Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: The Amazon prime series House of David tells the story of David's rise to becoming king of Israel. More than 40 million views of this story. Michael Iskander stars in the role of David and he is with us this morning. Michael is here to speak at Liberty University today. Michael, welcome. Thank you.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Hello. Hello. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: So great to have you here. Talk a little bit about this part that you are playing.
What interested you in the part and then is it true that really the connection for you came through watching the Chosen?
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you asked what interested me in the part. I mean, I think when we think of David, like, what doesn't interest us?
You know, he's one of the most complex biblical figures and he, he really just goes through all of it. You know, he goes through the ups and he goes through the downs.
Watching the Chosen, I remember, you know, the Chosen was the kind of, the first of its kind series about a biblical story. And it's, and it was, it's really high quality. It's, this is, you know, art and excellence.
And I was telling my family, you know, you should check out this show. It's a really great show.
And they said, well, you know, you're an actor, you should do something like that. And I said, no pressure, I would love to, mom.
And she goes, well, who would you play?
I said, you know, I would love to play King David, maybe, maybe out with the sheep and in the pastures playing the harp. Either that or young Jesus, but I would love to play King David.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: Do you feel pressure representing one of the most known characters in the Bible?
[00:01:41] Speaker B: You know, I think it's easy. It's easy to feel pressure and easy to feel the world's expectations of what this is. But it's important to remember the heavenly expectation of what God expects, you know, and I believe that what God expects us to do is exactly what he says in scripture. Die to ourselves, put ourselves completely aside and let the Holy Spirit speak. You know, and I think that's what we try to do in day to day life, but especially in this role. I, I try, I think acting is an exercise in letting go. And so I'm like, all right, I'm going to let go, Holy Spirit. And you speak.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Yeah. The work to, to play the part and the audition process was not necessarily easy. There was a little bit of back and forth for you to be able to land the part.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: It was, you know, they put me through the ringer for two months.
You know, I got that first audition and I remember you Know, I called my mom. Oh, you're not gonna believe it.
And I sent the audition, they came back, no, you know, it's not gonna be it.
And then, you know, I got another chance at it. And, you know, this time. So my mom was like, I want you to fast and I want you to pray. So I fasted and I prayed.
And then next thing I know, I'm having lunch with John Irwin and he's like, all right, buddy, let's do this. You know, so we do the screen test after screen test, after audition, after this and after that, you know, and it was a long process.
And I remember midway through, I'm like, you know, if I book this role, I'm gonna have to start filming right away. I need to get started now. Even though I don't have the confirmation.
So I went on Amazon, I bought a harp, and I started learning and making my own tunes. And I would send it off to the production team.
And then that's when I made a sling. I had some paracord laying around. I work with leather, so I made my own.
Yeah, made my own sling.
[00:03:41] Speaker C: Very cool.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: I was in New York and so I was in a tiny little apartment. So you can imagine how that went.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: You know, I'm not well. How many things did you break in that apartment?
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Quite a few.
But I got there.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: You know, the thing about David's story to me is that even if somebody is not familiar with the Bible and but they read it or they. They see the series, that David's life is an action adventure story.
What was the training like to get ready for that role? Kind of the physicality of it.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, there was.
There was a lot of training and so many different aspects. You know, we forget David is a shepherd, warrior and king.
So that takes so many different skills.
And on top of that, his personality, he was just so well rounded. There were so many aspects of him that God really crafted. But, you know, the first step, it was the harp. You know, I was like, all right, let's get on that harp. You know, I already played guitar a little bit, so it translated a little easy. And then one of the really cool things about David is the psalms and, and singing them on the show.
And I remember during the audition process, I told the. I told the team, I was like, you know, when we do this, we're going to have to do this in Hebrew.
And I went online and I learned like a snippet of the Shema prayer, which is in Deuteronomy, Hero, Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is one.
And so anyways, there's a famous Hebrew sung prayer of that, so I learned that and I sent it off to the team, you know, hoping to inspire them, like, hey, like, this is what it should sound like. And, you know, it. It worked out. And we were able to do the psalms of the show in the original language with the original ornamentation. Even the instruments, the, The. I worked with the. With the orchestration team, and they're just phenomenal, and they used, like, all these ancient instruments and. And, you know, the show is not only a great TV show, but it's. It recreates the psalms in a way that's never really, really been done before. And, like, this is as accurate as we can get to what they might have sounded like.
[00:05:52] Speaker C: Yeah, and you had to use the sling, too, so you had to learn how to do that and you had to learn how to, you know, fight a lion.
Kind of important.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Yeah, it was just. It was one of our stuntmen dressed up in a teddy bear lion suit.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: It was terrifying.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Now, the sling. You made the sling, is that correct?
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah, my first ever sling.
Made it while I was auditioning, and I got some paracord and a little bit of leather and, you know, tied the two together and I made my first sling.
[00:06:25] Speaker C: That's so cool. How hard was it to use, like, the slingshot to learn Hebrew, to play the harp? Was one of them harder than the other? They all just kind of come naturally.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: It was. Yeah, I would say it came naturally.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: You know,
[00:06:37] Speaker C: I just feel like that's such a testament because you're like, oh, yeah, it was easy to do these things, but it is such a testament to how God's, like, I feel like, prepares us for the roles that we're going to have later in life, whatever that might be. And, like, he's clearly been preparing you along the way for this role.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: He does, yeah. Without us realizing. He's always moving.
And like, like, for example, with the Hebrew, like, I speak Arabic. And if you look at Arabic and Hebrew, they're both Semitic languages, and they both have, like, the same letters, the same, sometimes even the same words, you know, And I would be. I would be on in the recording studio, like, asking my Hebrew dialect advisor, like, does this word mean this? And they go, yeah, how'd you know? I guess we have the same word in Arabic, you know, and realizing the similarities between the two. And then with the, with the, with the harp, I mentioned I played guitar before, and then the slang, I did Shot put in discus in high school. And then, oddly enough, as the coach on set was giving me all my slinging tips, I was like, these are the same notes that my coach in high school gave me.
[00:07:39] Speaker C: That's awesome.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: So being prepared for.
For your entire life.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Without even realizing, I was like, huh. All right, this is weird. This is weird.
[00:07:50] Speaker C: God definitely has a plan, that is for sure. What's been your favorite part of the series so far?
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Oh, well, you know what?
Season two comes out March 27th. It comes out worldwide. And, you know, season one, we saw the shepherd, but season two, we get to see the warrior. And this is the part we kind of overlook. You know, we get to the David and Goliath, and we forget, like, this is the same guy who was chased by King Saul. This is the same guy who was in a civil war in Israel, you know, and led Judah for years and eventually reunited the kingdom and then, you know, had his downfalls, you know, but then was able to make it all the way back to God, you know? And the story of David all throughout is a story about human frailty. You know, it's how we make mistakes, it's how we fall.
But then God's extending that hand and saying, no, no matter how far you go, I will bring you back, you know? And we think of. We think of Peter now.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: You know, in the same way Peter denied Christ three times, and yet Christ, when he came back, said, peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Feed my sheep.
You know, and.
And I find. I find. So, like, we have Peter. That's. That's our David. You know what I mean? And all these biblical characters, they're always telling the same story. Like, Christ is always gonna reach out for us no matter how far we go.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great. Michael, thank you so much for taking some time and being with us today. We appreciate it.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: Thank you guys so much.
[00:09:24] Speaker C: Make sure you check out House of David, Amazon prime, too, by the way. It's really good. I've just started watching it.
