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Perhaps unsurprisingly, the guy who directed secret Discovery Channel smash hit The Lost Tomb of Jesus, the documentary that calls into the question the faith of millions upon millions of Christians by suggesting that their Savior may have knocked up Mary Magdalene, seems not to be a particularly modest filmmaker. In chatting with TV Week about his plan to release a director's cut of his movie, which will include the aforementioned post-knocking-up scene excised from Discovery's broadcast version of the doc, Tomb-raider Simcha Jacobovic sang the praises of his important work, which he believes surpasses the controversial, Jesus-related efforts of a couple of Oscar-winners:

"This may be the most talked-about documentary ever," Mr. Jacobovici said. "The fact that nobody has been able to punch a hole in our reporting is a testament to how well we've done our homework. Even if it's only a 50-50 chance [of being Jesus' tomb], it's still the biggest story on the planet."

"Our little reenactments, I'd put them up against [the work of] Mel Gibson and [Martin] Scorsese," he said. "I think we had the most historically accurate reenactments. The dyes that we used were only the ones available in the time of Jesus ... I've seen any number of crucifixion stories that have potatoes and corn in the marketplace. [...]

"In Chile, there were street demonstrations trying to prevent the broadcasts," he said. "In France, they were remarkably open to the whole idea — even though it's a Catholic country. In Israel, people were obsessed with it, but much more from a historical point of view. In the United States, it was very split, with hundreds of thousands trying to stop it from being broadcast. On the other hand, there were people who thought Jesus was a myth and now that we've found [the tomb] they realize he was a living and breathing person and they've found that inspirational."

So there you have it: Not only did Lost Tomb of Jesus shame Mel Gibson's detail-obsessed Messiah snuff film in matters of verisimilitude [Ed.note—Potatoes and corn in the marketplace? Vegetable heresy!], it's even bringing a new kind of faith to those who believed Christ was just a fictional character in a story with a tacked on, unbelievably upbeat ending—a demonstration of craft that borders on the Spielbergian.