April 10, 2025 • 6 mins
George Xanthis joins Jonesy & Amanda to chat about how he brings Apostle John to life in 'The Chosen'.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Well, with Easter just around the corner, it's timely that
we're chatting to our next guest. George Xanthus is back
for season five of The Chosen Last Supper. This is
the first multi series about the life of Christ. This
is the highest crowdfunded TV series or film project of
all time. George high there, he is good.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hey guys, I'm a big fan of the show. By
the way, thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Please. Oh I'm so flattered, flattered that George likes this.
But also John the.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Baptist, John the Baptist, and you know that you're a
Greek Orthodox, yes, but John the Baptist, he exists in
the Greek Orthodox Church as well, a.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Part of Well, i'll tell you what this is actually
really serendipitous. I thought I was John the Baptist as well.
I'm actually John the Apostle in the show. So I
thought I did land the role when I got the
role of the Chosen right at the start eight years ago.
Been on the show since the start, I thought I
was John the Baptist. And in the Greek Orthodox Church
they used to have the pictures of him with his
head on the plate a play and I was like, oh, no,
(01:02):
my character dies like straight away. And I was like
super depressed. They're like, no, no, no, John the Gospel Writer
and I'm like, oh, I didn't know that was a disciple.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find that my character
lives on to old age.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So excuse my ignorance, John, Is it as in one
of the books of the Bible?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, yeah, Matthew, Mark Luke and John.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
That's the wow. And so how did this come about?
You're in Australian you were living in LA at the time.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, I was in LA and it was just basically
an ordinary audition. You get it in your email inbox,
and I just went and auditioned. I auditioned for a
character named Simon. And this is one of the strengths
of the show actually, is that I didn't know it was.
It was biblical. It was basically the show of these
you know, beleagued Israelites in first century Galilee, and there
(01:47):
was a fisherman and a tax collector, and I just
went for the role of a fisherman and yeah, after
a few auditions, I landed the role of John the
apostle who was a fisherman originally.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Have you learned more about that part of history or
your spirituality? How has been part of this role changed you?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well, definitely, Because I grew up Greek Orthodox, I wasn't
necessarily I don't know, it's hard for a six year
old to listen to sermons in church. I don't think
I really understood the stories as much. But with the Chosen,
because the show is from the perspective of all of
the Chosen, from the Disciples, from Mary Magdalen, even from
(02:26):
like the Pharisees and the Romans, so we get a
really in depth view of what life was like in
first century Galilee. And when you do what it does,
we always say it brings the characters off the stained
glass windows, and so you get to hear what this
rabbi was like first person. And so when Jesus is
teaching a message in the show, there's a lot of
(02:47):
context to it. So I am learning more about what
that individual said in that point in time.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Being Greek Orthodox. Recently, my grandson was christened in a
Greek Orthodox church. I'd never been in one, and my
daughter first said to me, she's twenty eight. She looked
at me and she said, so these guys, they support
Jesus as well. They are on the same summer. He's
not the mother of the baby, the guy on the cross, sweetpea. Yeah,
that's the same Jesus. But I was quite taken with
how they christened the baby. They strip him naked and
(03:17):
then dunk him in the cauldron in the big thing
of water.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well everything, oh yeah, well, okay, so the Greek Orthodox
priest that married my parents also baptized me, so they
did that whole thing with me, dunking me in the water.
