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How
did it happen that a Danish actor a half a world away from the film
maker came to play the part of Jesus in Testaments? Tomas Kofod
said it was because of ten miracles.
Introduction
and Background
Acting is tough. Good
actors are hard to find. Some roles are impossible.
The day Tomas
Kofod arrived on set to play the role of Jesus Christ in The
Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd—the 70-mm film
playing at Legacy Theater and in the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors
Center—he told me ten miracles had been necessary to bring
him to this remarkable moment in his life.
"Someday I will
share them with you," he promised.
That was almost five
years ago. The film has been playing for some time now and it continues
to have an unexpected impact on the audience—both in and out
of the church. Tomas Kofod's depiction of the Savior has become
a popular point of curiosity and conversation.
Some time ago here on
Meridian, I took you behind the scenes of the movie and inside the
brain of the director. Your response to that article was fascinating.
Your reactions to the film were overwhelming. Your insights and
feelings were greatly appreciated.
We ran this article nearly
three years ago, but since Meridian’s readership has grown
many fold since then, I thought you might enjoy the republishing
of this personal glimpse into the making of the film. I thought
you would like to meet the man who would be Jesus. What better way
to immerse you in the passions behind the scenes?
Editors’
Note: We have published this story almost exactly as we published
it on May 10, 2000 (over 33 months ago). Some tenses have been modified
but the gist of the story remains intact as Kieth wrote it. Since
so many of you have seen the movie The Testaments of One Fold and
One Shepherd but did not get to read this story, we thought it appropriate
to republish it.
Tomas was on
his way to sing in an evening performance at Odense Theater when
I reached him at his home in Denmark. I asked him if he was ready
to share the spiritual insights of his remarkable journey with me.
We agreed to speak early the following morning. He said I could
share these most personal feelings with you.
Looking for the Right Actor
I'll begin his
story with telling you the challenges of mine. How was I to find
someone to play the role of Christ? The film was produced under
the auspices of the LDS Audio Visual department. Over the years
they have cast many men to portray Christ in a variety of films
and videos. Our casting director began with that extensive database.
Of the hundreds of candidates, 63 were selected for screen tests.
They were brought to LDS Motion Picture Studio in Provo. Wigs and
hair were cut and trimmed and put in place. Assorted costumes were
draped and pinned and pulled to create the illusion of the classic
icon. It was an exhaustive effort.
Of 63 anxious actors,
the field was narrowed to 8. These were brought back for a second
round of screen tests and personal priesthood interviews with one
of the brethren who is the chairman of the LDS Church Audio Visual
Committee. All eight of the finalists were presented for a decision.
Of these, we favored three. We felt one of them would be selected
to play this most special of roles.
Our choices were considered
carefully behind closed doors at the highest level. The next day
the word came down. None was accepted. We were astounded.
I was dumbfounded. My
faith stuttered; we had exhausted our resources—or so we thought.
Looking back, the words
of the Savior to his frightening and despairing disciples on the
troubled seas come to mind. "Oh ye of little faith."
When the project began
I was given a blessing by the First Presidency. The assurances given
at the hand of the priesthood sustained me throughout the project.
Among other things, I was promised, "If you are prayerful,
you will be blessed to find the right player to portray the Savior—a
role and depiction so important."
At one level, our faith
compels us to understand that one day, we will look back across
the trials of our lives and from a celestial perspective understand
precisely why things happened the way they happened. It has been
likewise. Looking back across the two years of this project—a
mini lifetime as each film tends to be—we see our mountains
for what they really were, and why we had to climb them.
Background of Tomas Kofod
Tomas Kofod is Danish.
His blood is mingled with the intrepid Vikings who once occupied
the jutting north point of Europe and the isles of the North Sea.
Tomas came to the United States as an exchange student in 1986-87.
Of all the options "under spacious skies," he landed on
the far side of the fruited planes in the shadow of purple mountain
majesty. South Jordan was his first encounter with America.
Mormonism was a curious
part of his adventures in South Jordan, but it would be seven years
before the testimony of Christ would change his life and bring him
into the Church.
"I felt the spirit
at certain points in Utah," Tomas remembers, "and I knew
when I came home to Denmark, that if I was ever to join a church,
it would be the Mormon Church. But being a young man with everything
else going on in my life, it was very easy to put off."
Tomas met Ane Marie,
his wife to be, two weeks after he was baptized into the Church.
Tomas became the second Mormon actor in Denmark, the other being
a man named Eddie Carneal. At the risk of being accused of looking
for a "three Nephite story," I can't resist mentioning
the fact I taught Eddie Carneal the first discussion when I was
a missionary in Denmark 30 years ago. [Tomas assures me there is
no miraculous connection.]
