John Safran vs. God
| John Safran vs God | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Documentary |
| Developed by | Ghost Pictures |
| Written by | Mark O'Toole |
| Directed by | Craig Melville |
| Presented by | John Safran |
| Opening theme | Peter Isaac |
| Composer(s) | Chris Copping |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Richard Lowenstein |
| Producer(s) | Richard Lowenstein, Selin Yaman and Ghost Pictures |
| Running time | 28 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Ghost Pictures |
| Distributor | Apparition Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | SBS Independent |
| Original release | 30 August – 18 October 2004 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
John Safran vs God is an eight-part television documentary series by John Safran which was broadcast on SBS TV of Australia in 2004. It has been described in a media release as "John Safran's most audacious project yet". It had a much more serious tone than Safran's previous work Music Jamboree. The show was released by Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions and SBS Independent, was co-written with Mark O'Toole, directed by Craig Melville, and produced by Richard Lowenstein, Selin Yaman and Ghost Pictures. The production team was known as Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions, an amalgamation of John Safran's Ex-Boyfriend Productions, and Richard Lowenstein's Ghost Productions. The series won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Comedy Series.
The show's opening theme is Hate Priest by the band Mozart on Crack. The opening sequence features John in a black suit breaking out of a patch of black scorched earth with his bare hands during a thunderstorm. The words of Revelation 20:7, "when the thousand years are over Satan will be released from his prison" are spoken in a low pseudo-ominous voice.
The Vodou segment was graphic, featuring the TV crew being attacked, spiritual possession, and a goat having its testicles bitten off and its throat slit.
The only politician who was found to be a so-called "vampire" was Kevin Rudd who would later become Prime Minister.
The eighth episode was the most controversial. Instead of its usual format of various segments, the show featured a single story: the exorcism of John's demons by Christian exorcist and fundamentalist preacher Bob Larson. There was none of the humour that characterised the preceding episodes. The exorcism was dramatic and realistic and no explanation was given at the end of the episode as to John's behaviour. On the Yahoo! "Cult of Safran" web group a stormy discussion started on whether John was actually faking - Safran's lisp is absent while allegedly possessed. Safran appeared in several radio and television plug spots for the show post-production/pre-screening and only briefly commented on the exorcism episode as a very intense segment to film. After the screening of the episode Safran appeared in an interview on ABC radio and said he didn't remember a lot of the experience. The sales pitch for the recently released DVD is "you've seen the exorcism, now buy the DVD".
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