Film focuses on bringing accuracy to biblical tale

The Bible has never guaranteed box-office success, but it does seem to be making the studio rounds again.

After 2004's "The Passion of the Christ ," last year's religious allegorical fantasy "The Chronicles of Narnia ," and this fall's "One Night With the King ," now comes "The Nativity Story ," a respectful but largely fictionalized retelling of the events leading to the birth of Jesus. Stretched into something between fairy tale and religious quest, the film humanizes a bare-bones premise -- the Immaculate Conception -- by asking, "What did Mary and Joseph go through?"

Aside from two late 1970s made-for-TV versions (one starring a then-unknown Madeleine Stowe ), the Mary and Joseph story had never been seriously attempted on screen. Oscar Isaac , fresh out of Ju i lliard, insisted his Joseph would differ from other portrayals of religious figures given the Sunday school Hollywood spin.

"When you read the Bible, there's only one word that describes him, which is 'righteous,' " said Isaac, 27. "As an actor, it's like, 'OK, so play righteous. Stand up a little straighter. Jut your chin out or something.' So it was difficult. The challenge was, how do you make this guy not a walking icon?"

Characters who are merely scriptural mouthpieces have trouble d many Bible-based movies going back to "The Ten Commandments," first made by Cecil B. DeMille as a 1923 silent and remade in 1956 with Charlton Heston as Moses. But after the commercial flop of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" in 1965 , Hollywood largely gave up the Bible epic.

Since then, religious films have mostly looked at Christian stories askew . Reinterpretations have run the gamut from comic (Monty Python's "Life of Brian" ) to controversial ("The Last Temptation of Christ "). In the case of "The Nativity Story," the filmmakers were careful to steer clear of Mel Gibson's virtuous and punishing path.

"Everyone involved wanted it to be [as] honest and truthful as they could, with characters that were real and complex and relatable and historically accurate," said Isaac. "I don't think it's a 'godsploitation' movie."

It was Christmas 2004 when screenwriter Mike Rich found himself digging to find out what might make the characters of Joseph and Mary tick. Most people know the basic story of their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. But therein lay the problem: Beyond the basics, no one -- laypeople or theologians -- knows much of Joseph and Mary's "hopes and fears," as the carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem" puts it. The Mary and Joseph story is covered in two chapters of the Bible, said Rich, but those verses don't detail their thoughts and feelings .

We do know this: Mary, most likely 14 years old, was obliged to marry a slightly older man she barely knew. She had to deal with a very unexpected pregnancy. And Joseph had to learn that she had been impregnated by God .

"What would any man feel if your fianc ee came back pregnant and you were not the dad? " asked director Catherine Hardwicke by telephone, speaking from New York City. "Would you believe her? Would you stand by her?"

Then there's the scorn of judgmental villagers, visitations by angels, and learning the baby is the new Messiah. And you thought teenagers today had it rough.

"[I wrote] with the awareness the majority of the scenes of the film would be speculative," said Rich from his home in Portland, Ore . "For me, as a writer, the story really came alive in the historical research. When you immerse yourself in the times -- from the economics, religious, cultural, the reign of King Herod -- I found the spiritual elements of the story were strengthened."

To avoid the clunky tenor of old-fashioned religious epics, Rich used dialogue sparingly. "The last thing I wanted to do was preach," he said. "We knew with this particular screenplay less was definitely more."

The journey Mary and Joseph take is a physical one, across deserts and over mountains, but it's also one of faith. The same could be said of the actors, who had to trust that Rich had laid a firm foundation.

Born to a Guatemalan mother and a Cuban father, Isaac said he grew up in a Christian home, but his religious upbringing had some serious gaps. "I heard they were doing a movie about the nativity story and I was like, 'Really? Honestly, I don't know much about the nativity story. Is it really necessary?' " he said. "And then I got the script and I realized, 'Wow, this is really dramatic stuff.' " He auditioned and quickly landed the role of Joseph. "The next thing I was in Morocco with some sandals."

Hardwicke immediately threw her cast into a month of what she called "Nazareth boot camp": a set in Matera , in southern Italy, built to look 2,000 years old.

"When I make films I try to immerse myself," said Hardwicke, a former production designer and architect who while making "Lords of Dogtown" enrolled in skateboard camp , and for "Thirteen" threw slumber parties. "People learned how to milk goats, make bread. We had scholars come in to teach us how to pray in the ancient Jewish way." Isaac helped lay stone for the house his character was to live in with Mary.

If all the attention to detail is to convey realism, the question remains, verisimilitude to what? "The Nativity Story" is true for those who believe. But even for skeptical viewers, the filmmakers think the movie will touch a chord .

"One of the things we're finding out is even if you don't happen to have spiritual belief, literal or figurative, attached to this Biblical story, it's still classical mythological storytelling," Rich said.

With a global release on some 8,000 screens, and a premiere at the Vatican, "The Nativity Story" will get a chance to prove its appeal.

"I hope people embrace it, because it's a good message. It's really a message about humility. It's not the proud and the powerful and the rich, but the humble and those that act out of love that God exalts ," Isaac said. "People nowadays, with everything so polarized, they kind of forget that."