Tomas' First Miracle: Obedience
Back to my conversation
with Tomas. I refreshed Tomas' memory and asked him if he remembered
the ten miracles that brought him to play the role of Christ.
"Remember
them?" he laughed, "I wrote them down." He retrieved
his journal.
Tomas was in a play called
Birdy. They wanted him to be naked on stage. Actors who refuse to
do what the director wants have a hard time staying employed. Denmark
is not a modest place. His protest seemed ridiculous, but Tomas
appealed to the director to find another way to do the scene. Remarkably
the director agreed.
Several months later
Tomas was asked to audition for a play called Rent. He told me,
"I knew the person who was directing so I was certain to get
a part. He wanted me to sing the lead song for the audition. I did
not know what kind of play it was, until I got the music and the
lyrics. I discovered it was filled with all sorts of homosexual
acting, very permissive with almost anything you can imagine. I
did not have any work, nothing in the future, but I told Ane Marie,
"I am turning this offer down. This is a part I will probably
be given, but I am turning it down. I am sure the Lord will bless
us. I wrote the director and told him to count me out."
"When I finally
came to the studio in Provo for the screen test, I was interviewed
by a general authority. Two of the questions he asked me were, "Have
you ever been naked on stage"? and "Have you ever been
involved in something with heavy homosexuality"? It was very
interesting that within two months before that, I had been offered
both of those choices and had turned them down. That was the first
miracle."
Internet Posting
Early in the
process, while our casting people scoured the rosters of LDS actors,
auditioning coast to coast and places in between, I became impatient
and posted a notice on the Internet. Asking the Internet at large
who wants to be an actor is like asking who wants to be rich. I
am still getting email responses from wanna-be actors wondering
where they go to audition. For all its wonder, the Internet is like
a radio signal sent into space. It never ends and bumping into solid
matter somewhere in the universe of cyberspace, it echoes back like
flickering lights from a burned-out star.
I was flooded with responses.
Among them was a note from Denmark. With it was a JPEG image. It
was a black and white photograph of an actor who seemed to be depicting
the agony of Christ on the cross. I was intrigued. I responded and
invited them to send us videotape.
That brief exchange took
place months before we were told that none of our choices were acceptable.
In truth, it was almost forgotten. Days after we were told to keep
looking, a videotape arrived from Denmark.
Having been disappointed
so many times, our expectations were low. Seeing the tape, our spirits
soared. The actor introduced himself. There was something about
him. His name was Tomas Kofod. He lived on the island of Fyn, west
of Copenhagen, Denmark. We flew him to Utah for a screen test. He
sent shivers down our spines. We knew the moment we watched the
audition, we had found the man prepared to play the Savior. He was
approved.
Tomas Has More Miracles
It was fascinating
to relive those events from Tomas' perspective. He said, "On
the very same day I turned down the audition for Rent—the
film with heavily homosexual themes and actions—my wife, Ane
Marie, discovered she could have an email address at her school."
A computer and email was something they had wanted but had been
unable to afford.
But now, suddenly, they
had access to email. His wife sent her first email to a friend in
Orem, a girl whom she met during her two-and-a-half-years as an
exchange student. Ane Marie had joined the Church in Utah, returned
to Denmark, but stayed in touch.
Tomas explained the curious
email connection. "My wife's friend, RoMay Allen, worked with
computers all day, so usually she didn't turn her own PC on when
she got home, but for some reason that day, she did."
The first email Tomas
and his wife ever received was from RoMay. With the email was a
reference to an LDS bulletin board and a call for actors by an LDS
director named Kieth Merrill.
I remember that plea
I sent into cyberspace. I said I was in the eleventh hour looking
for the right actor for a part. I did not say the part was to play
Jesus Christ. I said I was looking for a tall person with penetrating
eyes. It was a one-day posting, but it was there the day it needed
to be there. It all happened in a tiny crack in time.
Ane Marie called home
from the school that day and said, "Tomas, guess what? I just
got hooked to the Internet and RoMay has written me back with this
wonderful news." She read the message to Tomas on the phone.
"In the minute we
hung up," said Tomas, "I was totally overwhelmed by the
Spirit. I sat down on the couch, and I cried liked a baby, and I
did not know what hit me. Of course, I knew it had something to
do with the talk I had just had with Ane Marie, but I did not know
what it meant. That was kind of the first spiritual—shall
I call it "warning"—that something big was on its
way."
