Kristen Bell, Brian Cox and more celebrities were shocked to find out that their voices would be used in Fox News’ star-studded podcast about Jesus.
The network announced on Wednesday, November 19, that they would be releasing a 52-episode podcast series titled “The Life of Jesus” at the end of the month as part of its Fox Faith vertical. According to the press release, every 30-minute episode will feature Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt introducing each installment before listing actors providing voices for biblical figures throughout the series.
Kristen Bell was announced as Mary Magdalene, Malcolm McDowell as Caiaphas, Neal McDonough as Jesus, John Rhys-Davies as the narrator, Brian Cox as God, Julia Ormond as Mother Mary, Sean Astin as Matthew, Michael York as Luke, Stacy Keach as John and Hill Harper as an angel.
After the announcement, representatives for multiple actors denied signing onto the podcast. They clarified that each celebrity recorded audio for a separate project years prior — and didn’t know this podcast existed until days before it was released.
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A representative for Bell, 45, told Rolling Stone that she did not know about the podcast until she was asked to promote it on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, November 18, one day before the press release went out. Bell’s rep confirmed to Entertainment Weekly she never gave permission for the audio to be repurposed for a separate series.
McDowell’s publicist also confirmed that he recorded his voice for a different biblical project 15 years ago.
“We had no knowledge these recordings were being redistributed as a podcast until this week,” the rep told EW. “This was long ago forgotten about.”
Rhys-Davies’ rep told Rolling Stone that he only learned about “The Life of Jesus” earlier this week. Meanwhile Cox’s spokesperson confirmed to Deadline he was not aware of his involvement in the podcast.
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Before “The Life of Jesus” was announced, the actors who were on the cast list — besides Harper — were involved with the 2010 project Truth & Life Dramatized Audio Bible. Each star played roles that they were ultimately credited in “The Life of Jesus” in the audio bible.
“Gulfstream Studios produced the ‘Life of Jesus Podcast’ from The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible, which was licensed by FOX News Audio, with full cooperation and participation by all the actors involved,” a spokesperson for Fox News shared in a statement after the cast confusion made headlines.
According to Rolling Stone, a producer for the podcast allegedly sent an email earlier this week asking that actors “not mention” that the audio was “produced years ago,” because “we’d like it to feel like something that was produced more recently.”
