'Son of God' Actor Darwin Shaw Talks Playing Apostle Peter in 'The Bible' Movie Spinoff After Leaving Medical School

In a recent interview, "Son of God" actor Darwin Shaw talks about leaving medical school in order to pursue an acting career, highlighted by his performance as Apostle Peter in the film and "The Bible" miniseries.

"Because of the experience of growing up in my twenties in London, I was around a lot of musicians and realized that my creative side wasn't being totally fulfilled. So I was torn really between this feeling of doing something worthwhile, and also between being creative at the same time," said Shaw, according to Assist News.

"I got my surgical job, but then had a six month career break away from London and during that time, a friend gave me a book on creativity and while I was there I started reading it and then following some of the exercises in it. I ended up in an acting class, and I was on stage for the first time and I just knew pretty much immediately there was no going back now it was something beyond my conscious control. Obviously, logic and sense would say 'you're crazy', but I knew in my heart this was a journey I wanted to explore."

Shaw also talked about what he loved most about his role as Peter in the miniseries and the film.

"Peter is, to me, the most interesting of the apostles, because he's so human. This simple fisherman had an incredible journey. You read in the Book of Acts, that he's doing miracles himself, and beyond the Bible, you discover that he ends up fighting Nero and a great Basilica is built in honor of him in Rome. He regularly fails, yet he's got incredible heart," said Shaw.

"It's not like playing Jesus, who is the perfect individual. It is seeing Peter's vulnerability and then overcoming his weaknesses and learning from them is what attracted me to him."

Shaw revealed something supernatural happened on set while filming the scene when the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus to ask him a question.

"In the scene, Nicodemus asks Jesus (Diogo Morgado) about being born again and the line comes about 'the wind blows where it will' and as Diogo says this line, suddenly we just all hear this the breeze picking up and the trees, the leaves in the trees start fluttering and you can actually see on the clip of the actual scene Jesus' hair, the wind starting to blow through it and you just stop and breathe in this fresh air and Jesus looks at Nicodemus and he just smiles and says 'the wind blows where it will,'" said Shaw.

"It was a beautiful moment. Probably, [most] people wouldn't notice it and they probably assumed that it was like a wind machine, but it was one of these lovely things that happens on a set sometimes that's quite magical. Everyone just looked at each other and smiled knowing we had captured something very special there."

Shaw also talked about the film's main message about mankind's redemption and forgiveness through Jesus Christ and how the Gospel resonates today.

"I think Peter, as I said before, was very much the most human of all the disciples. Even though, the story is set 2,000 years ago, I think everybody can understand his journey because we all have made mistakes, and we've all fallen. I think culturally, Peter was in some ways old fashioned for the time," said Shaw to Assist News. "Here was Jesus who was a revolutionary bringing new ideas and Peter was very much a man of his time from a small village probably never went more than ten miles from where he was born. Yes, I think we can all be very stuck in our ways and closed minded. To find something which you believe is the truth and to follow it and risk your life as Peter did, because he knew that Jesus was 'the truth'."

Read the full interview on Assist News here.