It was so nice to see the character of Joseph fleshed out.  Generally, in these types of films, he’s the one character who is off in the background.
Yeah, if you look at all the paintings, he’s the creepy looking guy in the back with all the sheep, just trying to get a space in the picture! (laughs)

And old.
Yeah, old!  Very old.  But that’s something that Mike tried to sprinkle throughout the film – where maybe Jesus learned some of the things Joseph teaches, like the comment [Joseph makes in the temple], “This is supposed to be a holy place!”  Some of those values that are maybe instilled, perhaps from his father. And really, the fact that this is a man whose whole being is one of humility. And I think that was one of Christ’s major teachings.

In “Fiddler on the Roof,” you hear the refrain, “Oh, he’s a good man.”  That’s also a refrain in this film, isn’t it?
Right. The Bible describes him as “righteous” – and that’s it. So how do you, as an actor, play “righteous?”  What does that mean?  Do you stand up straighter? (laughs)  So I had to figure that out, and I realized that it’s actions.  And for me, or for Joseph, righteous meant love.  He looks at Mary.  He doesn’t stone her.  He doesn’t humiliate her publicly – because he’s righteous.  And when I did the scenes, even though I had the anger and the rage and the fear and the doubt, I just loved her so much that suddenly I realized that righteousness means just unselfish, humble love.

Wow.
And that’s what took me throughout the rest of the film.

One of the most poignant moments in the film is when you and Mary look at each other and you say, “How will I ever teach him anything?”  What went through your mind with that thought?  How do you teach the son of God?
That was definitely one of the challenges.  When I was reading and working on the script, I remember thinking, ‘How do I play this? How do I play that I’m going to have the son of God?’ It’s such an abstract idea.  I just didn’t know what to think about it.  Then I realized that that was exactly what Joseph was thinking.  He has no clue what that means.  He doesn’t know if he’s going to come out a full man, if there are going to be millions of angels – or what.  He has no idea what to expect.  So that gave me some freedom to think about those things.

Can you talk about some of the resources and experience you drew upon to go into these deep emotions, especially as someone who is very young and, I presume, does not have children.
It’s funny.  When we were in Italy rehearsing the film, before I really had my “righteousness equals love” revelation, every time we rehearsed that scene where she told me she was pregnant, I would leave.  I couldn’t stay in the room.  I’d want to walk out and hit something.  I couldn’t figure out how to do the scene. I even said, ‘Maybe we should just change it, because I just can’t get there.’  I called my professor from Julliard and he said, ‘Well, you need to find a reason to stay.’  It’s such a simple thing to say but… It’s not saying that you’re not feeling all those things, or that you’re not wanting to choke her or do something, but why do you stay?  I think that helped me figure it out, to think about how you can attack a scene in the deepest way possible.