The Miracles Go On
The photograph Tomas
sent was not intended to portray the Savior in agony. It just did.
Looking back both of us agreed, it was incredibly significant that
this was the only acting photo he could find quickly. It was the
only image he sent, and the only "first impression" we
could get.
Tomas was in the middle
of rehearsals for a significant part in the Broadway musical Fame.
In Denmark, actors never get excused and keep their jobs. Tomas
needed four days to fly to the United States for the audition. The
theater owner and director approved the absence. Remarkably, Fame
star, Susanne Breuning requested one day away during the same period
and was refused. In spite of that, Tomas reported she was very supportive
of his taking his "once in a life time opportunity." How
ever did she happen to understand?
To us these events may
seem small, coincidental, even insignificant. To Tomas, it was the
parting of the Red Sea.
Synchronizing the schedule
of the filming with the schedule of his commitments and contracts
was another series of miracles. Finding a replacement from the Royal
Danish Theater acceptable to the director and one that could fit
into the one-of-a-kind costumes was like throwing the parts of a
watch into the air and watching them land all assembled.
The world seemed to move
on its axis just enough to allow it all to happen.
Tomas said, "There
were so many times it was so close that you can't believe it. Things
that were way out of my or anyone's control—other than our
Heavenly Father's—just worked against all odds."
Tickets and Birthday
Getting the tickets to
come to the audition was another miracle for Tomas. The tickets
had been seized in Danish customs and held until the day of the
flight. They were finally and unexpectedly delivered by United Parcel
at 1:00 am—3 hours before his plane left for New York.
"When I woke up
on the morning of my audition in Provo, Utah," Tomas told me,
"it was on my 30th birthday. It was not the day before. It
was not the day after. It was on my 30th birthday."
The tradition holds of
course that Christ began his ministry when he was thirty years old.
It held great significance for the man from Denmark—the man
who would be Jesus.
Audition
In recalling his adventures
at the audition, Tomas and I laughed a lot. He felt tall and skinny
and out of place. His nose was too small. He spoke with a Danish
accent and at the last minute they asked him to memorize a whole
new set of pages—difficult under any circumstances. Very difficult
in a second language. Very, very difficult with what he called "Church
English."
And then he told me this.
"My friends, my wife and I had been fasting and praying. I
had felt my own spirituality subtly rising through the week, yet
when we came to the actual screen test it was chaos."
His memory serves him
well. It was chaotic. In our second great search for the actor we
had obviously missed, there were many actors invited to the studio
that day to audition for the part of Christ. We kept sending them
back to change costumes, fix beards, add make up, or part their
hair a different way.
Tomas remembered, "I
was sitting in that chair, they are messing with my makeup, they
are fussing with my hair, I'd been given new pages to memorize.
And looking out the hallway I just saw one ‘Christ’
after the other walking by—all of them looking great. It was
a little bit humorous but it was also very intimidating. I felt
so misplaced. I knew I wasn't tall and athletic. I was just tall
and skinny and Danish. I was shivering all over. I thought, when
I get in front of that camera they will just laugh me out and say,
‘What a waste of money having him come over from Denmark.’”
"Elder Neil L. Andersen
of the Seventy was watching," Tomas said. "He asked me
if there was anything I would like different in my makeup so I might
feel better. I said, 'I would like a little bit of shade on each
side of my nose. I think the Savior had a little more nose than
I have.'"
"The makeup girl
stepped in and added the shades of makeup. When she was done, she
stepped aside, clearing the mirror and—for a startling moment—I
thought I was looking right into the eyes of my Savior. I looked
like my expectations of what he looked like. I was totally overwhelmed,
and the tears streamed down my face. I remember worrying that I
was destroying the makeup. That was the second time the Spirit strongly
testified to me, ‘You will be doing this part,’ It whispered,
‘You can do this. Be calm.’”
This moment was such
a gift for Tomas. It has been my experience in directing actors
over many years that the challenge to project yourself into another
human being can be exhausting. To think what they thought, and feel
what they felt, and respond as they would respond in given circumstances
is an extraordinary talent. Those who do it best become absorbed
by a dimension of reality it is hard for us to understand. Can you
imagine taking on the challenge of portraying the Savior?
Tomas is a brilliant
actor. In portraying the Savior he managed to project himself in
ways it is difficult for most of us to understand. At the end of
our filming days, we were totally exhausted.
The spirit seemed always
present, and at times was so near that our hearts were tender to
the edge of tears and deep feelings of reverence not easy to explain.
