Interview: Dallas Jenkins of “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone”

Posted on April 13, 2017 at 8:00 am

Director Dallas Jenkins spoke to me about his charming and touching film, “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone.” Brett Dalton stars as the spoiled former child actor who gets into trouble and is sentenced to community service, where he starts as a janitor and ends up playing the part of Jesus in a church Passion Play directed by the pastor’s daughter, played by Anjelah Johnson-Reyes.

Tell me where the idea came from, how did it start?

A couple of years ago when I was developing a few ideas for movies. I live in Chicago now, I’m working at a church in Chicago and we were working on a few ideas. I had a random breakfast meeting with someone and they mentioned the script and when they told me the storyline of a guy who pretends to be a Christian but he can play the part of Jesus in his passion play, I immediately liked it and because I could immediately see the humor of him trying to navigate through church world, trying to learn the language that Christians use and trying to figure out all the Christian clichés that he could sound like a Christian. I love the humor, but also by playing the part of Jesus he’s going to learn more about Him and going to become part of this church. So from both a humor perspective and an emotional perspective it just felt right to me. It felt like an opportunity to tell a story about church but through the eyes of an outsider so it could appeal to both worlds. It just really felt like the kind of project that would appeal to both church insiders and church outsiders and it came together pretty quickly.

It was good to see Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, known for her comedy, in a role that gave her a chance to be a little more serious.

Months and months before we made the movie my wife and I were talking about the part of the pastor’s daughter. This was a Midwest church and I didn’t want the part to look too Hollywood. My wife said, “You know, there’s an actress in the movie ‘Chipmunks the Squeakquel’ who has the character look you’re talking about.’ So, we popped in the DVD to take a look at it and immediately I said, ‘Oh she’s great. That’s exactly what I’m looking for,” I think standup comedians actually make good actors because they just have a good understanding of emotion and timing.

And I looked her up and I didn’t realize that she was a Christian. And so, when I found out she was married to a Christian hip-hop artist and we actually had some mutual friends. It was all completely random and completely coincidental and so through my mutual friends I contacted her and said I really wanted her to audition for this part. She was skeptical and I just said, “Well just read the script and see what you think.” She read it and loved it right away and then she came in and auditioned and did a great audition and the producers agreed that she would right for the part.

So it all started with her Chipmunks movie and now we’ve become great friends and she does a great job in the film. It is funny because she’s playing the part of someone who doesn’t know how to tell a joke, someone who takes herself too seriously. I think it appealed to her because it was different than what she normally does.

What makes this movie different from most Christian films?

We heard this over and over again: “I don’t normally like Christian films but I love this.” I think the humor has a lot to do with that. I think sometimes we Christians can take ourselves pretty seriously. Our movies are usually message-driven as opposed to story-driven which isn’t always a bad thing. I’m not criticizing that. But I think the humor in this film really stood out. The quality of the acting and the story can appeal to and be related to by church outsiders. I think the humor takes the sting out of it a little bit, makes it feel a little bit less propaganda, and so I think people just have responded to that.

Gavin Stone has a lot to learn obviously about grace and who Jesus really was. So do the Christians, and so do the churchgoers. And the pastor’s daughter herself learned as much about grace and about who Jesus was as Gavin does because she had taken it for granted and so he is impacted by the church and the church is also impacted by him. Being willing to acknowledge that the church has its own strengths and weaknesses and being willing to poke a little at the fun at it, I think again takes the sting out of it a little bit for people and makes it feel less like a sermon.

Part of that comes from D.B. Sweeney as the pastor, who is a great character.

He’s just a normal guy and the first time you see him on screen he communicates both in his words and his behavior that he is not intimidating and he is not pious. He admits he is still figuring out a lot about this himself and about the Christian faith. He’s not perfect. He doesn’t have it all together and he is willing to acknowledge that but yet at the end of the day he is a father, he’s a pastor who’s been there for decades and has a lot to teach and a lot to impart. But it’s coming from the perspective of somebody who is not pretending to be perfect. The whole conceit of this movie is that Gavin is pretending to be a Christian and I didn’t want the pastor to be stupid and not be able to tell that something may be a little wrong. He knows that something is very off but ultimately realizes Gavin Stone playing the part of Jesus is going to have a much better chance of impacting him than cleaning toilets. He says to his daughter at one point, “Isn’t this why we do what we do?” Having the opportunity to have an impact on someone — that’s the whole theme of the movie, that line.

