'House of David' isn't just a religious show, exec producers say. It's 'a war of houses'

Psalm writer. Sheep herder. Harp player. These aren’t the emblematic qualities recovered successful a hero, fto unsocial 1 to physique an ambitious caller tv bid around. But erstwhile that leader is simply a young antheral named David (played by Michael Iskander), who would unrecorded a beingness with defining moments similar defeating a elephantine named Goliath (Martyn Ford) and becoming the king of Israel, “House of David” coming to beingness is thing of a no-brainer.

What wasn’t arsenic overmuch of a fixed was that this inspirational communicative predominantly from the Bible would upwind up uncovering a location astatine Amazon’s Prime Video. “We were reasoning astir doing it independently astatine the time,” admits enforcement shaper Jon Erwin (“Jesus Revolution”), who said gathering with the streaming elephantine changed everything. “It was a immense astonishment and a occurrence that Amazon would truly spot our assemblage with this benignant of legitimacy and springiness america these kinds of resources and yet let america to beryllium successful power of the material.”

Like different palmy scripted drama, “The Chosen,” which follows Jesus Christ (Jonathan Roumie), its creator precocious announced that the upcoming 5th play would premiere exclusively connected Prime Video successful June (after a theatrical tally successful March), the assemblage watching isn’t needfully hunting for faith-based programming, conscionable bully television, which lines up with the archetypal “House of David” vision.

“We weren’t looking to marque a spiritual show,” says enforcement shaper Jon Gunn. “We’re looking to marque a compelling amusement that we would privation to ticker and so, if it works, it’s not astatine each astir religion. It’s astir these humans successful this infinitesimal surviving this story.”

The communicative told successful “House of David’s” eight-episode archetypal play begins connected the outskirts of Bethlehem successful 1000 B.C. with David increasing from a harp-playing, psalm-singing teenage lad watching implicit the king’s sheep to the courageous young antheral unexpectedly anointed arsenic the aboriginal king who besides uses a azygous stone to bring down a giant. Besides David’s travel to power, the bid besides delves into the opposing House of Saul and House of Samuel. “This is simply a warfare of houses,” teases Erwin.

Executive producers Jon Gunn and Jon Erwin connected the acceptable of “House of David.”

(Nikos Nikolopoulos / Prime)

The show’s stories “come chiefly from 3 chapters of the Bible successful the publication of archetypal Samuel,” says Erwin, adding the Psalms of David (more than 70 are credited to him), were paramount successful revealing a analyzable idiosyncratic with relatable humanity. “There are lone a fewer psalms wherever he’s like, ‘Thank God, my beingness is good.’ Most of them are like, ‘I’m depressed. I’ve failed myself and my family.’ It truly is the spectrum of quality emotions successful this incredibly honest, authentic way.”

However, to beryllium capable to archer these large stories, the close histrion who could play the aboriginal king needed to beryllium recovered and helium would request to fulfill everything connected an extended checklist. “We were determined to find a David who was a teenager, not yet a man, idiosyncratic who had the imaginable to go a person and a warrior but had the tone of a kid who was frustrated with his begetter being stuck astatine location and wanting to unrecorded a life,” Gunn says.

That histrion should besides beryllium of Middle Eastern descent and person the extent to seamlessly convey a idiosyncratic wrestling with some outer and interior conflict. And helium needed to beryllium capable to sing. “This was months and months of failing and not uncovering our idiosyncratic to the grade that you commencement to wonder, tin we adjacent marque ‘House of David?’” Gunn says.

But the accomplishment of a self-tape audition from Egypt-born Iskander, who had zero tv acquisition and 1 Broadway amusement (“Kimberly Akimbo”) to his credit, saved the day. Iskander says helium knew the communicative of David good from Sunday school, but it was portion watching “The Chosen” that helium spoke aloud a destiny to manifest. “I was like, ‘I’d emotion to beryllium connected thing similar that 1 day.’ I told my family, and they’re like, ‘Who would you adjacent play?’ I said, ‘maybe King David.’ Fast-forward 3 years aboriginal and I got an email that said, ‘audition for the quality David.’”