But then he also married my wife and I and
I actually asked him about, you know, my character, so
it kind of did come full circle.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah, it's it's definitely a really beautiful cultural tradition, Greek Orthodoxy,
and I'm really proud to have been brought up Greek
Orthodox for sure, and it's yeah, it's beautiful. I'm so
glad to hear that.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Great, you know, and also we don't have any sort
of ethnicity in our family, so now we've got a
bit of Greek in there, so you know, great, like
you know, Musaka, all that stuffy bit of perfection with.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
The story we're up to season five. I mean, we
know where we're heading. How far into the story are you?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So, yeah, we've shot seasons one and four already and
season five begins with Jesus on the donkey. So that's
Holy Week. So that's Palm Sunday for those who aren't
aware of the of how the story goes. And so
season five covers the events of Holy Week, and you know,
in the Bible it's probably a few kind of key moments,
but our show has the ability to kind of see
(04:36):
in seven episodes. We're able to see seven to eight episodes,
u to see every single moment that occurred in Jesus's
life in that week. And it ends with him getting arrested,
and we know what happens after he's arrested. He's actually
put on the cross. So that's where our series ends.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
John in all of this, when you know, so Judas
portrays Jesus. Peter also denies that he knows him.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
John's down the show.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
What is John doing while this is all going on?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well John, It's so funny because yeah, John is he's
known as the Beloved Disciple because he never left Jesus' side.
So John was actually the only disciple at the crucifixion.
All the other disciples had kind of scattered away. But
John was actually originally known as one of the sons
of Thunder, so he was actually before he was this
kind of saintly person, he was quite an abrasive and
(05:25):
passionate individual. Let's just say so. John is by Jesus's side,
but he's kind of acting like a bodyguard. He's like,
don't touch my rabbi. He's like, really really passionate about
his rabbi.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
At least you know that you're there right at the
end as an actor. Hey, he's got a right.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
To the end.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Old Jesus is on the cross, and you'll going, hey,
look at me.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
More days on the call.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
She better than having you head on a silver platter. Yeah, well,
this is great, George. It's so great to have you
in the studio. They chosen Last Supper is in cinemas
now or catch Seasons once before on Prime. It's so
great to see George.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
No, thanks so much for having me. And we're in
cinemas right now. We're in there for a week. And
we actually opened at number four in Australia and number
two in New Zealand. Our pre sales are off the hook,
so yeah, it's doing super well in cinemas, and yeah,
thanks guys for having me, because yeah, the show's really
blowing up, and yeah, I'm really proud to be an
Ausy on the show.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
To yourself a favor of this Easter.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Thank you, George, Thank you.
Jersey and Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Well, with Easter just around the corner, it's timely that
we're chatting to our next guest. George Xanthus is back
for season five of The Chosen Last Supper. This is
the first multi series about the life of Christ. This
is the highest crowdfunded TV series or film project of
all time. George high there, he is good.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hey guys, I'm a big fan of the show. By
the way, thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Please. Oh I'm so flattered, flattered that George likes this.
But also John the.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Baptist, John the Baptist, and you know that you're a
Greek Orthodox, yes, but John the Baptist, he exists in
the Greek Orthodox Church as well, a.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Part of Well, i'll tell you what this is actually
really serendipitous. I thought I was John the Baptist as well.
I'm actually John the Apostle in the show. So I
thought I did land the role when I got the
role of the Chosen right at the start eight years ago.
Been on the show since the start, I thought I
was John the Baptist. And in the Greek Orthodox Church
they used to have the pictures of him with his
head on the plate a play and I was like, oh, no,
(01:02):
my character dies like straight away. And I was like
super depressed. They're like, no, no, no, John the Gospel Writer
and I'm like, oh, I didn't know that was a disciple.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find that my character
lives on to old age.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So excuse my ignorance, John, Is it as in one
of the books of the Bible?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, yeah, Matthew, Mark Luke and John.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
That's the wow. And so how did this come about?
You're in Australian you were living in LA at the time.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, I was in LA and it was just basically
an ordinary audition. You get it in your email inbox,
and I just went and auditioned. I auditioned for a
character named Simon. And this is one of the strengths
of the show actually, is that I didn't know it was.
