Interview with historical consultant Mark Goodacre
The Passion's historical consultant Mark Goodacre was always going to have strong opinions when it came to producing an authentic version of Jesus's last days on Earth – and not just for academic reasons.
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"One of my hobbies is watching Bible films. I love watching them even though most films about Jesus are terrible," asserts Mark, Associate Professor of New Testament at Duke University in North Carolina.
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"So having spent a lot of time watching them I was very aware of some of the things that can be pitfalls and wanted to avoid them this time around."
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Mark was asked by producer Nigel Stafford-Clark to draw up a historical background on the story in advance of the production. As Frank Deasy's script took shape and filming began he remained on hand to deliver expert advice when needed.
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Mark argues that the drama couldn't be taken literally from the Gospels.
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"If you try to stick too strictly to the Gospels you sacrifice drama. So I tried not to be a scholarly nerd. Otherwise you end up with a wooden, literalistic interpretation, not drama," he says.
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Instead he directed the production to a wide range of sources, including Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived in the first century AD.
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The aspects that Mark was most keen to see presented in a new light were the portrayals of Pilate, Mary Magdalene and, in particular, the High Priest Caiaphas.
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"In some Jesus films, Caiaphas has bad teeth and looks villainous. You never understand why he is doing what he is doing. He is just an evil man doing evil things. Not only is that historically ridiculous but it's dramatically poor.
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"I felt that if we could make the Jewish High Priest a realistic and three-dimensional human character that would be a great step forward. I am so pleased that we now understand his motivations," says Mark.
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"The key to that is political. In the ancient world, there was no democracy so the biggest threat to a leader like Caiaphas was that people might rise up and riot. Mob rule was the only way people could depose a leader. So your overriding aim was to prevent riots. In Mark's Gospel there is a mention that they feared a riot.
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"That must have been a motivating factor. Caiaphas was a very good political leader in that sense. He knew what needed to be done to keep a peaceful Jerusalem. And he knew that a peaceful Jerusalem is somewhere where the Passover can be carried out successfully.
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"In this version we see Joseph of Arimathea arguing with Caiaphas. We see there was a dispute. It wasn't an easy decision for Caiaphas," he says.
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Mark was also keen to shine a more revealing light on the other traditional villains of the story, Judas and Pontius Pilate.
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"Pilate is the most important person historically there. He is the highest status official. Historically people have described him as a ruthless character and also a vacillator. He was insecure and troubled and someone who couldn't make his mind up," he says.
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"This version captures all these facets of his personality. He's not whitewashed but nor is he a cartoon villain. So the audience gets to agonise with him. We meet his wife so we can see him as a family man rather than simply a ruler given to strutting about delivering orders."
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The inclusion of his wife in this story also allows the drama to make use of another biblical detail – the dream that she had about Jesus.
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"Pilate's wife did have a dream. It's in Matthew 27. She tells Pilate of her dream and says not to do anything to Jesus. This warning adds to Pilate's insecurities and indecision."
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But the most difficult character to develop was Judas, continues Mark.
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"The Gospels tell us very little about Judas's motivation. It just says Satan entered him and we don't talk like that these days.
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"We need to know human motivation. You have to invent a back story for him that makes sense to a contemporary audience but does not go too far from the Gospels.
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"What I like is that he is caught up almost as an unwilling participant. The fact he is a kind of special agent is purely an excellent piece of dramatic imagination."
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Mark also likes the fact that in Frank Deasy's script, Judas is portrayed in his 20s.
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"He is a young man. Not a wily, sly old man. He is out of his depth. The pitfall often with Judas is that he is made dark and manipulative, a person who is doing it for the money. Historically and dramatically that doesn't make sense. You have to find something that makes him intelligible. I believe Frank's interpretation does this."
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Finally, Mark is delighted at the way Mary Magdalene is portrayed in The Passion.
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"For the first time, she is not portrayed as a prostitute. There is a great history of her being portrayed this way but there is nothing about it in the Gospels. There was a prostitute in Luke Chapter 7. But she has no name," he says.
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Instead Mary Magdalene is presented as one of Jesus's financial sponsors.
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"We know from Luke 8 that she was travelling with Jesus. It's far more likely she was a woman, perhaps an older woman, with a private income. She could have been a widow. That would make much more sense," he says.
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"I said why don't we be the first to show this. I didn't expect them to do it but they did."
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