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Away in a manger in an ancient village in southern Italy, the cattle aren't lowing, but the snakes, unfortunately, are hissing.

I'm in the heart of Bethlehem—OK, it's actually a movie set near Matera, Italy—and I'm standing in front of an empty stable that will serve as the real-live manger scene for The Nativity Story, an upcoming film about Joseph and Mary and the birth of Christ. Currently being shot in Matera—and later in Morocco—the New Line Cinema production will release worldwide on December 1.

The typical nativity creatures are kept nearby for filming the defining moment—cattle, an ox, some sheep, a donkey … pretty much what you'd expect.

But as we're gazing into the now-empty stable, an uninvited guest makes a cameo appearance: A five-foot long black snake slithers past the straw-filled trough which, just a few hours later, will hold a three-week-old boy, a local Italian infant as the baby Jesus. Crew members and set designers scurry away; some say the serpent is harmless, others, standing further back, aren't so sure.

"Whatever you do," yells one, "don't tell Keisha! She's terrified of snakes."

Keisha Castle-Hughes, a former Oscar nominee, is the 16-year-old New Zealander playing the role of Mary. But at the moment, she's a few miles away on a donkey, filming a scene on the road to Bethlehem with Miami's Oscar Isaac, who plays Joseph.

We all agree: Mum's the word. Keisha will never hear a peep.

Director Catherine Hardwicke

Director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown) wouldn't want to know about the snake, either. She's already had a few uncooperative animals on the set—sheep running astray in the hills, magi-carrying camels refusing to walk down the street (while 200 extras waited for the cameras to roll), and at least one donkey that brought his own, er, "gift" to the stable where the babe lay in swaddling clothes.

While shooting segments of the manger scene the night before, Hardwicke said all of the animals were on their best behavior for one particularly perfect take—docile, photogenic, even seemingly watching the baby in the manger.

"It was one of those beautiful moments," says Hardwicke. "And then, five seconds after I said, 'Cut!', the donkey gets up and takes a dump."

I was one of several Christian journalists invited by New Line to spend a recent day on the set of The Nativity Story. After flying into Rome, we took a short flight to Bari and then a one-hour drive into Matera, nestled in the hilly arch of Italy's "boot."

Founded by the Romans in the third century B.C., Matera is home to ancient cave dwellings believed to have housed Italy's first humans some 4,000 years ago. Some of the more "modern" buildings include a 13th-century cathedral, high on a hill in the middle of town. Matera so resembles ancient Palestine and Israel that other Bible movies have been filmed in the same location—Pasolini's The Gospel According to Matthew in 1964, and Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ in 2004.

"The joke is that Matera looks more like Jerusalem than Jerusalem does," says R.J. Millard, New Line's marketing consultant.

Matera looks much like ancient Jerusalem

Indeed, old-town Matera does have that "Bible times" look, as do two major sets—Bethlehem and Nazareth—that New Line built in the surrounding countryside. We took a stroll through both sets (while filming was occurring elsewhere), visiting the Bethlehem stable where Christ would be born (preferably without a slinking serpent), and the Nazareth home where Mary grew up. There's a fake olive tree in Nazareth that was also used in The Passion of The Christ.

Both sets transported us back 2,000 years; it seemed as if we were visiting the real deal.

It's the kind of authenticity that screenwriter Mike Rich (Finding Forrester, Radio, The Rookie), our host for the day, strove for when he decided to write the story in late 2004, after Time and Newsweek simultaneously ran cover stories on the Nativity.

Screenwriter Mike Rich

"My father had passed away recently," says Rich, "and I was looking for something deeper to write—something that would take me into a new area other than sports."

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A Rich Retelling	Printer view
Screenwriter Mike Rich faced a daunting task in bringing Joseph and Mary—and Christ's birth—to cinematic life, but he felt led to do it anyway. The result, The Nativity Story, hits theaters in December.