For months we have been preparing for the scene of Jesus walking on water. We knew it would be the most challenging and expensive scene to film but God continued to provide throughout. Many people volunteered their time and expertise to make sure we made the most of our time. You may not know it but this actually takes place right before the Bread of Life discourse so it was a pivotal scene.
Angelo spoke with Jonathan Roumie who connected us with the right person within The Chosen team to identify the proper boat for our filming. The boat was driven by Mauricio from Texas to California. That was a huge labor of love!
The scene would begin with the apostles getting into the boat and therefore we need to first get this footage. A generous donor, Mark, allowed us to use his property to capture these scenes.
The scene will then transition to the moment of Jesus walking on water and for that we needed a pool. Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights generously allowed us to use their pool at no cost; a special thank you to Donna and Terry who connected us with Hacienda and also offered food to all the crew, that was a huge blessing and an expensive gift that we appreciated! They also provided us with a 26 ft truck and helped us to pick up and return the blue screen and heater that kept the actors warm from the freezing rain. The rain was possible due to a Hollywood special effects veteran, Paul Vigil, who worked on Pirates of the Caribbean, Ocean's Eleven, Fast & Furious, Escape from LA, Demolition Man, and other films. He offered his time and gear to create from his company Full Scale Effects, below, to create wind and rain effects at no cost to us. He is a great friend of Angelo that God put in his path. So we thank God who provided where the donations could not.
We would like to say thank you to Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai, CA who initially offered for us to use their pool. We ended up using another closer pool but that option was much appreciated.
Once at the pool we rented large blue screens that will be replaced with a background in post production.
As you can see this is a boat large enough to fit all 12 apostles so it was quite a challenge to get this in the pool. Again, we had volunteers who helped ensure the necessary precautions and planning were in place to make this flawless.
Danny, our main cinematographer, and Angelo are hard at work making sure we have the perfect shot.
Many thanks to the dozens of people who came together to make this a reality! This movie would not be possible without you!