JenCarlos Canela On Playing Jesus Christ in Tyler Perry's 'The Passion' on FOX
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Published: Thursday, 17 March 2016 13:24
- Written by Ethan Falk
Meet our modern day Jesus Christ. He’s a 27-year-old Cuban pop star, and a total ladies man. On March 20th, Jencarlos Canela ("Telenovela") portrays the world’s most influential figure in FOX’s live T.V. musical, “The Passion” produced and narrated by Tyler Perry. Canela explains the pressure behind playing such an iconic figure, and why he developed a bromance with Judas played by another singer turned actor Chris Daughtry.
"The Passion" tells the story of Jesus Christ’s final hours through a series of biblical passages scored by a handful of popular contemporary songs. At a recent sit down with Canela, he tells Cinemovie that the music is mind blowing and attributes it to the genius arrangements conceptualized by executive producer Adam Anders (Glee).
“You’ve never heard them in this context, performed in this way before with a different arrangement. We’re talking about a forty-piece choir with jaw dropping skin chilling memorable voices that just captivate you. When you see that power come out of the stage vocally, it’s going to blow our minds. It’s special,” Canela passionately explained.
Acting and singing alongside Canela are stars like Prince Royce (the disciple Peter), Trisha Underwood (Mary), Seal (Pontius Pilate), and Chris Daughtry (Judas), whom Canela revealed he developed quite the bromance with.
“Chris Daughtry has become my brother. We have a bromance. I’m saying Judas and I were chilling all the time! Everybody at Fox saw us at dinner together, him and I, and just laughed, “Look at Jesus and Judas, best friends.” All is forgiven and forgotten,” chuckled Canela.
According to Canela, there was never a dull moment on set. Despite having to endure harsh weather conditions during the preliminary scenes filmed, he had a blast collaborating and singing with his cast mates.
“There were conditions. It was as cold as fill in the blank. There was not one moment where we were dreading it. We were singing 90% of the time. This is what we’re used to. We love that it was all sung.”
Canela realized that after landing the part of Jesus Christ, there would be a ton of pressure and high expectations considering the gravitas of the role. After a moment of clarity, he decided that sharing this story, one that focuses on symbols of hope, love, and peace, outweighed his personal anxieties about taking on the character.
“When I understood no one could fill those shoes, the pressure went away. No human on Earth could ever fill the shoes of Jesus Christ. It’s impossible, so I stopped trying to fill those shoes,” Canela told Cinemovie. “Lets make this about what it really is, the message. The message is bigger than all of us. We’re trying to spread this message of love.”
Tune in on March 20th to witness the two-hour musical of "The Passion" Live on FOX!