Is Gavin Stone a good actor?

We really specifically made a choice to make Gavin Stone a very good actor and one of the key parts to illustrate that was his audition. The original script had him doing the scene from “Braveheart,” you know, “They’ll never take away our freedom” speech and I thought that would come across as humorous. I wanted that part where he gives his audition to actually be serious, to show that he is actually a really good actor and is going to bring something special to this church.

And so, I moved the “Braveheart” speech to the prayer scene where Gavin is asked to pray for the first time and he doesn’t know how so it’s just “Braveheart.” And then I found a speech from “Hamlet” and I put that as the audition and it turned out that it happened to be the same speech and monologue that Brett had used in real life to audition for the Yale School of Drama. And so that’s one of the things that really connected Brett to that script. The only way this was going to be pulled off that Gavin could quickly and on his feet convincingly portray the part of a churchgoer is that he’s a good actor and we had to portray that going in.

I also liked his interaction with his estranged father, played by Neil Flynn.

Neil is a really good actor and again a normal guy; he is actually from Chicago so he plays the part of the Midwest dad perfectly. We just wanted to have some moments away from the church setting and that allowed us to experience Gavin in some of his natural environment so that we could see who he was for real when he wasn’t pretending to be somebody else.

Gavin was spoiled. Hollywood has actually damaged him a little bit. You see that his father wasn’t a big fan of Gavin’s lifestyle choices and that he wasn’t a big fan of him being a child actor. At one point his father says, “I wanted to protect you, you know I didn’t want you to become selfish.” That’s what being sometimes a child actor can bring out when you are a celebrity too soon you can create a selfishness. And so I just kind of wanted to paint more shades of gray that Gavin’s father maybe he was really harsh at times but wasn’t entirely wrong and Gavin’s choices weren’t always the best but also weren’t entirely wrong and that he had something to say too. So we just wanted to tell a story that wasn’t always black and white.

Do you have a favorite Bible verse?

Psalm 34:5 — “Those who look to him are radiant, their faces will never be ashamed.” I’m guilty of this too: my career, my choices, where I’m going to be in five years? What is my plan? And I’ve learned over the years that where I am at in five years is none of my business and that verse really speaks to me because when you’re looking to God, when you’re looking up then you don’t have to worry about not only the practical things of life but you also don’t have to deal with the shame of your humanity. And so that phrase, “those who look to him are radiant,” I found that to be true over and over.

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Directors Interview

Interview: Writer/Director James Gray of “The Lost City of Z”

Posted on April 12, 2017 at 3:55 pm

James Gray wrote and directed the adventure movie “The Lost City of Z,” based on Percy Fawcett, the real-life explorer who inspired fictional characters from Indiana Jones to the swashbuckling heroes of books by Arthur Conan Doyle and H. Rider Haggard. The movie stars Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, and Sienna Miller. Gray and his crew had to re-create the arduous journey through the South American rainforest; while they had better technology than Fawcett’s group, they also had to bring along all of the equipment to make the film.

In an interview, Gray talked about the directors who inspired him — and why he had to make some different choices than the ones in their classic films.

It’s 100 years after the events in the film. Tell me how you approach dealing with issues of gender and race that acknowledges the realities of its era without distracting us unnecessarily?

Wow, that’s a heavy one. How did I deal with it, well, with great difficulty and with kid gloves. It’s one of the advantages we have and it’s not about judging the characters, that’s not really what I’m saying but a more global view, a more…how do I say this? A more progressive view, a more open view hopefully of the ideas of gender, class and ethnicity that has to be part of the film. And I felt that if I could make a movie in the style of let’s say David Lean, who I revere, but bring, dare I say this, a more advanced or different approach to the politics of it — for example,”Lawrence of Arabia he has Alec Guinness playing an Arab which is absurd today.

