Jesus Christ Superstar (film)
Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1973 American musical drama film directed by Norman Jewison, and co-written by Jewison and Melvyn Bragg, based on the 1970 concept album of the same name written by Tim Rice and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which in turn inspired a 1971 musical. The film, which stars Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman and Barry Dennen, depicts the conflict between Judas and Jesus and the emotions and motivations of the main characters during the week of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Theatrical release poster
Yvonne Elliman and Ted Neeley as Mary Magdalene and Jesus
Pope Paul VI praised the film and suggested it would bring more people to Christianity.
During the "Gethsemane" scene, a presentation of various paintings of Jesus Christ on the cross flash on screen, such as the works of Goya, Tintoretto, Velázquez, Grünewald, and Bosch. This is Grünewald's painting The Crucifixion (c. 1512–1516).
Norman Frederick Jewison was a Canadian filmmaker. He was known for directing films which addressed topical social and political issues, often making controversial or complicated subjects accessible to mainstream audiences. Among numerous other accolades, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in three separate decades, for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and Moonstruck (1987). He was nominated for an additional four Oscars, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, and won a BAFTA Award. He received the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999.
Norman Jewison
From left to right: Chaim Topol, Lex Goudsmit and Jewison in 1971
Clint Eastwood with Jewison in 1987
Jewison in 1987