We had a chance to talk with Dallas Jenkins about his new film "What If..." (which premiered at the 2009 Projecting Hope Film Festival). He provides some really good thoughts about what a faith-based film is or isn't and what content (language, violence) is appropriate. Read on. We would love to hear your comments.
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Q: We have been following your career for almost ten years. I remember in the early days of the Projecting Hope Film Series, we saw the trailer for Hometown Legend, and were blown away...and have been fans ever since. We can honestly say, however, that we have never seen you so excited about a project, as you are with this film. What's up, with "What If..." that has you so upbeat?
A: It's the first film I've made that has this strong of a combination of audience appeal with a quality level I'm proud of. We were happy with the quality level of Hometown Legend, but we didn't have as much audience appeal as we could have, and I've seen films that have an uplifting, evangelistic message but not great quality. I feel like this is the best film we've ever made, AND it's got an explicit gospel message and an uplifting, audience-friendly story.
Q: "What If..." boasts a really impressive cast. Can you give us some insight into how that group came together?
A: The top four leads, Kevin Sorbo, John Ratzenberger, Kristy Swanson, and Debby Ryan all came through direct or indirect personal relationships. I was already friends with Kevin and Debby, I met John at a party and discussed the project with him, and Kristy and I have a mutual friend in Gary Sinise who introduced us when I told him I was interested in her for the part.
Q: There has been some talk about the film getting a theatrical release. Is something in the works to get this movie into theaters?
A: Yes, the film comes to theaters in August, and we'll be rolling it out on a region by region basis.
Q: In the past you have made films that I wouldn't necessarily describe as "faith-based" in the mold of more faith-explicit movies like "Facing the Giants" or "Fireproof". Your films clearly contain a Christian worldview, but were aimed more at a general audience than they were geared to the church crowd. How would you describe the intended audience for "What If..."?
A: Well, this film is more faith-explicit, but I really feel like we did it in a non-intrusive way, and by that I mean that the salvation message doesn't feel "crow-barred" into the film out of nowhere. It's really organic to the story and the main character. In fact, a few crew members who are total agnostics with no interest in Christianity at all told me that the "salvation scene" felt totally natural and story-driven. So while I believe our core audience will be evangelicals, I'm confident that non-believers can be invited without hesitation or embarrassment.
Q: As a ministry, we don't often use the phrase "Christian film" to describe the types of movies we show in the Projecting Hope Film Series. Christ and his message are certainly at the forefront of our outreach, but we have found that this terminology carries too much baggage...and to be quite honest, we were unable to define what a "Christian film" actually is (Must it have a conversion scene? Mention Jesus? Just be morally acceptable? Have David White in a lead role?). All that to ask: Do you define yourself as a "Christian filmmaker"?
A: Really, it's a marketing term that is used basically to describe the primary intended audience. "The Blind Side" was a film about a Christian family with prayer, Christian schools, and a faith-based storyline, but wasn't called a "Christian film." Why? Because it was marketed for the entire mainstream audience. That said, the film "What If..." can effectively be called a Christian film because it's faith-based in its storyline and is going to be marketed primarily to Christians, and it could be played in a church without hesitation. I could resist that label for all the reasons I normally do, but I'd just be playing semantics. So, to answer your question, I consider myself a "filmmaker" who is a Christian and who sometimes makes Christian films.
Q. Past projects from Jenkins entertainment have dealt with difficult issues and messy, sinful situations. How do you react to well-meaning objectors that think Believers should be making clean, family-friendly entertainment devoid of any objectionable content?
A: I think the simplest thing to say would be two-fold: One, the Bible is far from "clean, family-friendly entertainment devoid of any objectionable content," what with its frequent depictions of sex, murder, explicit violence, lying, vulgar behavior, and plenty of adult content that children wouldn't understand, and two, the message of the gospel is that it redeems the worst of the worst. If we sugarcoat the mess and the sin and the state we're redeemed FROM, than what's so powerful about who we're redeemed BY?
Of course, not every film has to tell the story of the mess, and not every film needs to portray a mess as rough as some of the stories in the Bible. My new film, "What If...," certainly doesn't avoid conflict or portrayals of sin, but the life we choose to portray as needing redemption isn't as raw as my other film Midnight Clear, nor is the portrayal as explicit. So this one's for the whole family!
I think that faith-based films have a tendency to be so sugar-coated and sanitized that the ultimate redemption they try to portray is tempered. What makes the gospel so powerful and relevant isn't that it saves people who have moderate-level struggles and "family friendly" problems.
The reason the gospel is awe-inspiring is that it saves the prostitute, the liar, the murderer. In trying to make our films "clean," family-safe, and easy on the eyes and ears, we are leaving out the most important part of the salvation and redemption story, which is the "wretch like me" part. I want to portray characters on screen that an unbelieving audience member can recognize, so that hopefully he'll say, "Hope or redemption were possible for that person, maybe hope and redemption aren't impossible or bizarre ideas."
