In the third season of The Story of God, Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman continues his travels to ancient religious sites and modern-day centres of spiritual meaning to participate in cultural spectacles, and hear moving personal stories. He explores the ways different religions shape our lives, and the underlying themes that our faiths have in common. James Younger, Executive Producer of the series gave us his insights from behind the camera...
Tell us about the kind of research you had to undertake for this show?
We had to find around 36 separate stories for this season, since each episode normally contains six different segments, as Morgan travels around the world. To make sure we had a mix of surprising revelations and emotionally powerful stories, we whittled down the list to 36 from around 100 ideas. That took several months of research by quite a large team of producers and researchers.
You travelled around the world with Morgan Freeman, trying to understand different religious beliefs and traditions. Which experiences really stood out?
One was meeting one of the Vatican’s leading exorcists, Father Buonaiuto. It showed that exorcism and demon possession is not just an idea from the movies, but a real practice that’s taken very seriously by the Catholic Church. Another was meeting the Kumari, a young girl who is a living goddess in Kathmandu. Newari Hindus regard her as an incarnation of the goddess Taleju, and receive blessings from her. Morgan went to receive one from this five-year-old girl, and was nervous about her smiling when she saw him, which would be a bad omen.
What is your personal take on religion? Has your outlook changed after this show?
I grew up in the Christian tradition, but I was a very loose follower, not going to church more than a few times a year. However, I’ve been interested in other faiths for a long time, and having the chance to explore them deeply over the past three seasons has been an amazing opportunity. I’ve found that if you can look beyond the daily rules and specific doctrines, religious traditions of all types contain a great deal of wisdom.
Do you find an underlying theme to all the religions around the world?
Almost all religions deal with the great mystery of death: What’s going to happen to us after this life. And many of those ideas are similar: Live a good life, and your next life will be better. The other common theme is trying to make us create a good society.
Do you think religion divides as much as it unites people?
I think religions offer people the motivation to come together. But it does not eradicate the darker side of human nature. There will always be people who seek division, and see in it an opportunity for personal gain. Those people would exist with or without religion.
What was your experience like, working with Morgan Freeman?
He’s a great guy. No Hollywood drama! And, he’s always curious, ready to dive into whatever subject we’re looking at, no matter where we are in the world, and how far we are from home.
Apart from narration, what was his involvement with the show?
Morgan is an integral part of the show from beginning to end. He was on the road with the crew for seven weeks during production, travelling to seven countries. And, he gives his on spin on the final narration. We couldn’t do it without him!
From a biophysicist to a producer, how did the transition happen?
I began moonlighting as a journalist while I was in grad school, and after I finished my degree, my passion for storytelling turned into a full-time career. Then a few years later, I landed a job at the BBC in London, and was trained as a producer/director of actual/documentaries. I started making docs on science, and now, I just enjoy telling stories about people, no matter what the focus.
What are you working on next?
I run the Factual department at Revelations Entertainment (the company of Morgan and his producing partner Lori McCreary).
We’re developing more series for National Geographic, and other media outlets. I’m also producing a feature documentary we’re aiming to submit to the Sundance festival this fall. Our mantra is ‘reveal truth’, so there’s a lot of work to be done!
The Story of God airs on National Geographic every Wednesday at 11pm and also streams on Hotstar.