00:00What attracted you to the role of Prophet Samuel in House of David?
00:06I thought it was an exciting script, and I thought the project was exciting.
00:12And, you know, I've never done a biblical epic before,
00:15and every actor has to do a biblical epic at some point, you know.
00:19It's part of the—it's on my checklist, you know.
00:24But I thought the role was fascinating.
00:28It's a very impactful role.
00:31He's really the ignition, you know, of the entire story in a way.
00:37And then—and it's an interesting thing because I'm playing a role
00:42who is as significant when he is offscreen as when he is onscreen.
00:50What does—and that means that when you are onscreen,
00:55you better be sure to have a lasting impact.
00:59You know what I mean?
01:00You need to make your presence known because the name of Samuel comes up all the time.
01:07It's never far from Saul's mind at all, you know, that Samuel—
01:12where is Samuel? What is he doing? What does he say?
01:15You know, what's going on with Samuel?
01:17You hear that all the time.
01:18So that kind of—that impels me to be very, very pronounced
01:24and powerful in the character, as powerful as I can be.
01:27At the same time, I saw right away that there was a great vulnerability to the character
01:34just because of his advanced age, just because we know that at this point in his life,
01:40even though he's participating and initiating events of historical significance,
01:47the greater part of his career and life is behind him at this point.
01:52You know, he's lived his life as a judge of Israel.
01:55He's commanded the tribes of Israel for many, many, many years.
01:59He's really on the way out and would have gone to probably a happy retirement
02:06had Saul not disobeyed, you know, the word of the Lord above.
02:13And so, you know, the Lord comes knocking again, you know, on Samuel's brain.
02:22That all attracted me to the part.
02:24And what have you learned from Samuel, from your character,
02:29and from working on a show like this?
02:32Well, I've learned that the Old Testament is every bit—
02:38certainly it's got all the blood and guts and drama that we associate with it.
02:46But as when you try to—when you bring it alive through dramatization,
02:53through a narrative written by good writers, directed by good directors,
02:57and acted with really good actors, that you can find all kinds of nuances
03:03and colors in there that you may not have been aware of.
03:07And you wouldn't be aware of just in reading the Old Testament.
03:11For example, when I'm with David, it was totally unplanned
03:16that I would have this response of absolute joy and happiness
03:24and even kind of merriment that I have with him.
03:28That's not something that one would necessarily associate with Samuel
03:33in reading the Old Testament.
03:35But in telling the story, in giving the story the kind of texture and depth
03:40and breadth and width that it needs to be entertaining
03:44and, you know, to make its way to the screen,
03:48then you have to bring that kind of thing to it, you know?
03:53You have to bring as many colors as you possibly can.
03:56So it was a wonderful learning about his own vulnerability,
04:01about his own humor, about his own vanity.
04:06He's quite vain of his hair, you know?
04:08That's something that's not in the Old Testament,
04:11but it's in the house of David, you know what I mean?
04:15That's the poetic license that we take in telling this story.
04:20But hopefully we always remain true to the source material.
04:26And what message from this show do you think will resonate most with the audience?
04:35At heart, this story is about a young boy who becomes a young man,
04:43and this boy has been set aside.
04:46He's been cast out.
04:50He is given the job to be the lonely shepherd, to be by himself.
04:56And he himself feels tremendous alienation.
05:00He feels that he is confused.
05:04He does not know when will his life begin.
05:09What is he meant to do?
05:11Well, being the father of four and the grandfather of six children,
05:17I can testify that this is not an uncommon feeling.
05:22And I wager that every young person on this planet goes through the same feelings of,
05:31why me?
05:33Why not me?
05:34Why can't I play?
05:36Why can I not be part of this?
05:39Why can I not succeed?
05:42And I think that this story, this is a story of a young man's self-actualization
05:49that happens through his own efforts, his own faith, his own aggression,
05:55his own initiative, and some help from the Lord above.
06:00Which doesn't hurt as well.
06:02But that, to me, is the fundamental message, as it were, of this,
06:09the theme, the lesson of this.
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