The Gospel of John is a 2003 epic film that recounts the life of Jesus according to the Gospel of John. The motion picture is a word-for-word adaptation of the American Bible Society s Good News Bible. This three-hour, epic, feature film follows the Gospel of John precisely, without additions to the story from the other Gospels or omissions of the Gospel s complex passages.

Cast

• Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus of Nazareth
• Christopher Plummer as The Narrator
• Stuart Bunce as John
• Daniel Kash as Simon Peter
• Stephen Russell as Pontius Pilate
• Alan Van Sprang as Judas Iscariot
• Diana Berriman as Mary, mother of Jesus
• Richard Lintern as Leading Pharisee
• Scott Handy as John the Baptist
• Lynsey Baxter as Mary Magdalene
• Diego Matamoros as Nicodemus
• Nancy Palk as Samaritan Woman
• Elliot Levey as Nathanael
• Andrew Pifko as Philip
• Cedric Smith as Caiaphas
• Tristan Gemmill as Andrew
• Stuart Fox as Blind Man
• David Meyer as Lame Man
• Nicolas Van Burek as Young Levite
• William Pappas as Elderly Levite

Production

This film was created by a constituency of artists from Canada and the United Kingdom, along with academic and theological consultants from around the world. The cast was selected primarily from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and Soulpepper Theatre Company, as well as Britain s Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre. The musical score, composed by Jeff Danna and created for the film, is partially based on the music of the Biblical period. The film was produced by Visual Bible International. Filming took place in Toronto, Ontario, and Almeria and Andalucia, Spain.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 37% of 49 critics reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website s critical consensus reads, The Gospel of John takes a reverent approach to its story without ever bringing it to life, proving that cribbing from the Good Book isn t enough to guarantee a good movie. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 52 out of 100 based on responses from 14 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews .

Criticism

While the film is largely a faithful depiction of the Gospel of John, one reviewer noted that the inclusion of Mary Magdalene at the Last Supper has no direct Biblical citation, and might cause issue with viewers who prefer only direct scriptural references.

Year	2003
ReleaseDate	2003-11-14
RuntimeMins	180
RuntimeStr	3h
Plot	The story of Jesus’ life as told by the apostle John, narrated by Christopher Plummer.
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 3 nominations
Directors	Philip Saville
Writers	John Goldsmith
Stars	Henry Ian Cusick, Daniel Kash, Christopher Plummer
Produced by	Chris Chrisafis,Garth H. Drabinsky,Martin Katz,Joel B. Michaels,Sandy Pearl,Clyde Wagner
Music by	Jeff Danna
Cinematography by	Miroslaw Baszak
Film Editing by	Michel Arcand,Ron Wisman Jr.
Production Design by	Don Taylor
Art Direction by	Ian Brock,Collin Niemi
Set Decoration by	Carolyn Cal Loucks
Costume Design by	Debra Hanson
Makeup Department	Debra Johnson,Burton LeBlanc,Bea Millas,Trefor Proud,Kelly Shanks,Geralyn Wraith
Production Management	Lynn Mallay,Javier Navarrete Fernández-Nieto,Peter Welter Soler
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Sarah Campbell,Ana Gallardo,Andrew Shea
Art Department	Deryck Blake,Carlos Caneca,Jean-Andre Carriere,Currofito,Vladislav Fedorov,Nahía Fito,Sergio Kolomiyets,Matthew Lammerich,Erin Leslie,Robert J. Lewis,Michael Madden,Jeffrey A. Melvin,Elizabeth Moran,Vicente Peñalver,Chris Swann,Eva Torres,Donald Vandewater,Richelle Wilks
Sound Department	Matt Ahrens,Steve Baine,Nick Foley,Michael Gabriel,Matthew Hussey,David Lee,Andy Malcolm,Matthew McKenzie,Colin McLellan,Stephen Muir,Peter Persaud,Ted Swanscott,Andrew Tay,Brandon Walker,Robert Warchol,Marilee Yorston
Special Effects by	Bob Hall,Laird McMurray,Stephen Wallace,Ray Comiso
Visual Effects by	Andrea Adams,Nick Bedford,Martin Body,Jim Bowers,Steve Cutmore,Rick Hannigan,Ben Hicks,Diane Kingston,Paul Round,Mark Slade,John Swinnerton,Mark Tureski,Chris Wallace,David C. Bryant,Fortunato Frattasio,Mitch Goldstrom,Christopher Stack,Colin Walcott
Stunts	Carson Manning,Darren Marsman,Juan Manuel Torres Gómez
Camera and Electrical Department	Peter Battistone,Krystian Bednarski,Dave Bouskill,John Duke,Dave Ferguson,Bryan Forde,Greg Haddow,Marek Krawczyk,Edward Lipscombe,Monty Montgomerie,Brooke Palmer,Mark Willis
Casting Department	Jonathan Payne,Brad Warshaw
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Catherine Ashton,Sylvie Bonniere,Michele Harney,Loreen Lightfoot,Trelawnie Mead,Robyn Rosenberg
Editorial Department	Tom Mayclim,Sandy Pereira
Music Department	John Banks,Kevin Banks,Mat Bartram,Holly Carroll,Stephen Cera,Paul Clarvis,Jeff Danna,Nicholas Dodd,Olga FitzRoy,Brad Haehnel,Stuart Hall,Jan Hendrickse,Jake Jackson,Robin Jeffrey,Tom Jenkins,The Philharmonia Orchestra,Hossam Ramzy,Paul Talkington,Allan Wilson,Paul Shatto
Transportation Department	Pedro César Artero,Juanito Fernández
Additional Crew	Juan Aguirre,Patricia Aguirre,Christopher Comrie,Alfonso Garcia Lopez,John Gaskin,Hannah Hempstead,Anthony Pangalos,Jules Pereira,Ronan Quinn,Sue Sparling,Jen Stivala,Angel Carlos Villarias
Genres	Biography, Drama, History
Companies	Gospel of John Ltd., Toronto Film Studios, Visual Bible International
Countries	Canada, UK
Languages	English
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	7.7
ImDbRatingVotes	3853
MetacriticRating	52
Keywords	jesus christ character,john the baptist character,mary magdalene character,pontius pilate character,judas iscariot character