Entertainment Tonight: This has got to be a great day for you?

Jeremy Sisto: It has been a great day. It has been a curiously great day because the film did well.

ET: Did you have an expectation going in that like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," it could be a real phenomenon?

Jeremy: I suppose we did. I really wasn't sure. Back at the end of last year, they flew us to Italy, where they were premiering "Jesus." We met the Pope and there was this whole event. It did really well over there at that time and, because of the success of it, there was some hype about it. I knew CBS was excited. You're never quite sure how movies are going to go with the press. Then the reviews started coming out and they were really quite positive. I had a feeling it was going to do well. I wasn't sure, though. I don't really know how they find out who is watching. For some reason though, they have the numbers and they said a lot of people were watching.

ET: Where were you last night? Did you watch the show?

Jeremy: I wasn't planning on watching. There could have been a moment that I didn't like or something that was scary to see. The idea of so many people watching at that very moment, I thought it would stress me out, but I turned on the TV anyway. What are you going to do, you only have so much self-will. So, I watched it with my family. It was on Mother's Day. I took my mother out to dinner and then we came back to my house and watched it.

ET: What was your mother's reaction?

Jeremy: Well,she had seen it before, but she cried. She cried a lot. Tears of joy mostly, but a lot of crying, so there were tissues. She felt very bad when Joseph died.

ET: What was your first reaction when you saw it? I mean, obviously last night wasn't your first time. When you first saw it, did you blow you away?

Jeremy: The first time I saw it I thought, "I speak Italian very well." I was dubbed in Italian, so that was weird. But the first time I saw it, I was very excited. It had been some time since I filmed it. I was unsure if some things would come across. There have been different cuts and different European versions. I had seen different things in looping and audio sessions, so I wasn't quite sure which direction it was going sometimes. The first time I saw it, it was just weird to see myself playing the role.

ET: It is rather daunting to take on the role of Jesus. How did you prepare for it? Did you have a great deal of trepidation playing the Son of God?

Jeremy: I have been asked this question a lot and for some reason I didn't have as much trepidation as others might. I wasn't raised within a really strict Catholic structure, so I didn't feel like it was a burden. I saw it as an exciting challenge. So many people have played the role before and there have been many interpretations so, for some reason, that took the weight off.

Jeremy: For the preparations, I only had a short amount of time. I was flown out the day after I was offered the role and had accepted it. I had a short amount of time to prepare, so a lot of my preparation was trying to understand this interpretation, where it was coming from, its origin. We had a priest withus throughout the whole shooting. That was helpful to understand the gospels.

ET: How did you find out the show was such a ratings hit?

Jeremy: I always knew we were up against the "Millionaire" show, and I thought that was a funny thing. It was basically one of two things, right? Wealth now or wealth later. Actually, we talk about that in our second episode--The Sermon on the Mount and what can a rich man really buy with his wealth. So I thought it was kind of ironic. Then this morning my roommate said, "You broke the bank." I was not sure what he was talking about. Then I talked to my manager and they told me "Jesus" did quite well.

ET: When you found out you were going up against "Millionaire," were you like, "Oh darn, now we don't have a shot," or were you confident enough in the project itself that you knew you were going to give "Millionaire" a run for its money?

Jeremy: I don't how it all works. TV is such a whole world of advertising and numbers. I knew CBS was taking a really strong stance on their publicity and their poster is very dramatic and very strong. It is kind of frightening. The look on my face is one that is very solid and dramatic. So, I knew they were going with a certain stance with it that I was excited about.

Jeremy: I thought it had a chance. I wasn't sure how people would see or believe if there was a different take on the story. It is a story about a different era on TV at 9:00 at night when people are relaxing. Sometimes it is a too much of a departure for people to want adjust themselves to a new world, and sometimes it is not as much fun. It is easier to watch things you can relate to easily. With our interpretation we tried to make it more accessible and more fun to watch. Still, it does take place 2000 years ago and it is ultimately a story about Christ.

ET: That could be a turn-on or a turn-off for a large number of viewers.

Jeremy: At times it is a very heavy story and sometimes people don't want to watch heavy things. But in this interpretation, there is more lightness to it and there is a lot more fun in it. I haven't seen the previews, but I think they were showing a lot more of that, too. There are lot of scenes of Jesus and his Disciples celebrating life. At the same time, though, it is also quite a heavy story. So, we were hoping that people would think it was something that they should see. The reviews were so good in so many places. I think that helped. It has been said that is one of the best mini-series of the year.