Behind the Scenes of JESUS

• Before the filming of the first scene, a team of some 450 scholars began a five-year research program to determine how to portray Jesus in the most historically and biblically accurate manner possible.

• Every scene in JESUS was filmed on-site in Israel as close as possible to the historically accurate location. In many cases, this involved the dismantling of 20th century articles, such as TV aerials, telegraph poles, and wires from above buildings. Once these were removed, the present-day areas looked nearly exactly the same as those seen by Jesus some 2,000 years ago.

• Filming took seven months and included 45 featured actors and more than 5,000 extras, who worked a total of 163,000 days on the production.

• After a six-month search and 263 screen tests, the role of Jesus was cast to Britain's Brian Deacon.

• 4,000 different costumes and 2,000 hats and headdresses were used during filming.

• At the time of Christ, there were 35 known shades of clothing colors used, according to research. In order to keep the film's clothing historically accurate, costume designers had to dye the material two to three times to match the perfect shade.

• A mobile zoo of goats, sheep, camels, and donkeys was transported throughout Israel during filming.

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