Tom Jennings - Writer and Producer There was a moment during the filming of Secret Jesus when even the most jaded members of the cast and crew thought we had gone too far. We were on an old movie set in a dusty Moroccan town called Ouarzazate – a bedraggled village made famous years ago for being the place where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. The scene was typical enough – Jesus carrying the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, taunted by the crowds, beaten by Roman soldiers, on his way to crucifixion. It’s an image most people can easily see in their minds – the horrific final hours of Christ. But just then, our scene stopped – a moment frozen in time. The only person moving was Jesus. He set the cross down on the cobblestone street. An actor playing Simon the Cyrene approached. In traditional Bible stories, Simon was forced by Roman soldiers to help Jesus carry the cross. That was not the case in Secret Jesus. With the other actors still frozen, Jesus removed his crown of thorns and placed it on Simon’s head. The stunned, somewhat confused Simon then bent down, shouldered the cross and began the long journey out of town toward his own execution – the crowd again in motion, tormenting him. Jesus stepped back into the crowd and laughed as he watched Simon being led away in his place – a bizarre, tortuous moment of mistaken identity. Jesus turned and walked in the opposite direction – ready to move on with an apparently happy and long life. Those of us putting together the show couldn’t help but wonder – what the heck were we doing? Our Moroccan extras – people who had played out the traditional crucifixion scene in dozens of film and television shows – were bewildered. Their eyes said it all – “These people are crazy. That’s not how the story goes.”