and the gospels are blogs. Coverage on social networks, including Facebook and YouTube, gain the band a cult following. The attention is not, however, universally positive with two dogmatic priests threatened by his claims of divinity. The entire film cost the makers just €2000.

Cullen said, “The film is actually very respectful to the story in the bible. We just re-imagined it in a modern setting. I very much doubt anyone will take offense.”

Producer Justin McCarthy said, “A few people with strong religious beliefs have commented about our impending blasphemy and, although we’re not too worried about using Jesus as a character in a movie, after all, it isn’t really anything new; we do anticipate that the film will create a little controversy in a slightly different way. The antagonist, for example, is a rogue priest who will stop at nothing to rein in this self-appointed musical messiah.”

The film enjoyed in-kind support from the Cork Film Centre and the entire cast and crew worked for free with the team pulling in favours wherever possible. A festival route beckons, prior to a distribution deal being struck.