By Josie Gagliano
Young Australian actor George Xanthis makes his presence felt in the complex religious historical drama series The Chosen, playing Jesus’ beloved disciple John.
After some major Aussie roles (including playing John Travolta in the Olivia Newton-John biopic Hopelessly Devoted To You, as well as appearances in Les Norton and Australian Gangster), charismatic Sydney-born George Xanthis has been making waves internationally, first with his role as George Stephanopoulos in Ryan Murphy’s Impeachment: American Crime Story, and now with the quietly powerful drama The Chosen. A crowd funded success story, this TV series created by Dallas Jenkins takes a gritty, real-world approach to The Bible, telling of Jesus’ complex relationship with his disciples before his crucifixion. With great clarity and warmth, George Xanthis takes on the role of John, one of Jesus’ most beloved disciples.
Let’s go back to 2018, and the very first season of The Chosen…
“It was just an ordinary audition process, but when I actually read that first script, I had no idea it was about Jesus and the disciples. The synopsis for the first episode was like, ‘a down on his luck fisherman considers selling out his own people so he can settle his tax debt to the Roman government’. From the start, it’s about the perspectives of these everyday people who we eventually come to know as St. Peter and St. John. I first auditioned for Simon Peter [the character’s name is Simon, who turns into Peter], who was a fisherman. And then literally as soon as I got home, I got an email. It said the creators of the show really loved what I did, and attached were script pages for a character named Quintus, a snarky Roman praetor. I read for Quintus, and then on day three, I found out that I got the role of John! I don’t know how auditioning for Simon, who is a poor fisherman, and then Quintus, who is literally the evil villain, got me the role of ‘John The Beloved’, the disciple. Now, having seen John’s journey, John is the more abrasive of all the disciples, which is a cool story. His story is one that I always say is from ‘thunder to love’, so it would be kind of boring to have John as this compassionate disciple the whole way through. I think some of the aspects of those other characters is what they saw for John.”
The Chosen remains the most successful crowdfunded series of all time…
“I’m going to give a shout out to my friend, actress Izabela Vidovic, who was part of a project called Veronica Mars, which was the most crowdfunded media project of all time. I was on set with her, and I showed her my phone. I said, ‘Our series just overtook Veronica Mars as the most ever crowdfunded series’. I think The Chosen ended up raising 12 million dollars or something along those lines, so we really have been put on the screen by the fans, in record fashion.”
When you first arrived on set, it was very much a small budget setting, I would imagine?
“It was definitely a small budget, indie film feel. Everyone was interacting with each other, and no one was isolating themselves in their dressing rooms. The director Dallas Jenkins was talking to absolutely everybody. That culture has remained on the show, even though it’s a big TV show now. The family feel is still there. I had the pleasure of working on an Apple TV+ series [WeCrashed], and FX, which is a subsidiary of Disney, and it’s cool, you learn so many things when you’re on those sets. [George played George Stephanopoulos in FX’s Impeachment: American Crime Story]. I worked with [Director] Ryan Murphy, filming various scenes on two episodes of the show. Ryan was specifically on set for one of my scenes, to tell me I’d done a good job, and he used all of my footage; he was very happy. That was a huge compliment to my work, so I love that. Ryan was in the office, watching, whereas Dallas was there on the ground; it’s just a different style.”
It varies from production to production…
“Dallas will still say hello to every single extra in season five. He will do that in season six. He makes a point to go to all of our background actors, and say, ‘You are part of this story as well’. He’s always interacting with every single actor that’s on the show. On other shows, the director’s approach might be, ‘Well, I’ve got a lot of stuff to deal with, and I don’t have time to be across everything on the show’. Traditionally, the director doesn’t have that time. But Dallas was used to that from day one, because he had to do so many things on the show, because the show was so small. Still now in season five, that feel is still there. We’re all working together, and we’re all like a family, so the internal culture is the same, although I would say the infrastructure has improved around us.”
What about those not of the Christian faith?
“First and foremost, the show is an historical drama series. And because we get the time – we ultimately have seven seasons to flesh out the stories of these characters – we really do place the audience in 1st century Israel. Personally, I wasn’t very aware of all these stories, despite being raised Greek Orthodox; I was more of a history buff. If I see something that’s kind of like, you know, Christian media or whatever, I probably would not have watched it. But with The Chosen, the way that we approach it is to go back in time and see what these people were doing back in 1st century ancient Judaea. There has been a resurgence of interest as to what life was like back then. That’s what The Chosen does. 30% of our audience are not strictly Christian, or practicing Christians. That shows you that there’s an appetite for content that takes you back in time; first and foremost, that’s what the show definitely does. And then for those people who are of Christian background, you’ll be familiar with the stories. They will see these bookmarks.”
What was the catalyst for you to head to the US?
“None of this is intended to sound like sour grapes, but there was not enough work here in Australia. The Chosen has given so many actors of Middle Eastern heritage an avenue to play real people, real characters, with real stories… I hear that so many times on the show, of displaced actors who have gotten a chance to really sink their teeth into something. I’m not saying that Australia doesn’t have those roles, and I was very fortunate to be able to work in Australia, but The Chosen is an example of just what’s possible when you do move over to the United States. This show was made outside of the Hollywood ‘system’, so to speak, so maybe it’s also an inspiration for content creators back home to fight for more content to go on. Australia has had a rich history of producing really cool content, but I don’t think they produce enough. So, hopefully, more stuff can get produced here.”
Would you give any advice to other actors starting out?
“Do everything and anything you can. My background is in comedy, and live theatre, so I did a lot of open mic stand up. That gave me a thick skin, because you do have to be completely free in that audition room… and it all comes down to the audition room. Whether you’re doing it on Zoom, or you’re doing it as a self-tape, or you are in the room, casting directors are so good at what they do because they can see through fabrication, and the only way you are going to be completely free and true, is if you are free and true. If you’re holding back in any regard, then they’re going to see right through that. It’s like that for anything in life. I started in comedy, and I think comedy is a way that you just break those walls down, and you really get to the true version of yourself, because you try, you fail, and you’re not afraid of what people think of you. You do need a team mentality, and more often than not, you will get some actors on sets who are maybe not team players, but the large majority of people that work on sets are people that are easy to work with, and they are professional. The more that you can give the impression that you are an easy-going, fearless actor, the better your chances.”
The Chosen: Season 5 is currently screening in cinemas now. The Chosen: Seasons 1-4 are available to stream now on Prime.
