Hitting multiplexes for Easter, the theatrical film Paul, The Apostle of Christ adapts the historical account of how Christ’s most influential apostle spent his last days while awaiting execution by Emperor Nero in Rome.
Using Scripture as the primary reference, director Andrew Hyatt recreates the story of Paul with a cast of biblical figures, including Priscilla and Aquila. As prominent figures of the Christian community of Rome, they face execution or exile—and wrestle with whether to abandon Rome to Nero’s darkness, or remain in the face of persecution.
“We always start with Scripture, first and foremost,” writer/director Hyatt says in the featurette “Paul, Apostle of Christ: Connection To Scripture.” (Watch it below.) “Everything that we then bring in to try to create the world and to build the palette of characters, it all has to be referenced against Scripture. That’s the number one thing.”
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Watch the teaser: “Paul, the Apostle of Christ”
Affirm Films starts production on feature “Paul, Apostle of Christ”
The film stars Jim Caviezel (Passion of the Christ), James Faulkner (Game of Thrones), Olivier Martinez (SWAT), Joanne Whalley (A.D. The Bible Continues) and John Lynch (The Secret Garden).
In these videos, the cast and crew of take you behind the scenes of the making of Paul, Apostle of Christ:
Paul, Apostle of Christ: The Heart of the Story
Paul, Apostle of Christ: Connection To Scripture
Paul, Apostle of Christ: Biblical Accuracy
ABOUT THE MOVIE
Paul, Apostle of Christ is the story of two men. Luke, as a friend and physician, risks his life every time he ventures into the city of Rome to visit Paul, who is held captive in Nero’s darkest, bleakest prison cell. Before Paul’s death sentence can be enacted, Luke resolves to write another book, one that details the beginnings of “The Way” and the birth of what will come to be known as the church. But Nero is determined to rid Rome of Christians, and does not flinch from executing them in the grisliest ways possible.
Bound in chains, Paul’s struggle is internal. He has survived so much—floggings, shipwreck, starvation, stoning, hunger and thirst, cold and exposure—yet as he waits for his appointment with death, he is haunted by the shadows of his past misdeeds. Alone in the dark, he wonders if he has been forgotten–and if he has the strength to finish well.
Two men struggle against a determined emperor and the frailties of the human spirit in order to bequeath the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.