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April 15, 2013

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Interviews, Reviews

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Erin Bethea Interview: THIS IS OUR TIME – Review

I had a  comfortable conversation with Erin Bethea last week. She is one of the ensemble actors starring in This is Our Time!, which releases on DVD Tuesday, April 16, 2013.

erin betheaHere is a small portion of our conversation:

CJ: You’ve had experience working with new directors, experienced directors, and now a female director. What was it like working with Lisa Arnold?

ERIN: What is great about working with Lisa is that she wrote the script and is a talented writer. She really knew the story well.

CJ: Did that background help Lisa cast the roles?

ERIN: She is amazing at casting. She knew what she wanted and got it…a perfect cast. They picked people that were the characters. When I met them, they were just what I expected and we built strong friendships, just like our characters.

CJ: What was it like working under Lisa?

ERIN: She has a quiet grace on set. Not too dynamic…she’s gentle and gracious. She is subtle, but pushes you in a way you don’t realize. I would happily do anything with her again.

This is Our Time PosterCJ: There are a lot of Christian films about good people becoming better people, which make finding a unique role difficult. What was a unique aspect of your character Alé that you hadn’t played before?

ERIN: I do play a lot of the same roles in faith-based films, but Alé is the first sold out believer, instead of the person that is not yet quite there. She was warm and friendly. I wished I were more like that girl. She has a warmth…she’s sweet.

CJ: The story was about the character of Ethan finding what gift God had given him and choosing to live it out loud. It seemed like your character was Ethan’s archetype or role-model that encouraged him to step up his life to God’s calling. What was it like to play such a powerful role-model with humility?

ERIN: It was a bit of a challenge. I wanted to keep Alé likeable. Because she’s everyone’s favorite, you don’t want to play her in a way where she becomes annoying. We all know amazing people who don’t realize how amazing they are, and she didn’t’ realize the gift she brought to others. She was just being who she was, so her seemingly perfection didn’t come across contrived.

CJ: In the film, Alé inspires everyone in the story. In what way did she inspire you personally?

ERIN: We shot in India in an actual leper colony for three days. For three days I really lived out her ministry. You can’t walk away from something like that without being impacted, challenged, and being other’s minded.

CJ: Do you find that the audience wants you to be that person in real life?

ERIN: There is an expectation that is placed on you as an actor. Fans are taken aback when they find out that you are not like the person they fell in love with on the screen.

CJ: As a Christian actress, are you limited to always playing the good guy? Wouldn’t it be refreshing and expand your acting chops if you played a bad guy?

ERIN: I would so love to play a bad guy. Please, someone put me in a film as a bad guy. I just want to play a villain…a rotten person. A friend of mine has a theory that nice girls can play bad people really well by playing the exact opposite of who they are.

CJ: Christian movie fans seem to put a lot of expectations on Christian films. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?

ERIN: I think that Christian films in general have a different set of expectations. People will accept certain things in a secular film that they won’t accept in a Christian film.

CJ: But what about films like Les Miz, which in my mind is one of the greatest stories of redemption ever told.

ERIN: I loved Les Miz. It was a great story of redemption. But if it were made as a Christian film, there would be an uproar over there being a prostitute in the film, and rightfully so. We are called to something higher.

CJ: We do have a higher standard to live by. But, how much greater is the value of redemption when the person’s devastating choices are revealed in the storyline?

ERIN: Storytelling…when Christians see that the arch of the story has redemptive qualities…if they see it embrace people…they get behind it like they did with The Blindside.

CJ: You seem genuinely thankful for the acting roles you’ve received. You must have fun playing the various characters.

ERIN: Making a movie is pretty much the most fun thing on this planet. You make friends on set that will be your friends for years.

CJ: Erin, thank you so much for your time today and chatting about your experiences.

ERIN: Thank you, CJ. It was a pleasure meeting you.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in hopes that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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March 25, 2013

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Reviews

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Ragman – Review

Walter Wangerin Jr. wrote a heart felt short story in 1984 that took the world by storm. It moved youth to understand what Christ did for their generation. The essence of the story helped thousands to comprehend, for the first time, the sacrifice that Christ made to bring healing into their lives, if they were willing.

