Dream big and dare to fail.
NORMAN VAUGHAN
When Touched by an Angel wrapped after nine glorious seasons, my daughter, Reilly, who was six and a half at the time, and I moved back to Los Angeles. I wasn’t sure what was to come next, but I was ready for a bit of downtime. I had worked consistently for almost a decade with hardly any time off, and I was tired. I needed some quiet space so I could gather myself, trusting that I would be guided to the next thing.
I enrolled Reilly in school; we found a lovely, welcoming church; and life began to find a new rhythm. Then, not long after returning to L.A., when I least expected it, I met Mark. We fell in love and knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, so we married and merged our young families together. Mark and I hadn’t worked together before, but of course we were in similar fields. He was producing television shows, and at that time had already achieved incredible success with the reality show Survivor. But we both longed for a chance to work on something together and hoped to incorporate our faith into that work. I had had the privilege of bringing my faith to my work for all those years on Touched by an Angel, and I wanted my work life and faith life to be aligned again.
As a family, we loved watching movies together. Given our professions, we watched a lot of new movies, but every now and then we would pull out an old classic. One year, around Easter, we put on The Ten Commandments and gathered as a family in front of the television set. But the film did not hold our young children’s interest like we thought it would. Having been made over sixty years earlier, the film was just too old-fashioned for them; and while it is, of course, one of the classics, the truth is that our kids found it outdated and a bit slow.
One morning a few weeks after this, as we were sitting on our porch having a cup of tea, I mentioned to Mark: “You know, no one has ever done the Bible as a television show. We should do that.”
Mark looked at me and laughed. “What, the whole thing?”
I laughed, too. “Well, there is certainly a beginning and an end. We’d just have to figure out what stories to include in the middle.”
That conversation was the first step in one of the largest undertakings in our professional careers.
It was truly a Herculean task, to take a thousand-page document, beloved and revered by so many people, and bring it to the small screen in a way that honored our faith and glorified God. But what an exciting opportunity to bring these stories to life for a whole new generation. I felt ready to step outside my role as an actor and step into the role of producer.
Mark and I spent hours together, imagining what it could be. If we were going to pitch this idea, we had to know exactly what it was going to entail. The New Testament felt easier to figure out, as it has a clear narrative beginning with Jesus’ birth and ending with his death and resurrection. But the Old Testament is more challenging. It spans so many years and has countless characters. There were obviously some stories we knew we had to incorporate, and then we had a wish list of others we thought might work well on the screen.
We soon reached out to a friend of ours, the president of Pepperdine University, and asked him to gather some of the theologians on his staff to be a sounding board about the project. We had an incredible meeting with these bright and faithful minds. They were encouraging but agreed it would be challenging. They promised to begin praying for us immediately.
You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.
WAYNE GRETZKY
When we would mention this project to other friends, we wouldn’t always get such encouragement. In fact, many of our friends tried to dissuade us from pursuing it. They thought we were nuts. It’s too risky, too big, what if you get it wrong, it could be dangerous or you might look foolish. You can’t win, you will fail. No one cares about the Bible anymore. No one will buy it in Hollywood, and it could be a big, noisy, humiliating flop!
We heard their concerns and didn’t necessarily disagree with them. We called in prayer, and we moved forward in faith. We chose to listen to the positive whisper of encouragement in our hearts rather than the loud negative noises of the outside world.
There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
ARISTOTLE
Eventually we found the perfect partners at the History channel and Hearst. The team at History immediately understood our hope for the scope and scale of the series, and they stepped up and partnered with us. We compiled a very large team of Bible consultants and theologians to make sure we brought the story to life accurately. Our intention was to bring the global audience closer to God through these amazing stories.
As the writers were shaping the scripts, we began casting in London and Los Angeles and scouting locations; and before we knew it, we were set to begin filming in Morocco.
Yet one cast member eluded us.
We were just weeks from beginning principal photography, and we had not yet cast our most important role: Jesus. To say this made us nervous would be an understatement. He was, after all, our leading man.
Obviously it takes a special actor to portray Jesus, who is so much more than a character or historical figure. This person must have the special presence to portray someone both human and divine. In addition, he must be ready and willing to take on the role, which would be both daunting and difficult.
I was beginning to get worried, and I reached out to all my friends and church prayer circles with an email whose subject line made us all smile: “Looking for Jesus.” I prayed fervently, asking God to send me the perfect actor to play the Lord, and then to let me know him when he showed up. Then, through a remarkable series of “coincidences,” I was sent a videotape of an actor reading on camera. It got my attention right away, and the small voice within me told me to follow up. I found out the tape was of the Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado.
I called his agent and asked whether he could come in for a meeting. His agent thought I was calling from London and said, “I’m so sorry, but Diogo is out of the country right now.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“He’s in L.A.,” the agent replied.
I laughed out loud. “That’s where I am,” I said with glee. “Can he come by my home office tomorrow?” I asked.
“I’ll find out,” the agent said.
Sure enough, he was able to come.
I was waiting in the hallway with Mark when we received the call that Diogo had arrived. We have glass on our front door, so we were able to peek out as we watched Diogo open the garden gate and walk up the path to our house.
As he approached, a huge monarch butterfly the size of a small bird swooped down in front of his face, almost knocking him off his feet.
I was sure it was a sign.
I started to laugh and turned to Mark, who knew exactly what I was thinking. “There he is, Mark,” I said with a smile. “There is our Jesus.”
And Diogo walked through the door and into our lives.
If there had been any doubt in my mind before, it was all gone now—I believed that butterfly was a sign from God.
When The Bible finally began airing on the History channel in the spring of 2013, it exceeded everyone’s expectations. The ratings were incredible, with over 100 million people eventually viewing it. Even more special was the personal feedback we began to receive from people around the country. They shared what it was like to watch these impactful stories together as a family and how it created an opportunity to discuss matters of faith with their kids. People were talking about Jesus around the water cooler. They were talking about The Bible on talk shows and morning shows; it was such a blessing to see how the series was being used to touch people’s hearts and remind them of God’s love.
Shortly thereafter, Mark and I were honored with the chance to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., to an audience of leaders from all around the world, including the then president of the United States, Barack Obama. We talked about undertaking this project and the significance of bringing the Bible to national television, and shared about our own personal faith and what it felt like to be called “the noisiest Christians in Hollywood.” We knew that with that title came great risk and great responsibility.
I think back to those many conversations with people who tried to convince us we would regret pursuing this project. They had only seen the reasons to be afraid.
I am sure that it helped that there were two of us. I’m so thankful I had Mark by my side. I know that pursuing this task together strengthened us in our resolve to move forward, and, I think, strengthened our marriage and friendship as well. I can’t help but feel that God brought us together “for such a time as this.”
Two was better than one, and together with God’s help, we knew we could do it.
I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
JOSHUA 1:9 (NRSV)