Behind the Scenes Featurette!

Here is a wonderful behind-the-scenes clip of "The Nativity Story" with commentary from the writer, Mike Rich, from their official website:



(Click here if the video doesn't play)

"Nativity" trailer first shown with "Superman Returns" film

According to this site, "look for the first trailer for THE NATIVITY STORY with SUPERMAN RETURNS." Stay tuned.....

Watch below for the basic teaser trailer.



Read a review for the teaser trailer here.

"Nativity" featured in TIME magazine

In the June 26, 2006 edition of TIME Magazine, a small synopsis of "Nativity" is featured:

WHEN MARY MET JOSEPH--THE ROAD TRIP
In her movie Thirteen, director Catherine Hardwicke took a less-than-romantic look at the antics of adolescent girls. Now she's taking on another teen with a big secret in The Nativity Story. The film, which could also be called The Passion of the Christ: The Prequel, follows young Mary's life in Nazareth and her journey to Bethlehem with Joseph (OSCAR ISAAC). Taking the part of Mary--the key role, as any Christmas-pageant organizer can attest--is Keisha Castle-Hughes, 16, the New Zealander who swam to an Oscar nomination in 2002's Whale Rider. She has been "fearless, dazzling, an almost ageless spirit," says Hardwicke. Castle-Hughes gamely learned to milk goats, which, to the dismay of little kids everywhere, are played by real animals.

"Here's the Buzz" on 'Nativity' from consultant Sister Rose Pacatte

You may have noticed that a film named NATIVITY is beginning to appear in magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, Christianity Today, and this week’s Time. It stars Whale Rider’s Kiesha Castle-Hughes as Mary and Oscar Issacs as Joseph, with Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen; Lords of Dogtown) directing. Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) is Elizabeth and Ciaran Hinds is King Herod. Mike Rich, who wrote Finding Forrester and The Rookie, penned the screenplay.

Whale Rider is one of my favorite films of all time, and when I learned that Kiesha was playing Mary, I thought, “This is perfect casting.” She's fifteen now and just the right age to play Mary.

NATIVITY is about the year before Jesus was born as lived by Mary, her family, friends, Joseph. It also reflects the religious and socio-political situation of the times. NATIVITY will be released world-wide on December 1, 2006 by New Line Cinema.

It was an honor and a privilege to be included in a group of journalists (television, print, and online) in May to go to Matera, Italy, (south of Bari) where much of the film was being shot. (The action has now moved to Morocco.) We had the opportunity while visiting the “set” (several acres big; they were shooting Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem the day we were there) to speak with the producers, Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, writer Mike Rich (and his lovely wife, Grace), Catherine Hardwicke, Kiesha Castle-Hughes and Oscar Issacs.

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, Pasolini’s Gospel According to St. Matthew, and Christ Stopped at Eboli (based on the novel by Carlo Levi) were all filmed in Matera as well.

My feature article on NATIVITY will appear in St. Anthony Messenger (http://www.americancatholic.org/messenger/Dec2006/eye_on_entertainment.asp#F4) later this year, but I wanted you to know that this film is one of the good ones. Visiting the re-created villages of Nazareth and Bethlehem was inspiring; the script is warm and inviting. I think that NATIVITY will become the Christmas classic we will want to see every year.

Here are some of my photos. Watch this space! More to come. The group picture was taken in the hotel. I am standing in the doorway of Mary's house in Nazareth. Matera is located in the "arch" of Italy's "boot". The other two pictures are of the production...

Catholic News Story about "Nativity"

This article covers several aspects of "Nativity," written by another journalist who visited the set in Matera, Italy.

Scriptwriter Mike Rich said he wanted the story to flesh out who Mary and Joseph were and what emotions they must have felt as they faced the immense responsibilities God entrusted to them...However, he said he felt the story of the Nativity had always been presented as an "event-based" story: what happened and when, with little about how the protagonists lived their faith. After months of research and input from religious scholars, Rich started writing what he called "a character-based story." Rich, a nondenominational Christian from Beaverton, Ore., said that even though his story was speculative he still sought to keep it faithful to the spirit of the biblical account.

Hardwicke said that when she first saw the script's title she thought it would not be interesting because she knew the story of Jesus' birth "backward and forward." But she said she was "intrigued because the writer got inside the heart and soul" of the characters...She said that in directing the movie she tried to build on making the characters seem real on the screen so people could easily identify with them and see how ordinary people, like Mary and Joseph, were able to take such a huge leap of faith.

A Behind the Scenes look at making "Nativity"

Here is a fantastic behind the scenes report on the filming of "Nativity." They started shooting in Matera, Italy, which was completed there on June 2, and then on to Morocco where filming will end on June 30. A sample:

I was one of several Christian journalists invited by New Line to spend a recent day on the set of The Nativity Story. After flying into Rome, we took a short flight to Bari and then a one-hour drive into Matera, nestled in the hilly arch of Italy's "boot."

Founded by the Romans in the third century B.C., Matera is home to ancient cave dwellings believed to have housed Italy's first humans some 4,000 years ago. Some of the more "modern" buildings include a 13th-century cathedral, high on a hill in the middle of town. Matera so resembles ancient Palestine and Israel that other Bible movies have been filmed in the same location—Pasolini's The Gospel According to Matthew in 1964, and Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ in 2004.

"The joke is that Matera looks more like Jerusalem than Jerusalem does," says R.J. Millard, New Line's marketing consultant.

Mychael Danna to compose "Nativity"

Mychael Danna, a Canadian film composer with credits such as Capote, Vanity Fair, Antwone Fisher, and Ararat and brother of fellow film composer Jeff Danna, has been attached to the film to score the soundtrack.