Judas owes at least a small debt to The Passion of the Christ for its TV resurrection.
Made in 2001, the ABC production waited through two Easter seasons. Finally, with a reinstated movie night on Mondays and the publicity surrounding Mel Gibson's labor of faith, ABC scheduled the tale (tonight, 9 ET/PT).
Judas, whose $5 million budget is a fraction of Passion's $30 million, is destined to live in the long shadow of Gibson's blockbuster, but Father Frank Desiderio, the executive producer, isn't upset.
"I consider it a real advantage that both of these pieces of art are in the culture at the same time. They complement each other, but I also think it stimulates the dialogue because they're very different," he says.
Judas, which features Johnathon Schaech in the title role, examines Jesus' ministry and the growing discomfort of the Jewish and Roman leaders. Passion starts in the Garden of Gethsemane, hours before Jesus is crucified.
Judas' Pontius Pilate (Tim Matheson) is a harsher overlord than the one portrayed in Passion. Judas shows the pressure on the Jewish high priest Caiaphas, who early on is willing to negotiate with Jesus (Jonathan Scarfe) to avoid a Roman crackdown.
Passion has drawn critical fire for what some consider excessive violence and anti-Semitic portrayals, and Judas also has controversial elements, producers say. "You have probably the most reviled human being in the history of mankind, the ultimate betrayer. Can you take that archetype and turn it into a human being? That was the challenge," says Tom Fontana (Oz), who read seven translations of the four Gospels before writing his script.
Focusing on Judas' historical roots in Jerusalem, Fontana presents him as an aggressive city boy, a contrast to the apostles from more rural Galilee. This Judas loves Jesus but misses his spiritual message and sees him leading his people to earthly triumph over the Romans.
Fontana tries to make high-sounding Biblical dialogue more conversational, and he injects humor. Schaech says he was thrown by a friendly roughhousing scene between Judas and Jesus.
"Jesus wrestling?" he says, laughing. "I thought, 'What are we doing?' But then I thought, 'Well, why wouldn't he?' He's a joyful man of the spirit. He would wrestle."
A frustrated Judas eventually betrays Jesus, but Fontana extrapolates from the apostle's return of 30 pieces of silver and shows Judas working to free Jesus.
The movie ends after Judas' death and doesn't show Jesus' resurrection. Fontana says that might anger some religious critics. But he says his ending, in which apostles pray over Judas' lifeless body, shows Jesus' message of love and forgiveness lived on.
Desiderio says Passion shows there's an audience for religious movies, and that's a start: "I hope both movies get people back to reading the Bible so they can figure out for themselves what's fact and what's fiction."