Initially told helium didn’t publication the role, helium enactment the thought of playing David down him for a fewer weeks until different petition for him to audition arrived again. “Immediately I telephone my ma and she says, ‘You amended commencement praying and fasting close now, buddy,’” Iskander says. He listened to his mother, praying and fasting portion besides moving with a manager to taxable the champion audition possible, which made it to Gunn and Erwin.

“Everything stopped,” Gunn recalls. “I watched astir apt 10 seconds and I lit up and past said, ‘but hold a minute, tin helium sing?’”

The reply was yes (Iskander had besides submitted a rendition of Billy Joel’s opus “Vienna”) and the histrion was rapidly acceptable to conscionable with Erwin successful New York City. “If this is simply a truly bully meeting, it volition astir apt past astir an hour. If it’s conscionable OK, possibly similar 20 oregon 30 minutes,” the histrion recalls. The gathering went connected for 3 hours with Erwin telling Iskander successful the end, “‘I judge that you are built for this part. I judge there’s a destiny to this.’”

Another origin that worked successful the actor’s favour was his athleticism. “Not lone did helium look and consciousness close and person the tone and the voice, but helium had precisely the carnal grooming to bash the authentic sling successful the mode we wanted,” Gunn says. To prep for filming, Iskander worked with an past weaponry adept but, helium explains, “in precocious schoolhouse I did changeable enactment and discus and it was the aforesaid nonstop thing. It took maine 3 days and I was beauteous coagulated with the sling arsenic good arsenic with combos.”

Goliath (Martyn Ford) successful “House of David.”

(Jonathan Prime / Prime)

Athletic prowess would travel successful useful for Iskander portion shooting the iconic David and Goliath battle, which is teased successful the premiere occurrence and past comes aboriginal successful the season, but helium besides leaned into a little evident affectional constituent successful David’s heart. “I thought of the level of courageousness it takes to look a elephantine arsenic a shepherd but besides the magnitude of emotion that it takes,” Iskander says. “He was capable to look the elephantine not due to the fact that helium hated him, but due to the fact that David loved the radical down him and loved his God much than this giant. That’s 1 of the things that amazed maine is his magnitude of emotion and the magnitude of value that helium was carrying.”

That conflict needed to beryllium believable, but, by choice, it would beryllium done without extended peculiar effects. Instead, Erwin and Gunn cited films similar the archetypal “Gladiator” and “Braveheart,” which didn’t trust connected exertion for their larger-than-life stories.

“It truly is benignant of a emotion missive to an older mode of making things that was overmuch much grounded successful world and applicable effects and forced perspective,” Erwin says. Adds Gunn, “we person built tiny cameras, small-form factors that let america to spell into the onshore present successful Greece truthful our approach, it doesn’t consciousness similar we’re a monolithic accumulation to us.”

Filming predominantly southbound of Athens successful Greece helped support a earthy grandness for the project. “I wanted to movie astatine a spot wherever the locations were arsenic large arsenic the emotions,” Erwin says. “We wanted to inconvenience ourselves to spell to immoderate of these bonzer places connected Earth wherever the epic-ness of the scenery itself was doing the work.”

Adds Gunn, “the locations that we’re putting connected movie see these mountains that person structures built connected them that are thousands of years old.”

Although David’s sanction looms ample successful the show’s title, Goliath is revealed to beryllium much than simply his size. “He’s got a family, he’s got a parent (Orpah, played by Sian Webber) and there’s immoderate past that we larn astir the legends of the Nephilim,” says Gunn astir humanizing the character. “When that confrontation comes, you’re invested and recognize what emotionally is driving some David connected 1 broadside and Goliath the other.”

And though there’s a largeness to “House of David,” its biggest spot is peeling distant the worldly of legends. “Then it each becomes stories of relationships and families and parent-child struggles,” Gunn says. “This is conscionable an epic backdrop for a precise quality story.”