Filming the Crucifixion
 |
Kieth
explaining action to Tomas Kofod. |
The day we filmed
the crucifixion, I saw Tomas weeping. He sat alone on the crude
pallet constructed near the place of execution. I was concerned
we had injured him. I sat beside him. I put my arm around his blood-stained
shoulders and asked him if he was all right. We wept together as
he shared with me then what he gave me permission to share with
you now.
"I think the day
at the crucifixion must have been the high peak of my experience,"
he said. "I didn't understand the pain the Savior suffered,
because I didn't experience any pain that was comparable to His."
Yet for a mortal, that
day of shooting was miserable. His arms were held fast to the cross
beams as the executioners simulated the driving of the nails. To
add realism, I had the man playing the part of the Roman strike
the cross beam with his five pound hammer will all his force. Held
fast to the beam, Tomas was severely jolted-though, of course, the
nails were not pounded into his hands. These scenes were so intense,
and the portrayal of the suffering so acute, that in their wisdom,
the First Presidency asked me to drop three of the shots I had included
in my original cut.
"There were many
times it was unpleasant for me," said Tomas. I came home with
bruises all over from carrying the cross beam and from having my
arms hammered to the cross while I was lying on my back and they
were pounding the nails.
"My arms and back
were blue. Hanging in the harness and having the ropes around my
hands when I was scourged were painful but, of course, nothing compared
to His. But I think what I did come to understand was something
of the humiliation He suffered."
Tomas reminded me that
I had had his lower stomach shaved, and in the rush of things, I
hadn't asked, permission or explained, just ordered it done. Directors
do that.
"They came up to
me, " Tomas grimaced. "No one said a word, they just shaved
me and I felt so humiliated that you cannot imagine it. It was just
a little thing, but suddenly it struck me, ‘What must they
have done to Him? They humiliated Him in so many ways.’
"I had always thought
of the pain—but in our attempt to reenact those terrible events,
I realized the humiliation He endured. He was ridiculed, mocked,
scourged, and spit upon." Tomas paused a long time. In his
home ten thousand miles away, I could hear his voice quiver as the
memories flooded into his heart again.
"I think He was
naked," Tomas finally said with a voice of a man who had been
there. The voice of a man who really seemed to know things others
of us do not understand. "I think they stripped Him completely
and that at times in his torment, He was totally naked. I felt somehow
that He was forced to suffer that total measure of complete humiliation
and shame. "
Tomas is probably right.
Crucifixion was the cruelest form of torture, and the Romans added
humiliation to the pain. They stripped their victims naked and crucified
them along the road so they would be a public spectacle, open for
ridicule and shame.
Garden of Gethsemane
While the world focuses
on the cross, we understand it was in the agony of Gethsemane the
marvelous atonement began. We cannot begin to understand or comprehend
how much the Savior suffered in those dark and lonely hours.
No actor can adequately
portray events that transcend mortal understanding. Few of us will
ever transport ourselves into that moment the way that Tomas Kofod
was forced to do. Few of us will ever take our emotions where Tomas
went. I found his memories of playing this moment of Christ's crowning
achievement most fascinating.
"The most spiritual
experience for me was the filming of the Garden of Gethsemane."
Tomas told me. "It was already very late. We were going over
schedule. I thought to myself, ‘This is the most important
event in the whole history of the world, and we are doing it on
overtime.’
"It was the one
scene I wanted to do right—to do perfectly—to honor
my Heavenly Father. I was most anxious. I was not sure how to do
it—and then I remembered a time in my life when it was very,
very difficult being a member of the Church. I was at the actor's
school, and they threatened to kick me out because I was a Mormon.
"I went home broken
hearted—and I told my Heavenly Father, ‘If you want
me out of this school and want me to lose my education and job and
everything, I will lose it because I will not lose you.’ And
I told him that. That is where I went through 'my Garden of Gethsemane.'
That is where I learned to say and mean, 'Thy will, not mine be
done.'"
Tomas has been generous
to me in his compliments and gratitude. But it is I who have been
blessed by my association with the man who would be Jesus. It was
his honesty that brought him into the Church. It was his diligence
in keeping the commandments that kept him worthy. It was his obedience
of "Thy will, not mine be done" that brought him forth.
It was his faith that the Lord is directing our lives that prepared
him to play the greatest of all roles.
He played it brilliantly.
The prophet promised us that if we were prayerful, we would be blessed
to find the right player to portray the Savior—a role and
depiction so important." Tomas was the answer to that prayer.
He was the realization of that blessing. He was the man who would
be Jesus—and when the moment came he was the vision that the
prophets saw.
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