The award-winning director of 1977's Jesus of Nazareth, Franco Zeffirelli, decided to remove a scene of the Resurrection in which Jesus shows his wounds to the Apostle Thomas, even though it had been shot. Zeffirelli explained that it was cinematically impossible to capture this scene without losing its mystery, so he decided to leave it out, in order for the audience to imagine it as they wanted:
"I tried to shoot the scene of the Resurrection and there were these problems, which you do not know how to solve. It is a mystery. Our job can become very difficult when you go to shoot such scenes. In a photo it is different, but in the cinema, which shows you facts, you cannot create this mystery. I tried it several times," the director explained and added:
"We shot two different scenes for the Resurrection, but in the end we decided to let the audience imagine it the way they wanted. With their faith and deepest feelings for this mystery. From a cinematic point of view, I was afraid we would lose this mystery. What would Jesus wear? Should the bandages fall off his body? What would be the right way to do it? All these questions were on my mind. Maybe in another movie this scene would have worked, in ours it did not."
"I tried to shoot the scene of the Resurrection and there were these problems, which you do not know how to solve. It is a mystery. Our job can become very difficult when you go to shoot such scenes. In a photo it is different, but in the cinema, which shows you facts, you cannot create this mystery. I tried it several times," the director explained and added:
"We shot two different scenes for the Resurrection, but in the end we decided to let the audience imagine it the way they wanted. With their faith and deepest feelings for this mystery. From a cinematic point of view, I was afraid we would lose this mystery. What would Jesus wear? Should the bandages fall off his body? What would be the right way to do it? All these questions were on my mind. Maybe in another movie this scene would have worked, in ours it did not."
See the deleted scene below (the second half is the part that made it into the film):
