Jon Erwin is the director of House Of David, which is now officially the second highest viewed series on Amazon Prime Video. House Of David follows the life of King David and the first season takes us through the story of David and Goliath. Jon Erwin is the latest guest on Director’s Chair where he breaks down the series.
King David. What inspired you to tell to bring this, bring the story of King David to life?
I think JJ Abrams said it best. If you find something to be really entertaining and meaningful and inspirational to yourself, you have to just trust that it will be to other people. And the story of David, the legend of David, this true story of this boy chosen to be king, has been inspirational to me since I was a teenager. I went to Israel with my dad with my first camera that he bought with money that he did not have, and we went around the holy sites of Israel to do a little cable television documentary and and we stayed in the Old City of Jerusalem. And you know, when you’re from America, from America, everything is you don’t realize how new everything is, that it’s the American experiment, literally, and and so when you go to that part of the world, I was just so awestruck by history and by by the magic of it and the energy of it. And I went to King David’s tomb, and just to think of the influence of this person, like, like his name echoes through the centuries. We still sing his songs, like, epic life, you know, and it’s amazing. And so I just felt like, from from age 16, I’ve been trying to work for the opportunity to tell the story. So sometimes to the dreamers out there, dreams come true, if you just don’t give up. And I’m privileged to be able to tell this story now, I’m blown away by the ability to do it, and I’ve been I’ve a dream. It’s been a career long dream
I want to get your thought on a scene that kind of went above about a lot of people’s heads. In my opinion, when the Philistine King went to find Goliath, he went to the Land of the Giants. So what is your view on the belief of giants, or Nephilim walking the earth?
Well, what I love is that there’s this term called Emotional archeology that I like. And so a lot of times, if you read the Bible through that lens of what would the characters have been feeling, you get all these clues. And one of the things that you start to confront is, why in the world, would this character, Goliath, strike so much fear into the army of Israel? Well, when you do that, you go all the way back to Moses, and when Moses spies, into the land, those spies came out and said, There’s walled cities. There’s really tall people. And the sons of Anak there, the Nephilim were there. And so no matter what you believe, what Israelites at the time would have believed sitting around campfires was that Goliath was basically a son of the Nephilim and a demigod. And what we play is that that’s what Goliath believed about himself as well. So, you know, we play with the Ministry of it. We play with the the myth of it. But I do think it’s absolutely consistent with the Bible that the whole reason that Israel walked around the wilderness for 40 years is because they were afraid of people just like Goliath, and that is the fear he would have struck into the army of Israel.
My favorite character so far, at least, acting wise, is Samuel. Can you talk about his character in House Of David?
I would say I had that the way he subtly changes his voice. Yes, you’d have to ask Slang or better known as the great Steven Lang how, who is one of the great character actors of his time in the industry, whether it’s Avatar, so many to choose from, he’s just probably the best actor I’ve ever worked with, and the way he brings this character to life is mesmerizing. And to me and I am, he’s unbelievable in every way and and just one of the great collaborators loves this role, and I love him in this role. In fact, there’s three, there’s there’s two scenes, but one in particular in Episode Seven, it’s my favorite scene in the series, and it’s a scene with David’s father and , and I can’t wait for you to see it, because Slang is we are in awe of You, sir, if you’re listening to this and, and I look forward to to you seeing the rest of the series, because he’s excellent in this show.
I guess my last question would be, um, what do you think is the one thing people should know about King David and aspire about him?
Um, well, you know, the Bible calls him a man after God’s own heart, yes. And I think that that is something that was true about him in the highs and lows of his life, the way he came back to God, the way he found God, the way he lost his way and came back. He was always in pursuit of a relationship with God, with the heart of God, and he made some epic mistakes, and he had some epic accomplishments. But I think the core characteristic about him that differentiated him from Saul is the way he kept coming back to God and and pursuing God, and I hope that we get that right in the series.
