Tyler Perry will be sharing his “passion” with the world when his highly-anticipated live musical special, The Passion, airs on Sunday night.

Part of Tyler Perry‘s production will include a somber procession through the streets of New Orleans with Jesus, played by Jencarlos Canela, and the cross.

The cast of Tyler Perry’s The Passion also includes Trisha Yearwood as Mary, and Seal as Pontius Pilate.

New Orleans may seem like an unlikely backdrop for Tyler Perry‘s religious spectacle, but according to him, it’s the perfect city.

On set in rehearsal for @thepassionlive. Tomorrow will be epic!!!

A photo posted by Tyler Perry (@tylerperry) on Mar 19, 2016 at 11:40am PDT

He said, “I don’t know of a better backdrop than New Orleans. This city literally rose again from a liquid grave. So to have the story of Jesus Christ’s suffering and resurrection told in this city, I just thought it was perfect.”

He added, “And that was one of the deciding factors to me saying yes to the project.”

While Tyler Perry’s films have never really been targeted to the mainstream, nor have they really been blatant Oscar material, Perry did have a surprising opinion on the recent Oscars racial divide controversy.

I got surprised this morning by my folks. I had no idea I had done this many TV episodes. To the millions of you who love what I do THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! LORD JESUS!! 800 episodes… only God!! Headed to New Orleans now for The Passion. See you Sunday night at 8/7c!!

A photo posted by Tyler Perry (@tylerperry) on Mar 17, 2016 at 10:25am PDT

When asked if he feels that any of his movies should have been nominated, Tyler Perry said, “I don’t! Here’s my whole thing. I think the Academy should be able to vote the way they want to vote. None of that matters to me. I know there are a lot of people in Hollywood whose work depends on there being changes.”

He continued, “But I’ve never been one to knock on the door and say, ‘Please let me in.’ I have always tried to make my own way. I’m not really the person to speak to that because I’m not inside the system asking to be nominated or asking for anybody to pay attention to what I’m doing. What is important to me is the stories that I tell, and making sure they resonate with the audience I’m speaking to.”

He added, “Whether that’s important to anybody else is not really that important to me. I get it, and I completely understand how difficult it is for a lot of people of color to work in Hollywood. I 100% get it. But I do not think change comes from asking people to let you in. I think change comes by becoming owners of studios, owners of projects, owners of content.”

Are you excited to see Tyler Perry’s The Passion on Sunday?