Rich Peluso, senior vice president of AFFIRM Films (part of the production and distribution team associated with the movie), said in an interview with CBM, “Risen is a gripping story of a top Roman official ordered to prove Jesus’ resurrection was a hoax by finding the body and crushing His few but passionate followers.

“It’s from his story, an unbelieving, pagan, Roman, powerful man who encounters these believers and who is thrust into really the most important event in human history. So [Clavius] goes in with a vengeance to shut this down,” he says. “But he’s also a fair man and a judicial man, so he’s weighing the evidence.”

“Because of the perspective of coming in this through the eyes of a nonbeliever, it feels very comfortable for nonbelievers to try this story on like a jacket,” he says.

“What we’re seeing from non-Christians and those who do not regularly attend church is that they do not feel preached to. They don’t feel kind of hit over the head with Jesus or the Bible. But, they are intrigued by this man and His followers. They are intrigued by the story of what happened, the birth of Christianity and the fact that the infrastructure of Judea, both the Sanhedrin and the Jewish leadership and the Roman leadership were all about crushing this man and crushing His followers. So that automatically lends them credibility.”

Joseph Fiennes, who plays Clavius, says, “Risen is an incredible noir detective tale. That’s the angle that appealed to me. I am foremost a lover of stories. The Bible is the most extraordinarily rich source of narratives, featuring the most beautiful stories ever written or handed down.”

** Entry to our RISEN competition has now closed.