So, I felt that that was the way that I could do something different from what Mr. Lean did. And in the case of something like an “Apocalypse Now,” as great as I think it is, and I think it is the greatest, there certainly aren’t any women in it of any importance. A Playboy playmate is pretty much the only woman in the whole movie. So, I felt that it was important that I give everybody a sort of fair shake at the narrative and that everybody’s existence would be entirely independent. So, Sienna Miller’s character has her own hopes and dreams and that the film acknowledges those desires. And the indigenous people of South America would be independent and not demand a white male European view of the world to exist. People talk about what they call the Magical Negro in movies where this African-American character has all these magical qualities throughout which is in its own way deeply racist. My ambition was to do something the opposite of that, which was that the indigenous people of Amazonia would function in a way that was entirely free from any need for the white man.

And really the approach was to try and bring a certain dignity and humanity to every single person in the movie. And so, I’ve tried to think of it in those terms.

For me one of the most intriguing characters in the film was Murray, the veteran of the Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic but a terrible problem for Fawcett.

In the book he goes on I think it’s eight trips, so I had to condense that to three. When I approached it I thought, “Okay if it’s three trips, each trip has to have a different meaning.” The first trip is about the exposure to his obsession and how the obsession settles in and what it becomes and what it starts to mean for him. The second trip with Mr. Murray would have to be about how he saw the trip in the beginning as cementing his position not only in society but in history and really it was an act of ego to bring Mr. Murray along. He was going for glory and he thought Murray would bring an incredible luster. Murray’s ethical bankruptcy is in a way Fawcett’s fault because he chose Murray to go with him. That was the price he paid for wanting that because Murray is the lie of one class’s superiority over the other. Murray is the person who’s “Oh look how much wealth I have.” He’s a man of means and prestige and yet he’s a fraud.

So, Murray was a lesson for Fawcett really that the measure of a man has nothing to do with class or rank. That was what I thought the whole trip meant. He had to learn that and the third trip was his atonement for his neglect. It became a much more spiritual experience for him because he was able to enjoy it with his son. On the third trip he could achieve a measure of transcendence because he had already been through the second trip with this person who showed him that the search for glory and class validation was a bankrupt position.

Were you able to read some of Percy’s own journals?

I sure did. In addition to the Grann book I read Exploration Fawcett which is a compilation of his journal entries along with some editorializing by his son Brian that was put out many years later. I’m sure there is some embellishment from Brian, who was anxious to validate his father’s journeys but I’m sure it still had a bunch of Percy’s actual words still in them. I tried to adhere to Fawcett’s own words in as many places as possible. That Royal Geographical Society speech that he gives, which is about a seven and a half-minute long scene in the center of the movie is almost entirely his actual words. I read his letters too, back and forth to his wife and Charlie Hunnam and Sienna Miller did too. That was actually the best window into who those people are that we could have found. And I think it was necessary work.

Did you feel in a way as you were filming in South America that you were re-experiencing some of what he experienced? Did you learn what he went through just from being there?

Probably not because I’m nothing like Fawcett. I’m a wimp and I was only there for four months and he was in it for years. He didn’t have GPS and he didn’t have a bed at night to sleep in. I had clothes with special coating so I didn’t get bitten by anything. It must’ve been unbelievably difficult and I can’t understand how he did it. I mean we were there only four months and one crew member got malaria and two people got dengue. Somehow he marched to the jungle multiple times in the eight trips he went on that’s really about 20 years’ worth of living.

What would have happened if he found the City of Z?

Perhaps if he had found it, it would have been kind of anticlimactic for him. We have a real-life example of this in Hiram Bingham, who discovered Machu Picchu but his life had to have another act. He became a Senator. And I feel like if Fawcett had found some city in the jungle he would’ve looked at it for about twenty minutes and thought, “This is totally amazing. What the hell do I do now?” So much of what it was about for him was about the need to escape.

