Ewan McGregor is Jesus: ‘Last Days in the Wilderness’ finally hits theaters after 7 years of filming

What if Last Days in the Wilderness was the true story of Obi Wan Kenobi’s exile on Tatooine? In any case, that’s what a fan envisioned using the trailer for a Star Wars reboot in 2016, before the Disney+ series was announced.

Indeed, “Last Days in the Desert” was filmed in 2015 under the direction of Colombian Rodrigo Garcia. After a secret release in the United States the following year, the feature film directed by Ewan McGregor has yet to be released in France.

It is now being made, 7 years after filming, through Mission Distribution Cinéma. Of course, the film doesn’t depict Obi Wan’s journey to Tatooine after the events of Star Wars Episode 3, but it bears an uncanny resemblance to the Jedi Knight’s spiritual side.

If Ewan McGregor is wearing a Jedi-like outfit, we’re far from an SF story. The British comedian plays Jesus – and the devil – in an imaginary chapter of forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert.

As the future Christ leaves the desert, he wrestles with the devil over the fate of a family in crisis and tests himself dramatically.

Ironically, Ewan McGregor is now the third actor from the Star Wars franchise to play Jesus, after Max Von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and Kenneth Cole in Life of Brian (1979).

The Human Dimension of Jesus

The son of writer Gabriel García Márquez, Rodrigo García has mainly portrayed women in his films such as What I Know About Her… In Plain Sight, Nine Lives, Mother and Son and Albert Nobbs.

With his last days in the wilderness, he follows the point of view of one man, not just any: Jesus.

“I take the figure of Jesus and explore the human side of his life. I don’t know what the divine side feels like, so I decided to treat Jesus and his difficulties like an ordinary person.”emphasizes the director.

Initially, the director was looking for a 30-year-old actor to play the role of Jesus, but his producers convinced him to contact Ewan McGregor, who immediately agreed to the project.

From OBI WAN to Jesus Christ

The actor lost weight to approximate the physique of a man who fasted in the desert for 40 days. But the biggest challenge was the spirit of his character.

“I realized that I really had to play this boy Rodrigo, named Yeshua, who walks in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights trying to reconcile with the mission that his father has for him.

He knows that God wants him to return to Jerusalem, begin preaching, and finally die for mankind. Once I started thinking like that, it became less scary.”The 51-year-old actor analyzes.

For a mythic interpretation of Obi-Wan in the Star Wars saga, “Last Days in the Wilderness” does not attempt to convey a religious message.

“The character I play is Jesus, but we’re not making a film about the gospel. We’re making a film about fathers and sons. We’re using Jesus Christ and his journey through the wilderness as a backdrop to explore that theme.”– says the actor.

For Rodrigo García, it’s a coming-of-age story, but also an evocation of the power of storytelling.

“The world is a story that God tells us and rewrites. It can be said that in this film Jesus is trying to rewrite the history of this family. And as the author, I myself interpret the story of Jesus. He presents him as a literary character and a new part of his history.”he explains.

A MADE IN USA shooting

Surprisingly, “Last Days in the Desert” was not filmed in Morocco or Israel, but in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, located a few hours east of San Diego, California.

The director found this place on the Internet: “It was beautiful, but part of me was like, ‘Am I really going to make this Jesus movie four hours from Los Angeles? It’s not working.'”He confides.

However, the film crew did shoot in the US, all under the supervision of Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Terrence Malick or Alejandro González Iñárritu’s collaborator.

Given the film’s modest budget, the cinematographer suggested using natural light whenever possible. The director recalls that Lubezki told him:

“To go out there with a full crew of hands and power equipment would take so much manpower and so many weeks of filming to move the equipment that it would be ridiculous.”he reveals.

Beyond good and bad

In the film, Ewan McGregor plays a double role, Jesus (Yeshua) and the devil (Lucifer). During the filming of the film, the actor called on his long-term student, Nash Egerton, to deliver the line.

“He voiced me in Moulin Rouge and Star Wars, so we asked him if he could play the opposite side of those scenes with me. Nash plays the devil when I play Yeshua, and he watches what I do in that role.

Then we would talk and I would respond to Nash saying those lines as I heard them for the first time. “emphasizes the British.

Last Days in the Desert hits theaters on August 17.