Mary (2024) Interview: Noa Cohen with director DJ Caruso on the #Netflix film!

Cool. I wanted a young audience to look at Mary and see her in a different light. There's this divine mother that they love or they're used to and holding her son. We were always seeing the heartbreak of her holding Christ. But what was she like as a young woman? Love will cost you dearly. It will pierce your heart. But in the end, love will save the world. Eamon Farron as Satan. Ever since Twin Peaks, I've thought that he was incredible. So it was great to see him nail the role. He was amazing to work with. I wish I had more. We had a couple weeks he was there and he was just such a great actor and so captivating. And yeah, from Twin Peaks on and even, you know, he's just an amazing actor and a great guy. Great guy. Noah, what does it mean to you to play such a beloved religious figure? Yeah, this was overwhelming at first. I'm not gonna lie. You know, I wanted, I just, I know that Mary holds such a central place in the hearts of millions and millions of people. And I wanted to make sure that I portray her in a way that is very respectable. But when we started to work, me and DJ together on the character and the story, I kind of figured out that the key to actually bringing her to life on screen in the way that we wanted to, which is in a way that people will be able to connect with on a deeper human level. So the key to that would be to find the balance between her divine role and her humanity. You know, so we really wanted to focus on who she was as a person, as a young woman navigating those challenges, the divine and the human ones. And religious movies can be a tough nut to crack when it comes to what to show and artistic interpretations. People can be very opinionated about these stories. So DJ, how do you balance showing a different side of Mary while still properly representing the story from the Bible? Yeah, very good question. Yes, we have a great foundation of the story that everyone knows or thinks they know, right, which is great. So you kind of base it in there and you do that and you pay reverence to what it is. But then it's my job as a filmmaker to fill in those voids, right, and to be respectful in filling those in. And how do you tell the story? You have to remember the biblical stories were stories that were told and then finally written down and documented and all that. So that was an aspect. And then there's some historical documents that really gave us a real idea of what the geopolitical time was at the time for Josephus, who wrote that. And then there's an infancy gospel that talks about Mary and her parents. So you kind of take all this text and you sort of put together the narrative and build it and you know that there's always going to be people that, oh, Mary didn't say that or do this or do this. But there's so little of her really in the gospel when you think about the volume and what it is that a lot of what we're used to is already someone's imagination and putting it together. But you pay respectful and do your thing. And then for me, it was really just to make her accessible. And in a weird way, like, cool, I wanted a young audience to look at Mary and see her in a different light. There's this divine mother that they love or they're used to and holding her son. We were always seeing the heartbreak of her holding Christ. But what was she like as a young woman? And how can we how can contemporary audiences relate to her today? So that was really vital. Well, and there will always be criticism when it comes to casting in a religious film. So how much does does that change the casting process when you know there's going to be such scrutiny? Well, for me, it didn't change at all, because I just figured, like, you have to pick the best person and best people you can for the roles. And that's what it is, because acting is acting. To me, I'm old school, like a performer is a performer. And if they can captivate and grab that character. And when Noah's audition came in, you know, you just knew right away. And there wasn't you're not you're not I'm not making a political statement. I'm not doing anything except to like, that's the girl like that is her. And I want her. And she happens to be from the region where Mary was born. Fantastic. Right. So I try not to put any sort of handcuffs on myself when it comes to casting, because you want the best person without compromise for the role. The legend of Anthony Hopkins is larger than life already. So, Noah, what was it like to get to work alongside such a Hollywood heavyweight? Wow, that was something. I mean, just just getting to watch him work. First of all, when he comes out on set, he's like it's like he's a teenager again, right? Yeah, he's the guy. Believe it or not, he's the guy you have to quiet down. Hey, we're still rolling over here. He's just like he comes on set. He's like, he's ready. Great spirit. But also just for me as a younger artist, just to watch him in action and to watch him work and to watch him do a little something different each and every take. That was just so inspiring. He wasn't scared of making choices that were not obvious. And that was just fantastic to see. He's fearless. Did he have any words of wisdom about acting for you? Exactly that. Yeah, exactly that. He was like, just do it. You know, just get up and do it. Do whatever you want. Be stupid. Be ugly. Be whatever. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter because you're going to choose something that works best. So just try a bunch of things. That's exactly what he does. Love will cost you dearly. It will pierce your heart. But in the end, love will save the world.