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What's been the hardest part about making this movie?

Godfrey: The short amount of time that we had to do it. And being away from my family for three months [on the set in Italy and Morocco]. My wife and I have three young children, and she can't really travel because she works, so having to jump on a plane at the end of April and disappear for three months was very difficult—knowing you're going to miss your wedding anniversary and your 7-year-old's birthday.

This story doesn't have the touch points of The Passion, but Bible movies often spark controversy. What are your concerns?

Godfrey: I try not to worry about it, because at some point you hand the movie over to the public, and they're either going to embrace it or not. All you can do is try to make the best movie that you can. I think our intent with the movie is really pure, and hopefully that will shine through.

Maybe the Catholic audience won't appreciate that Mary experience labor pains. I'm not Catholic, but my partner [Bowen] is, and he's OK with it. But I'm married to a gynecologist and obstetrician, so if I made this movie without Mary experiencing labor pains, I probably wouldn't have been let back in the house!

Everybody may have different opinions of all of the in-between bits that aren't written in the Scripture, of how things might have happened. What we've done is just try to present, from our own knowledge of the way people are, how people probably reacted.

Godfrey behind the camera

But ultimately I feel like what you want out of a Christmas movie emotionally is very different from what The Passion had to present. And while Easter is a holiday of rejoicing, Good Friday is much more somber, so that story—and the drama, conflict, and pain of that story—is appropriate. But Christmas is really a time to rejoice. This is the story about rejoicing in the birth of Christ, and it should be uplifting and wondrous.

If it does well financially, would New Line consider doing another Bible movie?

Godfrey: If there is a good dramatic story to tell, I think all of Hollywood will continue to be open to movies of Bible stories, movies about faith-related issues. The more that the Christian and Catholic audience shows that they have a hunger for that material, the more they will be fed that material. That's the economics of the business.

I assume you've had to pinch yourself a few times about being part of this project. What does it really mean to you?

Godfrey: Marty and I both have said that if nothing else happens for us in the movie business, we both felt like we could go to our grave feeling like we had done something meaningful and important to us and to the world. It definitely is fulfilling on that level where you feel like, "This is something I was led to do, we pulled it off, and it's going to make it to the theaters." At that point, again, it's up to the people—and God—to decide how many people enjoy and appreciate it. But hopefully it will be satisfying to the audience we intended it for.

Photos © 2006 Jaimie Trueblood/New Line Productions

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