VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Noa Cohen & Director DJ Caruso Respond To Controversy Around Netflix Series ‘Mary’

In a sit-down conversation with uInterview, actress Noa Cohen and director DJ Caruso shared their take on the controversy their new movie Mary has received since its release. Mary follows the Virgin Mary through her childhood up until the birth of Jesus Christ.

Cohen reflected on how she prepared herself to play the iconic historical character. “When I first learned that I got the role it was a bit overwhelming, I’m not going to lie, it felt incredibly humbling,” she told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “I wanted to make sure that I portrayed her in a way that was very respectful. So, of course, I started by immersing myself in historical text, just to understand the context of what she lived in – but then it was when I started working with DJ and diving into the script that I think my main work actually began.”

She continued, “I knew that bringing her to life on screen, in order to do that, it was key for me to find that balance between her divine rule and her humanity, and who she was as a young woman navigating those challenges that she had to face. The divine ones, but also the sort of very human roles. So just getting to work with him and really figuring out who she was, that was the main work.”

The movie has prompted a slew of criticism from conservative Christians and Palestinian supporters who are upset over the casting of Cohen, an Israeli woman, as Mary, as well as the movie’s lack of Palestinian and Arab representation.

Asked about their view on the controversy, Cohen said, “You know, I think DJ knew exactly what he was looking for, and when I got a chance to audition, I wanted to portray this role in the way that paid it the utmost respect, and if I managed to do that, I think I managed to bring the story to justice…but yeah, Mary, she was a Jewish woman. I’m a Jewish woman myself.”

Caruso gave his own opinion. “Whenever you dive into something like this, you’re always going to open yourself up to the scrutiny of that,” he said. “But to me, if you’re coming from the proper place, and you’re making a movie to honor – to me – the greatest woman that ever walked the earth, then you’re going to just let that inform you.”

He continued, “And you know there’s going to be forces within, there’s going to be forces on the outside, you’re always going to be fighting, and to me, I think it echoes the courage that she had, because once Mary accepts this mission and she says, ‘Yes let it be me,’ it doesn’t make it any easier, it’s always going to be difficult, there’s always going to be people that are going to be trying to take you down. It’s just part of who she is, so the controversy, to me it’s beautiful, I don’t care.”

Mary is now available to stream on Netflix.

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