It was biblical. It was basically the show of these
you know, beleagued Israelites in first century Galilee, and there
(01:47):
was a fisherman and a tax collector, and I just
went for the role of a fisherman and yeah, after
a few auditions, I landed the role of John the
apostle who was a fisherman originally.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Have you learned more about that part of history or
your spirituality? How has been part of this role changed you?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well, definitely, Because I grew up Greek Orthodox, I wasn't
necessarily I don't know, it's hard for a six year
old to listen to sermons in church. I don't think
I really understood the stories as much. But with the Chosen,
because the show is from the perspective of all of
the Chosen, from the Disciples, from Mary Magdalen, even from
(02:26):
like the Pharisees and the Romans, so we get a
really in depth view of what life was like in
first century Galilee. And when you do what it does,
we always say it brings the characters off the stained
glass windows, and so you get to hear what this
rabbi was like first person. And so when Jesus is
teaching a message in the show, there's a lot of
(02:47):
context to it. So I am learning more about what
that individual said in that point in time.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Being Greek Orthodox. Recently, my grandson was christened in a
Greek Orthodox church. I'd never been in one, and my
daughter first said to me, she's twenty eight. She looked
at me and she said, so these guys, they support
Jesus as well. They are on the same summer. He's
not the mother of the baby, the guy on the cross, sweetpea. Yeah,
that's the same Jesus. But I was quite taken with
how they christened the baby. They strip him naked and
(03:17):
then dunk him in the cauldron in the big thing
of water.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well everything, oh yeah, well, okay, so the Greek Orthodox
priest that married my parents also baptized me, so they
did that whole thing with me, dunking me in the water.
But then he also married my wife and I and
I actually asked him about, you know, my character, so
it kind of did come full circle.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah, it's it's definitely a really beautiful cultural tradition, Greek Orthodoxy,
and I'm really proud to have been brought up Greek
Orthodox for sure, and it's yeah, it's beautiful. I'm so
glad to hear that.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Great, you know, and also we don't have any sort
of ethnicity in our family, so now we've got a
bit of Greek in there, so you know, great, like
you know, Musaka, all that stuffy bit of perfection with.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
The story we're up to season five. I mean, we
know where we're heading. How far into the story are you?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So, yeah, we've shot seasons one and four already and
season five begins with Jesus on the donkey. So that's
Holy Week. So that's Palm Sunday for those who aren't
aware of the of how the story goes. And so
season five covers the events of Holy Week, and you know,
in the Bible it's probably a few kind of key moments,
but our show has the ability to kind of see
(04:36):
in seven episodes. We're able to see seven to eight episodes,
u to see every single moment that occurred in Jesus's
life in that week. And it ends with him getting arrested,
and we know what happens after he's arrested. He's actually
put on the cross. So that's where our series ends.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
John in all of this, when you know, so Judas
portrays Jesus. Peter also denies that he knows him.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
John's down the show.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
What is John doing while this is all going on?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well John, It's so funny because yeah, John is he's
known as the Beloved Disciple because he never left Jesus' side.
So John was actually the only disciple at the crucifixion.
All the other disciples had kind of scattered away. But
John was actually originally known as one of the sons
of Thunder, so he was actually before he was this
kind of saintly person, he was quite an abrasive and
(05:25):
passionate individual. Let's just say so. John is by Jesus's side,
but he's kind of acting like a bodyguard. He's like,
don't touch my rabbi. He's like, really really passionate about
his rabbi.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
At least you know that you're there right at the
end as an actor. Hey, he's got a right.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
To the end.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Old Jesus is on the cross, and you'll going, hey,
look at me.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
More days on the call.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
She better than having you head on a silver platter. Yeah, well,
this is great, George. It's so great to have you
in the studio. They chosen Last Supper is in cinemas
now or catch Seasons once before on Prime. It's so
great to see George.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
No, thanks so much for having me. And we're in
cinemas right now. We're in there for a week. And
we actually opened at number four in Australia and number
two in New Zealand. Our pre sales are off the hook,
so yeah, it's doing super well in cinemas, and yeah,
thanks guys for having me, because yeah, the show's really
blowing up, and yeah, I'm really proud to be an
Ausy on the show.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
To yourself a favor of this Easter.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Thank you, George, Thank you.
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