Zefirelli prevented the Messiah from blinking and his protagonist had to get married during filming: the curiosities of Jesus of Nazareth

• Cinema Franco Zeffirelli: the woman of his life, María Callas;

  the man she fell in love with, Luchino Visconti

• Lives What happened to actor Robert Powell, the protagonist of 'Jesus of Nazareth'

45 Good Fridays ago, in 1977,

's Biblical mega-production ,

was released on television.

The miniseries was first broadcast

later

and, two years later, it landed in

, on La 1, where it has been shown more than 30 times.

And it is that, according to critics,

is one of the most valued projects of religious cinema, as well as

.

What's more, in its first year alone, the series was watched by

And although the director was more than satisfied with the result, he and Robert Powell (who played the Nazarene) had to admit that

In fact, the British actor had to overcome a dozen obstacles to personify one of the most important men of all time.

For example,

his girlfriend, among other curiosities that we reveal today in LOC:

1. The casting forced Powell to wear a blonde wig.

Robert Powell, in the series Poirot.GTRES

As Zeffirelli himself always commented, he wanted

to play Jesus.

But when he saw Robert Powell - who went to the casting to play Judas - he realized that

and that perhaps his image could fit more with the profile of Jesus in the West.

As a result, Zeffirelli asked Powell to be cast as the Messiah so he could test the character with the Sermon on the Mount scene.

But since the team was not ready, the only thing they had to offer the Briton was

of a strange color.

Quite a show, according to the attendees.

Yet Zeffirelli was equally convinced that Powell was the one.

2. The demanding diet of Jesus

It's not that Robert Powell was overweight or anything similar.

But Zeffirelli had the idea that Jesus

so he asked his star to go on a diet.

Above all, to an

before filming the crucifixion.

What was it about?

According to Powell of "starving to death".

"Franco believed that to look worn out he had to be starving, so I

before filming the crucifixion. So, in addition to being nervous and tired, I was very hungry," the actor said in an interview. some years ago.

3. Zeffirelli did not allow Jesus to blink

The Italian director knew exactly how he wanted to portray Jesus.

He wanted him to be

who could relate to a community like any other, but he also wanted him to have certain details that would make him unmistakably divine.

And one of them was the fact that

Except in one scene: the crucifixion, in order to show the sorrow that

4. The rule that prevented white clothing

For many, white is synonymous with purity, so it would be inconceivable not to dress Jesus in white in a miniseries that tells of his life... But Zeffirelli ordered the team

In fact, in several scenes, María appears with mantles or white tunics, but she never appears 100% white.

Likewise, Jesus uses light,

but he never has such a luminous aura.

The reason?

Zeffirelli wanted to do

Not something that resembled what others had done before.

5. The strange reasons for the actor's marriage

During filming, Robert Powell never showed that he was a person who liked controversy.

Still, it did

And it is that the actor's girlfriend -

- decided to accompany him during the filming in

.

However, in some countries it was frowned upon for them to

so the couple had to make a hasty decision and so that their girl would not be expelled from Tunisia, Powell decided to kneel down and later

6. Powell's technique to keep warm on the cross

Perhaps, for some, the presence of Barbara Lord was considered a distraction for Powell.

But the truth is that his wife - who was a dancer - helped him in many scenes.

As in the crucifixion, where

For example, it is rumored that she was the one who procured

so that her crush would feel more comfortable (and less frigid) on the cross, where he was covered by a single blanket.

7. The accident that marked the filming

According to Powell himself, the crucifixion was

in

and not only because of the emotional burden involved, but also because he suffered an

that almost cost him his life.

"As I began my journey to the cross,

a board, which I carried on my back for a stretch of the street. Then I was lifted, with that same board, through ropes. But, in the first take, the bar started to slide down and it

if someone hadn't grabbed the rope that was controlling it. Because I couldn't handle it, my arms were tied up," Powell said in 2015.

8. Powell's nervous breakdowns

According to numerous reports, Robert Powell was

up, that people would reproach him for not looking like Jesus Christ, or that they would start criticizing him for his performance.

I mean,

However, when the series debuted, all doubts about him dissipated.

His work pleased a large part of the public and even many people began to believe that he was the very Nazarene.

That is the reason why the interpreter

He felt that people recognized him too much and that they expected things that he could not or did not know how to do.

9. The censorship of the series

After its premiere,

was highly praised by critics and

requested it to be broadcast in their countries.

However,

it, because some conservative groups criticized the way Zeffirelli had told the story of Jesus, in addition to reproaching

had within the series.

Despite this, that censorship only lasted a couple of years and the production is now available to Egyptians.

10. Zeffirelli's hidden identity

Franco Zeffirelli and Maria Callas.GTRES

In much of the statements that Zeffirelli conceded for

, the director emphasized that he

"The sacred texts are messages of life and in the Gospel there is everything necessary to live," he said in one of his first interviews, for which many of his fans began to consider him a character very attached to the Bible.

That's why, when

many wondered if he hadn't done it before for fear of losing the millions of fans he had amassed with the series...

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