And I know you sing. Yeah. Can we hear anything?

Oh my God. A little, um, let me think. Uh, I should have come prepared. I should have prepared for this.

I am here with Juan Pablo di Pace. Good to see you.

Good to see you too.

Oh my gosh, you're wearing the cross too. Oh yeah. I just noticed that. Yeah. Staying in character?

No, you know what? My mother she gave me this cross when I was 12 and I refused to wear it.

You're serious?

I refused to wear it. I was like, I don't want a cross. And then And it's gold which I mean I'm so all about the bling, the goldy bling. Yeah, but, but you know, she gave it back to me after the shoot and she said, now you have to wear it.

Wait, and speaking of your mom, a little bird just told me that your mom actually did makeup on the set of this mini series.

Yes. She did. She came she came specifically for the crucifixion.

Why? Were you a bad child? She was like, I want to see this. I want to see him suffer.

No, I mean she's a religious painter. So a lot of her paintings are in churches all over Italy and even in on the inside conclave of the Vatican. She actually has a painting there and you know, this is her thing. Um, so she helped out with the wounds. The wounds are all made specifically, they're very artistic. There. So she was just kind of

I wonder if it's ever been done in Hollywood before where somebody's mother actually paints wounds on their child's body.

I'm sure it's the first. Probably.

First of all, the first mini series that you're a part of 100 million views. Hmm. Have you had a lot of feedback and a lot of from fans already?

I mean, yes, of course. I think a lot of people that watched the Bible and Son of God, they want to see it. So yeah, I'm getting a lot of people just saying, hey, you know, we're happy that you're the new Jesus and stuff. Even though it is the follow up to the Bible, it's actually a different kind of show. It's more of a 21st century all out action packed dramatic show about the biblical times. It's kind of like House of Cards meets Game of Thrones in Jerusalem. How can I tell my child to love her and then leave? Jerusalem is a dangerous place. She watched him being tortured and killed. Can you not wait? If they find you, will they kill you? I don't know.

Your background, it's kind of fascinating to me because you did a lot of I know you lived in Europe for a long time. You did a lot of theater. You played Danny Zuko in Grease. And then you played Saturday Night Fever. You played the John Travolta role. And you did a one man show in Spain. Yeah. And then you did Chicago in the UK. Yeah. And I know you sing. Yeah. Can we hear anything?

Oh my God. A little, um, let me think. Uh, I should have come prepared. I should have prepared for this.

Now it's going to go all red. That's okay. People, I mean, I'm sure nobody minds. Do you do this?

I had to. I had to do it. I had to do it. It was a whole it was complicated choreography, you know?

No, it is. Not just this. How do you feel about LA and what's your favorite place outside of LA?

Outside LA? Well, LA, I love LA because I was not brought up with a car, you know, this culture of driving everywhere. So I had to learn how to drive at like 30 something.

What? Did you have a driver's license before that?

Yeah, I do. I do now.

You didn't have one until how old?

No, at 34.

When you took your test, was the instructor like, what are you doing here? What are you doing here? At the age of 34 and you're an actor.

I know. In here, it wasn't so much of a problem, but in the UK and in Spain, because I lived in both in the UK and Spain, they just would not give it to me.

Why?

I failed like seven times.

Are you a terrible driver?

No. I'm actually okay. But yeah, it was like stick shift.

Well, you were also on the other side of the road in the UK.

Yeah, so my brain was not telling me.

So how was it coming here and doing your test here?

Much better.

First try?

My test here, yeah. My test here was like five minutes. Right, left, right, left, okay. There's your license.

Really?

I know what it was. But never mind. No.

Roma Downey said she booked you for many reasons, but something about your eyes, that you had very kind eyes. And of course, Jesus had to have kind eyes.

Yeah, I mean, she she's been wonderful through this whole thing and her and Mark Burnett are just geniuses at what they do. I mean, just look at the voice and Shark Tank. And now they're doing this which is close to their hearts. You know, they were so excited about this and and just like, So, tell us what's what's going to be your interpretation of Jesus? You know, we want you to do whatever you want with it, which is lovely. So I was given carte blanche to come up with whatever I wanted. Are you the king of the Jews? My kingdom is not of this world. So you are a king then? You say that I am. I was born and came into this world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of the truth listens to me. Truth. What is truth?

Was this a perk because I saw on your Instagram, there's a picture of you in the chair of the voice.

Oh yeah, we were just doing that. That was Mark. Yeah, we went we went to an NBC studio and and I saw the chair I was like, I'm going to try this chair. I want to know what it feels like. Does it spin? Does it still spin? I don't know, did it spin? It did have a cable going somewhere, so I guess maybe it did.

So are we going to sing Grease is the Word or no?

No.

Really? Not even a move? Is that a guitar behind you? Wow, there's a lot of silver. Are you changing the subject, Juan Pablo?

No.

Last but not least, you worked with the great Meryl. Hmm. Incredible. What's your favorite Meryl story?

My favorite Meryl story, I was just cast, right? Phyllida Lloyd, the director, called me into the office and said, listen, I have this part. He doesn't talk, but I'd like you to do it. Most of your scenes are with Meryl Streep and Colin Firth. And I just said yes.

Did you even think about it for a bit?

Um, and so I was taken down to the rehearsal and they were all rehearsing. And you know, it was kind of dark for a second because I was coming from the sun into this dark studio, so I couldn't see very well. So I couldn't see people but the choreographer just goes, okay, we're going to do voo-lay-voo now. And so, you know, Julie, you go with Peter and Sam, you go with so and so. Juan Pablo, you're going to dance with Meryl Streep. And I turn around and there she is.

Is it like seeing Jesus?

It was kind of like seeing Jesus. This glow of light emanated from her. It really was like that and she was adorable. She was so sweet. We danced. I stepped on her toes, you know, twirling her around. We chatted a wonderful lady.

Do you still call her, chat with her?

No.

Oh, every day. Can I have it? It would be I really and and Kelly Brook I know is another friend of yours. I saw her the other day. Yeah. This was a lot of fun having you here. Thank you.

Thanks so much. Thank you so much for having me.

Grease is the Word. Grease is the Word. I got a little bit. Yes. I knew it. I knew I could do it. It's got groove. Is there anybody singing it now? That's it. That's how we get it.