The meeting is fixed in a chic hotel on the Champs-Élysées. “American-style” promotional organization for The Chosen (“the chosen one”), first series on the public life of Jesus, to discover on December 20 and 27, 2021 on C8. Each interview lasts 10 minutes, on the model of the speed dating. We will obtain by force of insistence 25 minutes (in two parts) with Jonathan Roumie, the actor who interprets Jesus.
Around him, a film crew is constantly active. Its members are preparing a documentary on the international promotion of the series, during which they follow the actor who is confronted with the growing success of TheChosen.
Journalists, bloggers, youtubers and influencers follow one another in the reception room of the hotel in front of a Jonathan Roumie who seems exhausted. The actor, naturally introverted, sometimes takes unexpected breaks to take a breather, to be alone. The interviews are running late, the production team is getting impatient. After a good hour of waiting, we finally find ourselves facing the interpreter of Jesus in the series.
He speaks low, his answers are short, almost automatic. However, behind the fatigue, we feel a real spiritual richness in this Irish-Egyptian actor, born Greek Orthodox and converted to Catholicism. Almost a mysticism. “He’s tired of being asked how he appropriated the role of Jesus!” », warned us a member of the team. However, it is difficult to ignore this question! We then try a strategy…
I hear you put on some nice socks today. I’m very proud of mine, with the image of SpongeBob SquarePants, and you?
Ah, I’m Mister Rogers! (He pulls up the bottom of his pants and reveals his socks bearing the likeness of the former host of children’s television programs in the United States.)
Sorry but I have to move on to more work-related questions… A few years ago, you were an actor chaining small roles in Los Angeles. In a few months, you have been propelled into the main actor of a series seen by more than 316 million people. Is success a spiritual battle for you?
All sins, vices, can be used by the “Enemy” (evil, editor’s note) to make you sink, to make you think that you are more important than everything else, more important than God… I think it can really be a spiritual fight. But I am aware of this, I pray, I ask God for help.
I go to mass, I receive the Eucharist, confession… The sacraments, as a Catholic, help me a lot. It’s what keeps me grounded, what helps me take a step back.
The fact that you became famous by playing the Son of God, is that an asset in this fight?
I almost felt the need to correct you when you said I was a “famous actor”. I am not that, really. Some people are ‘famous’, American actor The Rock (Dwayne Johnson, editor’s note), for example. Me, I hope never to be so much. I’m not comfortable with that level of fame, so sometimes it’s a bit difficult for me. But I have no right to complain!
As an actor, fame is a consequence of success. So I struggle a bit to find a way to be at peace with it, and I ask God for this grace, every day. The “promo” side is probably the most difficult to manage, especially when you’re not used to it, and it happens all of a sudden.
The last six months have been very different from the last 20 years of my life. I try to stay in gratitude, I give thanks to God, who allows me to do what I love to do, by telling this story in particular.
The literary genre of the Gospels does not really emphasize emotions. However, as an actor, you have to reclaim those of your character for your acting. How do you envision the humanity of Jesus?
It’s impossible to experience what he is, his inner being as an actor. And indeed, the scriptures don’t really address the emotional state of Christ or the characters, except when it is written “Jesus Wept” for example, when Jesus learns that his friend Lazarus is dead.
So what I’m trying to do is get as close as possible to the emotions, the feelings that Jesus may be feeling depending on the scene. And even that is difficult!
The best thing I can do is to experience every emotion that can be felt in this or that situation in the most intense way possible. So if it’s mercy or compassion, I try to have as much mercy and compassion as possible for the person in front of me in this scene, to feel that as an actor towards my partner.
Has your Catholic faith influenced how you interpret Christ?
Yes. As a Catholic, I have great devotion to the Virgin Mary, new Eve, living tabernacle, the Magnificat, the antithesis of Eve’s actions in the Garden of Eden. My on-screen relationship with Marie reflects that devotion, I think.
As an actor I also draw my inspiration from my relationship with my own mother. When I watch the series, this relationship between Jesus and his mother is really special for me, and I think it is also a consequence of my own faith.
As a sinner, do you ever feel illegitimate to play the Son of God?
There was a real pivotal moment on set, when we were filming episode 6 of the first season, with the paralytic’s recovery. In the series, this is the first time that Jesus preaches in public. As I played this, I felt a great panic seize me.
I didn’t feel worthy to say those words, to do what we were doing. Something inside me said it wasn’t ‘right’. I talked to Dallas Jenkins about it (the director of the series, editor’s note), he responded to me : ” none of us are worthy to do what we do, but we do it, so others can know Jesus more deeply. »
It can also be attacks from the enemy: the risk is to feel so illegitimate, that you come to think that God made the wrong decision by placing you there, at that time. It becomes something of the order of the “anti-ego”, and it’s almost worse than pride in itself.
How has the series impacted your spiritual life?
It made her stronger, that’s for sure. Studying the life of Jesus, spending time with Him, learning more about his actions, the things he did, reading the lives of saints, martyrs… You feel more and more the magnitude of what He has accomplished in his life on earth.
All of this has really made my faith deeper, more grounded. It made me want to be a better version of myself.
Did you rely on certain saints to help you in this project?
Saint Paul speaks of the “cloud of witnesses”, and, as Catholics, we invoke this cloud. In my job as an actor, I often ask for the intercession of John Paul II, who was an actor. I recently received from one of his former Swiss Guards a relic, a piece of clothing belonging to him.
I have a special connection with him and other saints, like Saint Padre Pio. He has been present in my life many times, many times and through different people. I have a very personal and very powerful relationship with this saint.
Did your image of Jesus change as you built your character?
My understanding of his humanity has changed, yes. I imagine how Jesus was as a human. For me, it almost becomes a meditation on his life. This is close to Ignatian spirituality: using your imagination to put yourself in a situation in the scenes of the Gospel, trying to imagine what is happening…
Many of my Jesuit priest friends have told me that they love the series because that’s what they do during their prayers. The thing that I would like to have, and that others have now, is the physical image of Christ. I don’t have that, playing Jesus myself, I don’t look at myself in the mirror like “hello Jesus”! So I draw more inspiration from paintings, icons, or Robert Powell, Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus…
Are you afraid, sometimes, that some people will confuse you with your character, as often happens with other actors, other films and series? Do you ever feel this confusion?
I was approached by fans who said to me: ” I love you jesus “, before giving me a hug. They know I’m an actor! But maybe for them, who have seen the series, I am the face closest to what they imagine to be that of Jesus.
I think they tell me what they would like to say to Jesus. I’m a real-life stunt double, actually. But they know I’m not Jesus. I am only an instrument, a channel of the Holy Spirit.
You said earlier that you didn’t want to be a famous actor. So who are you?
I’m just an actor doing his job, trying to tell stories, serve God and have a little fun doing it all! I try to serve God through the talents he has given me. And to be able to accept all the consequences that come with it.
Jonathan Roumie: “‘The Chosen’ approaches Ignatian meditation”