"Risen is an incredible noir detective tale. That's the angle that appealed to me," says Fiennes. "There are echoes of Chinatown. It's a (Roman) Polanski landscape of a man being sucked into the narrative."

With his aide Lucius (Tom Felton), Clavius is tasked to dispel rumors of a risen Messiah and prevent a Jerusalem uprising.

"That's where the detective work comes in," says Fiennes. "This is an extraordinary story and well-known to everyone. But it takes us on this journey through the eyes of a nonbeliever."

"This is pure cinema," says Fiennes. "I am foremost a lover of stories. The Bible is the most extraordinarily rich source of narratives, featuring the most beautiful stories ever written or handed down."