What is it that you think drives people to become explorers, to go past what is on a map?

There are noble qualities to exploration, there really are. There is an unending curiosity, there’s a remarkable drive, there is a stunning courage but there are also darker, less noble, aspects to it. One is the need to escape confronting what it means to be a person living in this world. I think that Fawcett’s whole need for exploration was in part a need to get out, a need to get away from what was very obviously a situation that was punishing to him. The father was a terrible alcoholic and was a gambler. He destroyed not one but two family fortunes. It shamed the family. So Fawcett was trying to escape from Victorian England and the cruelty of that world that seemed so punishing. And I think part the need for exploration is just to get out.

Interview: Mckenna Grace of “Gifted”

Posted on April 12, 2017 at 10:49 am

Mckenna Grace as “Mary Adler” and Chris Evans as “Frank Adler” in the film GIFTED. Photo by Wilson Webb. © 2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved.

Mckenna Grace is the star of “Gifted,” playing Mary, a first grader with extraordinary mathematics ability, living with her Uncle Frank, played by Chris Evans. In an interview, she talked about what she and Evans did off camera, crying on cue, and what might be difficult for someone who is gifted.

What did you and Chris Evans do to get to be comfortable with each other?

We had an immediate connection. It was very special when I first met him. We were there ahead of time for two weeks to kind of get to know each other better and then we were there for two months so some of the scenes were really just better with our connection because we had been knowing each other for longer.

What kinds of things did you do when you were not filming?

We sang, we sang. “Peaches” by Presidents of the United States of America and then we also sang “Old Man on the Back Porch” by Presidents of the United States of America.

Would you like to be as smart as Mary?

I think it would be cool but from watching “Gifted” I learned that some people don’t always feel accepted or they feel different or alone when they are gifted or they just feel they have an irregular life. So, I think that being gifted would be cool but sometimes people can make fun of you and I think that that’s wrong.

Are you good at math?

I do six grade math even though I’m in fifth grade so I think I’m okay.

Did you have fun with Octavia Spencer, the way your character does with her character?

Yes, we still talk a lot. And she would always invite me to her hotel, we have parties and we talk and sing and eat. We hung out a lot and we still talk a lot.

What was your audition like for this role?

I was auditioning and connected to this for over 8 months. I did the Blacklist live reading so if they made a movie I thought I would get to play Mary but nope, I had to do a whole auditioning process to get it right.

What are some of the tricks that you use to be able to cry and to be angry in a scene?

I just think about sad things and I really put myself in Mary’s shoes, Mary’s position.

So, what was she feeling when it seemed like she was going to be living with Frank anymore?

She was feeling very upset and she felt very worked up and sad and she felt very abandoned. We did tons of takes, tons.

Do you like to read? Are there any books that you especially like?

Yes, I love reading. I’m on my tenth novel this month. I love the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series. I also really love Stephen King’s, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, that one was amazing!

Was there a movie or television show that you saw where you said, “That’s what I really want to do. I really want to act?”

Yes, The Pee-wee Herman Show and Shirley Temple movies. I really love “Little Miss Broadway.”

And what is the best advice that you ever got about acting?

That you can do anything you put your mind to and do your best and if you do your best then you know you have done all that you could do.

What makes you laugh?

Oh goodness, lots of things made me laugh. My papa because sometimes he is very overdramatic on purpose to get laughs out of me. He makes me giggle a lot.

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Actors Interview

Interview: John O’Hurley of “Swing Away”

Posted on April 9, 2017 at 8:00 am

John O’Hurley may be best known for playing a fictionalized version of the founder of the J. Peterman catalogue on “Seinfeld.” In his new film “Swing Away,” he also plays something of a fictionalized version of a real-life character. In an interview, he told me that when they were filming in 2014, he had no idea that the real estate mogul he based his brash, bombastic golf resort developer character on would be elected President before the film was released. We also talked about the fun of filming in Greece and why golf reveals character.

