The official movie poster for 'Exodus: Gods and Kings.' Photo: IMDb.

A recently released behind-the-scenes reel of Ridley Scott’s upcoming film Exodus: Gods and Kings shows just how far the director has gone to portray one of the Bible’s most famous narratives.

In the clip, which shows scenes involving up to 4,000 extras, the visionary director discusses what drew him to the biblical tale of Moses.

“The Moses story was a massive challenge, which I really love. I wanted to explore the complexity of his character and I was stunned by the giant lifespan story and what he went through,” Scott explained.

“What attracted me to the material is I felt there was a beauty in the massive scale of it,” he said, adding that creating the film was “really difficult” because of its production size. “You’re working with at least 700 crew plus the 4,000 extras and of course the army will be expanded exponentially: 4,000 will be tiled and grown into 20,000. Pretty amazing.”

The action drama tells the story of Moses, the Israelite leader who defied the Pharaoh Ramses, by freeing 600,000 Hebrew slaves and leading them out of Egypt. The role of Moses is played by Christian Bale while Joel Edgerton takes on the role of the Pharaoh.

“The idea that they were brothers and then rivals, and then later go to war with each other may be very interesting,” Scott said in the behind-the-scenes reel, which also features clips from the upcoming movie.

The film’s cast includes Aaron Paul, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley. Exodus: Gods and Kings hits theaters Dec. 12, 2014.

Watch the behind-the-scenes video below: