Miroslaw Baszak admits he was intimidated at the prospect of lensing the $20-million feature The Gospel of John, coproduced by Garth Drabinsky and Chris Chrisafis for Visual Bible International.

‘The stories of the Bible are widely known, and it is present in our consciousness,’ says the Toronto-based director of photography, repped by vanguarde artists. ‘The Gospel of John is a word-for-word adaptation of the Bible [provided by screenwriter John Goldsmith]. We couldn’t change or add anything. It is a challenge because it was [not conceived] as a script.’

The three-hour epic recounts the story of Jesus Christ’s life, according to, verbatim, the American Bible Society’s Good News Bible, as recounted by Jesus’ disciple John. Veteran Canadian actor Christopher Plummer narrates while British actor Henry Ian Cusick is featured in the role of Jesus.

Baszak had never worked with British director Philip Saville before, and the two only met on their first scouting trip to Spain, one of the film’s locations. Saville’s 40-year career has predominantly been on the small screen, credits including The Machine Stops (1966) and Count Dracula (1977) with Louis Jourdan.

‘We hit it off right away, on both a personal and creative level,’ says Baszak.

Director, DOP and production designer Don Taylor (The House of Mirth) started each production day by walking the location. ‘We would map out our approach to the day in the morning, but when filming actually started, nothing was exactly known in terms of how it was going to be covered. Philip gives a lot of freedom to the actors and gets inspired by them,’ explains Baszak.

The Canada/U.K. copro had a 46-day shooting schedule beginning this past January, covering exterior scenes in southern Spain followed by most interiors in March at Jumbo Stage at Toronto Film Studios. ‘It was like a television movie schedule, because we were dealing with a 200-page script,’ says Baszak.

While the approach to The Gospel of John was realism in every sense of the word, from costumes and props to architectural detail and location, the cameraman says they didn’t want the film to resemble a documentary. ‘We wanted to achieve a stylized realism,’ he says.

Saville and Baszak would reference past Christ films, including 1965’s The Greatest Story Ever Told, to see what they would avoid in shooting their own film.

‘We didn’t want to follow the popular iconography of stories of the Bible, and since there are so many visual interpretations of the Bible, it becomes challenging,’ explains Baszak. ‘The elements of style had to come from the story. The imagery wasn’t contrived, imitated or celebrated.’

A two-camera crew was used during production, and Baszak says the creative team spent much time discussing camera technique.

‘Our visual approach was creating something that has a timeless quality, and not necessarily a look of a certain period,’ he says. ‘We didn’t want to stay away from moving the camera because we didn’t want to limit ourselves. If you want the audience to sit for three hours, you want it to be interesting.’

Baszak says in some scenes the camera was static, but in others, the crew used dollies, cranes or Steadicam. ‘The book is so full of little scenes that are so dramatically different that we were conscious that we had to move the camera,’ he says.

The lenser used camera operators on the shoot, an approach toward which he has mixed feelings.

‘Most cinematographers like to operate because it’s such a rewarding part of our job. But at the same time, on a production with a limited schedule and a lot to do, I think the use of camera operators and multiple cameras can be helpful,’ he says. The operators manned an Arriflex 535B as well as a Moviecam.

At the Toronto studio, production designer Taylor modelled Middle Eastern streets and a Jerusalem temple on illustrations and modern photographs.

Baszak says the crew had to be especially organized in Spain since it was winter and the days were short. ‘It was an added pressure,’ he recalls. ‘There’s never enough time, no matter what the budget, but working with the right people can be effective.’

In a bid to streamline the technical process, the DOP used and mixed two types of film stock: Kodak Vision 5279 500T and 5246 250D.

‘I know them very well and I didn’t want to introduce too many film stocks, otherwise the logistics get complicated,’ Baszak says.

The most challenging scene to light was The Last Supper. Baszak says that in addition to having very little time to shoot it, there was no place to hide the lights.

‘You have a small room with 15 people present around a very low table. It is also such a well-known scene, and I wanted to make it look realistic and stylish at the same time,’ he explains. ‘I hid lights behind people, behind the cameras, and hung some from the ceiling.’ Baszak’s lighting kit consisted primarily of 18K, 6K and 4K HMIs.

Baszak was born in Poland, where he initially became involved in theater and acting. It wasn’t until he arrived in Canada in 1983 that he actively pursued a career in film, attending Ryerson’s film school a year later. His first feature film gig was Bruce McDonald’s Roadkill.

The DOP says that while he enjoys lensing commercials and music videos, he tries to do at least one movie a year. ‘For a starting cameraman, doing commercials and music videos is the best way to learn, because you have all the toys and technical support.’

Baszak is keeping busy filming commercials while talk of an upcoming Gospel of Mark is underway.

The Gospel of John made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. The film has enjoyed a limited three-week release in U.S. Bible Belt states, including Kansas, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia and Texas, reaping nearly US$400,000 in total box office so far. It opened Oct. 24 in Toronto and other parts of Ontario.

-www.gospelofjohnthefilm.com