The film is about a Greek-American professional golfer (Shannen Elizabeth) who flees to her grandparents in Rhodes after a televised meltdown in an important golf tournament. It is a sweet, funny, story with a little romance and some spectacular scenery. One of the highlights is a golf match in Rhodes with an obnoxious American developer, played by O’Hurley.

The audience at the screening we attended was almost entirely Greek-American and they were thrilled to see the beautiful location footage.

It does speak to something that I found out about this film. The Greek people are the proudest people I have ever met and they support Greek culture in any way that they possibly can. They are proud to be Greek when they get up at six in the morning and they are proud to be Greek when they go to bed at 4 am.

It is clear you are real-life golfer.

Yes, I am a golfer. I have been a golfer my whole life. It’s always been the game that I played and I played it competitively in high school and then acting was my love so it has always been kind of an avocation for me.

They say that golf is more revealing of a person’s integrity and character than any other game. Do you think that is right?

Absolutely. You spend four hours with somebody on a golf course and you will learn pretty much everything you need to know about them. It’s a game with personal responsibility. The ball isn’t moving when you go to hit it, so therefore everything you do from the first tee shot to the ball is all up to you. It’s all within your wheelhouse; you can’t blame anyone or anything else for it.

Is it true that, at least a year before he declared his candidacy for the Presidency, you based your performance on Donald Trump?

That’s exactly what I was going for. It really had to be that kind of overwhelmly myopic American businessman capitalist coming in to take over what his vision of the development would be, culture be damned. We’ve seen examples of that all over the world and Donald certainly has made several forays overseas in the British Isles and met with quite a bit if resistance over there, so he has been through it, absolutely.

Is it fun to play a guy who is really over-the-top?

Oh, absolutely and I had a chance really to sculpt his character from the ground up. I make no apologies for the jackass that he is. And I think he has to be unredeemable in order to make this film work; I don’t think he can be somebody who is redemptive. The rest of the film is redemptive but he has to be irretrievable.

Very little of my character was scripted. A lot of it was just improvisational because I understand the mentality of this character very well. So in many cases I had the borderlines of what we wanted to say, and they let me flower things up. Most of what you see on screen is just me rambling.

It is so beautiful there. Did you get to enjoy yourself in Greece? Try any special Greek delicacies?

As it turned out I only had about two weeks free from other commitments that I could spend there so they basically had to stack all of my scenes including the big golf match kind of back to back to back. So I didn’t really have a day off, I kind of just continually shot. But in the evenings we went out to eat and I enjoyed them all and I think I had them all. I think I gained 15 pounds and I look at the film and I also thought it was kind of appropriate that the character looked a little self-indulgent. So, I definitely put on pounds while I was there. Because we were shooting so much outdoors we were limited by the last light and from there we would go right to dinner and we would eat and dance every night. They celebrate outdoors and eat outdoors and dance outdoors and it was fabulous every night.

What do you think people should talk about after they see the movie? What is the lesson of the movie?

I think it’s a movie about redemption, that all things are remediable. I like the idea her going back to her homeland to rediscover the whole passion of why she became involved with golf. It was a sense of rebirth for her and seeing through the eyes of this little 10-year-old girl and mentoring her and just gave her that sense of renewal that she needed to go back and take the game at a different level.

And what’s the best advice you ever got about acting?

Acting is reacting. Before I go on stage and before I do a film I always say, a prayer: “God, let me be surprised.” And that’s all it is so that way I’m calm and I’m out there looking for the next moment to happen. I know what I’m going to say but I shouldn’t know how I’m going to say it yet. I’m just waiting and ready for the moment to inspire me.

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Actors Interview

Movie Mom Interview on Expressive Mom Blog

Posted on March 28, 2017 at 8:19 pm

Many thanks to Expressive Mom and Miriam Slozberg for interviewing me about the three questions I get asked most often: Why do most movies about children have one or both parents dead or otherwise out of the picture? What do I do when they say, “everyone else at school got to see it?” And what do I do when my child/teen wants to watch the same movie over and over (and over and over)? Check out the interview for my answers.