Tv: 'killing Jesus’ Portrays A Low-key Messiah Next Door

National Geographic Channel’s “Killing Jesus,” airing Sunday and based on the book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, is full of agony but comes up really short in the ecstasy department. O’Reilly and Dugard have a successful cottage industry going with their “Killing” series, which includes “Killing Kennedy” and “Killing Lincoln,” both of which have also made the leap to television. With the title role played by Haaz Sleiman, with a script by Walon Green and direction by Chris Menaul, “Killing Jesus” offers its title character as the Messiah next door. The common-man interpretation is enhanced by the script’s adaptation of biblical text in everyday language — no “ye’s,” “thines” or “goests.” Another thing the film does right is to remind us that Jesus was not the handsome blond guy in the Warren Sallman painting, nor the blue-eyed “King of Kings” played by Hollywood heartthrob Jeffrey Hunter in that 1961 film. Kelsey Grammer gets special billing in the cast, but as Herod the Great, he beats a hasty but hammy retreat in the film’s opening segment — emoting all the way to the bank, no doubt. Sit back and prepare for your head to spin in the next few minutes as we zip through Jesus’ birth and adolescence, the death of Joseph, and the beginning of his career as the Son of God. David Wiegand is the TV critic and an assistant managing editor of The San Francisco Chronicle.