Why does he stay?
Because he’s completely in love with her.  And you can say that love comes from God, but there’s a depth of love that he had.

How much theological discussion was there on set, from changes in script to theology to history?
A lot.  For me, that was incredibly important – that this was a young, Jewish man in the first century – and what does that mean?  Also, little things.  When I do the prayer for the bread, I was told not to say “Adonai” but “Adoshem,” because apparently you don’t say the name of God unless you are in certain circumstances. 

How did you get the accent down so well?
That’s also from Julliard.  They’re really good at teaching you how to manipulate the muscles in your mouth to do different accents pretty quickly.

Was there any kind of spiritual experience for you, making this film?  Was it just work or were there moments where you were alone, and maybe thought about things that you wouldn’t have thought about had you not made this movie?
Absolutely.  I did read a lot in the Bible.  When I picked up that thing about love, I had started to read about love – what’s biblical love.  I was reading about that, and the power of humility.  It had never really hit me before.  When I saw the film, I said, ‘Oh, my gosh.  This is the greatest act of humility.’  This is how God decides to come to Earth.  That’s a really powerful message.

So you have had a bit of a faith walk yourself?  Can you tell us a bit like what that was like, both before and after the film?
Yeah, definitely.  I definitely grew up in a very devout Christian home.  Then, as Joseph, you know, you kind of go through this journey of asking yourself questions, wondering if you’re listening to God in the right way. You rebel in some ways against what your parents teach you, and it’s definitely been a revolution of how I think.  During the film, I didn’t want to get into it in my own head, you know, but doing the film forced me to think about those things – my own spirituality.  Having to play a pious Jewish man and not knowing what that was like. Because I think the Jews in Israel during the first century, there was no separation between them and God.  God was integral to their lives, and to have to play somebody who was that devout, you have to put yourself in that place.

During a part of the journey, Mary prays, ‘Lord, help us.’  Did you ever find yourself praying in the midst of filming, even for a scene to be over, or an animal to cooperate?
Well, even the most non-religious people, the dire circumstances, I think, say, ‘God, help!’  But I would.  I did.  In almost every scene, I would pray for some kind of illumination.  For instance, the Gabriel scene was a hard, hard scene.  How do you play seeing an angel?  So I prayed.  Then I literally just opened the Bible and it opened to Jeremiah, where it talks about this guy and how he reacted when he saw the angel. I thought that was kind of funny.