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Q: We have been following your career for almost ten years. I remember in the early days of the Projecting Hope Film Series, we saw the trailer for Hometown Legend, and were blown away...and have been fans ever since. We can honestly say, however, that we have never seen you so excited about a project, as you are with this film. What's up, with "What If..." that has you so upbeat?
A: It's the first film I've made that has this strong of a combination of audience appeal with a quality level I'm proud of. We were happy with the quality level of Hometown Legend, but we didn't have as much audience appeal as we could have, and I've seen films that have an uplifting, evangelistic message but not great quality. I feel like this is the best film we've ever made, AND it's got an explicit gospel message and an uplifting, audience-friendly story.
Q: "What If..." boasts a really impressive cast. Can you give us some insight into how that group came together?
A: The top four leads, Kevin Sorbo, John Ratzenberger, Kristy Swanson, and Debby Ryan all came through direct or indirect personal relationships. I was already friends with Kevin and Debby, I met John at a party and discussed the project with him, and Kristy and I have a mutual friend in Gary Sinise who introduced us when I told him I was interested in her for the part.
Q: There has been some talk about the film getting a theatrical release. Is something in the works to get this movie into theaters?
A: Yes, the film comes to theaters in August, and we'll be rolling it out on a region by region basis.
Q: In the past you have made films that I wouldn't necessarily describe as "faith-based" in the mold of more faith-explicit movies like "Facing the Giants" or "Fireproof". Your films clearly contain a Christian worldview, but were aimed more at a general audience than they were geared to the church crowd. How would you describe the intended audience for "What If..."?
A: Well, this film is more faith-explicit, but I really feel like we did it in a non-intrusive way, and by that I mean that the salvation message doesn't feel "crow-barred" into the film out of nowhere. It's really organic to the story and the main character. In fact, a few crew members who are total agnostics with no interest in Christianity at all told me that the "salvation scene" felt totally natural and story-driven. So while I believe our core audience will be evangelicals, I'm confident that non-believers can be invited without hesitation or embarrassment.
Q: As a ministry, we don't often use the phrase "Christian film" to describe the types of movies we show in the Projecting Hope Film Series. Christ and his message are certainly at the forefront of our outreach, but we have found that this terminology carries too much baggage...and to be quite honest, we were unable to define what a "Christian film" actually is (Must it have a conversion scene? Mention Jesus? Just be morally acceptable? Have David White in a lead role?). All that to ask: Do you define yourself as a "Christian filmmaker"?
A: Really, it's a marketing term that is used basically to describe the primary intended audience. "The Blind Side" was a film about a Christian family with prayer, Christian schools, and a faith-based storyline, but wasn't called a "Christian film." Why? Because it was marketed for the entire mainstream audience. That said, the film "What If..." can effectively be called a Christian film because it's faith-based in its storyline and is going to be marketed primarily to Christians, and it could be played in a church without hesitation. I could resist that label for all the reasons I normally do, but I'd just be playing semantics. So, to answer your question, I consider myself a "filmmaker" who is a Christian and who sometimes makes Christian films.
Q. Past projects from Jenkins entertainment have dealt with difficult issues and messy, sinful situations. How do you react to well-meaning objectors that think Believers should be making clean, family-friendly entertainment devoid of any objectionable content?
A: I think the simplest thing to say would be two-fold: One, the Bible is far from "clean, family-friendly entertainment devoid of any objectionable content," what with its frequent depictions of sex, murder, explicit violence, lying, vulgar behavior, and plenty of adult content that children wouldn't understand, and two, the message of the gospel is that it redeems the worst of the worst. If we sugarcoat the mess and the sin and the state we're redeemed FROM, than what's so powerful about who we're redeemed BY?
Of course, not every film has to tell the story of the mess, and not every film needs to portray a mess as rough as some of the stories in the Bible. My new film, "What If...," certainly doesn't avoid conflict or portrayals of sin, but the life we choose to portray as needing redemption isn't as raw as my other film Midnight Clear, nor is the portrayal as explicit. So this one's for the whole family!
I think that faith-based films have a tendency to be so sugar-coated and sanitized that the ultimate redemption they try to portray is tempered. What makes the gospel so powerful and relevant isn't that it saves people who have moderate-level struggles and "family friendly" problems.
The reason the gospel is awe-inspiring is that it saves the prostitute, the liar, the murderer. In trying to make our films "clean," family-safe, and easy on the eyes and ears, we are leaving out the most important part of the salvation and redemption story, which is the "wretch like me" part. I want to portray characters on screen that an unbelieving audience member can recognize, so that hopefully he'll say, "Hope or redemption were possible for that person, maybe hope and redemption aren't impossible or bizarre ideas."
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