Mark Burnett Says 'Hand Of God Helped Him With 'The Bible' Miniseries

by UInterviewMarch 8, 2013, 12:00 amNews >

Perhaps a higher power helped Mark Burnett on the set of The Bible, History’s miniseries that set a cable record of 13.1 million viewers for last Sunday’s premiere.

“I really believe what I’m going to tell you right now,” Burnett told Entertainment Weekly.“The hand of God was on this…. the edit came together perfectly, the actors came together perfectly, it just comes to life.”

Burnett also noted some bizarre occurrences while filming such as high speed winds exactly when Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit is like the wind.” Burnett also told a story about how a small part of Jesus’s costume was lost in a reservoir, but that it was miraculously returned to them by someone from far away who didn't know "why he should seek us, but he felt he had to return it.”

The Bible stars Diogo Morgado as Jesus, Roma Downey as Mother Mary and Darwin Shaw as Peter. Everyone involved must be doing something right because the show's ratings splash last week was nearly twice that of anything that has been on NBC in the last month, The New York Times reports.The five-part series airs for two hours each week. Last Sunday “Beginnings” premiered and chronicled the stories of Noah, Abraham and Moses. This Sunday, the next episode, “Homeland,” will air on History at 8 p.m. EST

.—Hal Sundt