By Clare BruceThursday 22 Oct 2015MoviesReading Time: 4 minutes
The story of Jesus as a young boy is set to captivate moviegoers worldwide next year, with the coming of a new faith-based film—The Young Messiah.
The movie’s trailer, released last month, promises a powerful, emotive portrait of Jesus of Nazareth as a seven-year-old.
Due to hit cinemas in March 2016, The Young Messiah is not related to the 1980s musical of the same name, but is in fact based on the novel Christ The Lord: Out Of Egypt, by Anne Rice.
Imagining The Private Life Of Jesus
The young Jesus, played by Adam Greaves-Neal, is portrayed playing and having fun.
In the novel, the author imagines what the young Jesus may have been like, based on his adult character traits portrayed in the Bible. It follows the young boy as he tries to discover out the truth about his life, upon his return to Nazareth from Egypt.
The film features the young actor Adam Greaves-Neal as Jesus, and Sean Bean – famous for roles in Lord Of The Rings (Boromir) and Game Of Thrones (Ned Stark) – as a Roman soldier.
It depicts Jesus as a long-haired boy running free and child-like through open fields by day, and humbly kneeling on the ground by moonlight praying to God, “Lord father in heaven, guide me”.
Mary And Joseph’s Private Struggles
Mary And Joseph in The Young Messiah.
His parents, Mary and Joseph, are portrayed grappling with the heavy responsibility of raising a child with such destiny.
“How do we explain God to his own son?” Joseph asks his wife, while Mary is seen advising the young Jesus, “hold your power inside you until your father in heaven shows you the time to use it.”
Film’s Writer And Director A Follower Of Jesus
Cyrus Nowrasteh, co-writer and director of The Young Messiah.
The screenplay for The Young Messiah was co-written by Cyrus Nowrasteh (also the director) and his wife Betsy.
An American-born man of Iranian heritage, Cyrus is a Christian, known in the USA for numerous TV documentary series including The Path To 9/11.
He acquired the rights to the movie in 2011, and said in an interview about the movie that making The Young Messiah was the “most humbling experience” of his career.
“I felt a tremendous responsibility to portray Jesus in as Biblically consistent a way as possible,” he said.
He said the film would prompt people to come out of cinemas talking about Jesus and faith.
Movie Rejected By Many In Hollywood
Sean Bean plays a Roman soldier in The Young Messiah.
Cyrus said there were plenty of obstacles along the path to making the film.
“I think it’s always a challenged doing a faith-based movie and we got rejected all over town,” he said, “and then we sort of resolved to try and do this independently.”
Producer Tracy K. Price said the movie couldn’t be approached in the normal Hollywood way.
“A movie like this could never have been financed in the normal Hollywood structure,” he said. “It took people who believed in the subject matter and were willing to take a risk.”
Film Praised By Author Of “Interview With The Vampire”
Jesus, played by Adam Greaves-Neal, kneels to pray.
The original author Anne Rice is famous for having written The Vampire Chronicles early in her writing career, when she was an atheist.
She later returned to the Catholic faith of her childhood, which is when she began to write Bible-based stories.
After the release of The Young Messiah trailer, she said she was thrilled with how the movie has turned out.
“I support it with all my heart,” she wrote in a post on her Facebook page. “The writing, the directing, the cast — are an author’s dream of fidelity to spirit of the book, and the book’s concerns for biblical and historical accuracy. I’m so happy to share this.”
Anne Rice Brought To Tears By Movie
Adam Greaves-Neal gives a moving portrayal of Jesus as a serious, thoughtful boy.
She said she was brought to tears watching the film for the first time.
“I think they did a beautiful job,” she said of the film’s creators. “I’m grateful. When I was watching it, I was swept up. Forgot I had written the book.”
Her novel Christ The Lord: Out Of Egypt is in fact the first in a two-volume series exploring the Messiah’s private life. She said she hoped the film-makers would consider turning the sequel, Road To Cana, into a movie too.
The Young Messiah is scheduled to be released on March 11, 2016, just before Easter.
More Info
For more details see…
- The Young Messiah Website
- The film’s Facebook Page