Dominic Cooper on the Religion and Potential Controversy of 'Preacher'
Religion is a topic rarely discussed, particularly in entertainment, unless for thematic purposes. Hardly ever is it explored as a central plot point, particularly in serialised storytelling. It strikes me how strange it is that Preacher has been so desperately sought for big (or small) screen adaptation for so long.
Star Dominic Cooper plays the titular Preacher, and discusses the conflicted belief system of Jesse Custer with Comic Book. “He has a very complex relationship with God, and what I love about the show, the show never judges anyone's opinion on it."
There are two main characters in it who have very different opinions on existence and their beliefs, Cassidy and Jesse. I adore those scenes, and I was always told that, "It will be a repetition, this constant argument that they have with one another. The conversation, the dialog about it." I think you're on very dangerous ground when you start to have an opinion about religion in what is essentially a very religious country. It doesn't judge and it welcomes anyone's opinion and anyone's ideas.”
Cooper says that Jesse's relationship is strung out and effected by guilt stemming from a deep, dark history. "“At the moment, the world, his world, is silent for any sign of that. So that's where his search springs from, because he's desperate, he's in need, and when he thinks he's found it, there's this wonderful relief and this lightness that comes to him. But has he necessarily found it? That's what we are watching. Has this person found something true, or is it stained by something else?”
The actor hasn't got the same kind of relationship with religion, to say the least, having not grown up in that environment. "In childhood, at my schools, it was there... I've, up to this point in my life, never needed the encouragement of something like that, or the support of something like that. I'm sure there will be times when I do and am searching for something else”
Source: Comicbook
