Raquel Laguna/ SUCOPRESS. Jon Erwin talks in this interview about creating, writing and directing the TV Series House of David. Jon Gunn, Alexanda La Roche and Michael Nankin are the other directors. HOUSE OF DAVID tells the story of the ascent of the biblical figure, David, who eventually becomes the most renowned and celebrated king of Israel. The series follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls victim to his own pride. At the direction of God, the prophet Samuel anoints an unlikely, outcast teenager as the new king. As Saul loses his power over his kingdom, David finds himself on a journey to discover and fulfill his destiny, navigating love, loss, and violence in the court of the very man he’s destined to replace. As one leader falls, another must rise. Actors Michael Iskander, Ali Suliman, Ayelet Zurer, Stephen Lang, Indy Lewis and Martyn Ford star in HOUSE OF DAVID, coming to Prime Video on February 27th.
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00:00What inspired you to adapt this biblical tale for television?
00:07That's a great question.
00:08I fell in love with this story first,
00:11that spark of curiosity, when I was 16 years old.
00:15I went to Israel with my dad and my first camera.
00:18He bought me a camera with money he didn't have,
00:20and we went to all these ancient sites.
00:22And I just...
00:26These ancient stories kind of sprang to life.
00:29And I remember going to the tomb of King David
00:33and being like, who was this guy?
00:35That 3,000 years later, we're still singing his songs
00:40and telling his story.
00:41And this term, David and Goliath,
00:44has become synonymous with the underdog
00:46and the hero's journey and destiny.
00:50And so I just got very curious at that young age.
00:53And so my entire career as a filmmaker
00:56has been sort of trying to develop the skills necessary
01:00to let someone say yes to me telling the story of David.
01:05And so I'm very grateful that I'm getting to do that now.
01:09And it's a dream come true,
01:13and a project that I deeply love.
01:15And, you know, I look forward to audiences seeing it.
01:19How did you manage to put together
01:22such a diverse and talented cast?
01:27The cast is amazing.
01:28We consider this a show for the world,
01:31and the cast is from all over the world.
01:34And I think that, you know,
01:38we try to tell the story in an epic way,
01:40but at the end of the day, it's the real humanity
01:43and the performance of the characters
01:45that I love the most.
01:47And the cast is literally from all over the world.
01:50And it's a wonderful group of people.
01:55Many actors from Israel, from the Middle East, from Spain,
01:58many from the UK, from France.
02:00Like, you know, it's just this wonderful ensemble
02:03of voices from all over the world,
02:05and they do a marvelous job on screen.
02:08And I love the actors.
02:10You know, I love the time that we get to spend together
02:15and they really do a great job in the series.
02:19Biggest challenge for you,
02:21creating, writing, directing, the whole thing?
02:25Yeah, well, you know, you try to lead a team of people.
02:29I'm one member of a team.
02:31There's almost 700 people working on the show.
02:35And, you know, that starts with my creative partnership
02:39with John Gunn, an amazing filmmaker, and the cast.
02:42I think the hardest part was finding David.
02:45We looked for months and months and months,
02:47looked at thousands of people.
02:49And the moment we found Michael,
02:52we all just knew this is our guy.
02:54And that was probably the biggest hurdle
02:57and biggest challenge.
02:58I could not be more proud of him
03:01and all that he accomplishes through the series.
03:04He does a marvelous job.
03:06You know, what's very interesting about the, you know,
03:08the hundred years of cinema
03:11is that when you think about other biblical events
03:14like the parting of the Red Sea,
03:15the life of Jesus, the crucifixion,
03:17you know, there's a lot of iconic portrayals.
03:21You know, Cecil B. DeMille has, you know.
03:25With David, there's not really as much.
03:28There are portrayals, but there's not as many of them.
03:33And so I really wanted to bring David and Goliath
03:37to the screen in a way that was unique
03:39and maybe in a way that had not been done before.
03:42And certainly it was so amazing.
03:44I'm a feature film director.
03:46It was amazing to be able to do this as a television series
03:49to spend eight hours just exploring David's young life.
03:55And you could really explore the character.
03:57So by the time you got to the Valley of Allah
03:59and the standoff between David and Goliath,
04:02you had explored so many characters
04:04in a way that you can't do in a movie.
04:07And I really, really enjoyed that process.
04:09It was wonderful.
04:11It was a lot of hard work, but I really enjoyed it.
04:14I guess as a filmmaker with any project,
04:17you learn something new.
04:19What have you learned making House of David?
04:23I've learned that television is a lot of work.
04:27But I think I've also learned that, you know,
04:34it's a wonderful thing to step beyond your fear
04:38to something you feel called to do.
04:40That's what David did.
04:41When he stepped out to face Goliath,
04:43he stepped out in spite of his fear.
04:45He would have been terrified.
04:47And yet he stepped out into his calling,
04:49into his destiny.
04:50And I think whenever you're called to do something
04:54that's big, it will scare you.
04:56But the idea is to...
04:58Courage is not the absence of fear.
05:00Courage is the ability to step beyond your fear
05:02because of what you're passionate about.
05:05And I think that's what I learned from the story.