Ragman by Dale WardGreat literary works of this kind seldom translate well to the screen, yet Director Dale Ward took on the challenge with his 2009 film version. While the film doesn’t stir the emotions as powerfully as Wangerin’s written work, it’s a close rendition of what was written. For those not having ever seen one of the Ragman films, I recommend you share Ward’s work with your family and take advantage of his study guide. Or at least get a copy of the book.

Ward is an Emmy award winner in his own right, so it wasn’t surprising to learn that the film was a finalist in several film festivals. It won Best Faith-Based Film at the Cape Fear Film Festival and was a Taffy Award Winner at the Reno Film Festival. I attribute most of this success to the production team starting with a great story from a National Book Award recipient.

The greatest problems facing the translation work of taking a great piece of literature to the screen, is deciding if it’s important to move the audience emotionally in the same way as the story, or keep the story intact. No, it’s not possible to do both – They are two different types of media.

Wangerin’s literary work is based on the journey of the reader’s heart. Film’s are based on the journey of the protagonist. Books allow the reader to envision the characters from their own perspective, based on personal experiences, making the story far richer than anyone could expect. A film is limited to the director’s perspective, which might be extremely rich or not, depending on the level of risk he takes in making it for the screen.

A good example of this can be found in Ragman. The director chose to work with a lot of long shots, while my heart desired to move in close and get to know each character’s plight and what was behind it. I needed to feel and understand each person’s pain, but I was limited to gain just enough insights for the climax of the film to work. The original short story, thanks to Wangerin’s craftsmanship and my creativity, gave me far more to work with – Creating an incredible heart changing experience in my own life.

However, Ward did a good job in his depiction of the story and it’s worth watching, especially if you haven’t ever been touched by the story in any of its forms. The film is 18 minutes in length and can be found on Amazon.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in hopes that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers
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March 18, 2013

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Filmmaking, Reviews

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Last Week’s Efforts in Review

I’ve always wondered what would happen if I missed a day of blogging. Since Monday’s are typically some form of review, Wednesday’s are trade tips for up coming filmmakers and fans interested in behind the scenes, and Friday’s are usually a life story of some type, I wasn’t sure if anyone would miss a blog or even comment on its absence.

This past Friday was one of those days that I missed. I had been flooded with a lot of work and lots of meetings, which ate up my writing time. It made me realize why Hollywood folks tend to focus more tightly on their core business values and hire PR people. After all, the work still needs to get done. So, here are just a few of the things that kept me from writing my blog this past Friday.

Producer Anthony DeRosa

Anthony DeRosa

Last week started off simple enough. I was working with Anthony DeRosa of RTC Entertainment on a joint venture that we’re contemplating for the near future. We had to summarize our pitch for the attorney to take it to our contacts at Lionsgate and Sony. Knowing we only had one shot, we wrote and rewrote the pitch until it was compelling.

Bill Snider

Bill Snider

In the meantime, Bill Snider, the Director of the APMM, contacted me to see if I could bring my international screenwriters workshop to the Bermese people in Yangon, Myanmar. Bill has numerous feature films under his belt, which have all been produced overseas. For each feature, he teams with nationals and an award winning producer/director like Steve Cadd of Sword Productions. They work hand in hand helping the nationals tell their story, while raising their production quality far above the national standards. If schedules permit, I’ll be headed out to help the team write their script in July with lots of Skype follow up work.

Kurt_David_Anderson

Kurt David Anderson

I next had lunch with actor/producer Kurt David Anderson (Castle, Rules of Engagement, Outlaw) and writer Matthew Waynee (Unknown, Code Red). Kurt is a producer for Punching Bees Productions. He is currently developing one of Matthew’s screenplays into a feature with the intention of shooting in Chicago. This film will also be Matthew’s directorial debut, so I had a lot of fun chatting with him about the picture.

Matthew Waynee

Matthew Waynee

The hectic week even included numerous meetings with CEOs, who are helping me to structure my business for quick growth. We went over policies, transformation strategies, and how to create and implement a focused vision that drives our core values and workflows.

Add to this the branding work, screenplay development, investor meetings, and story development meetings I had…I was one busy guy. Oh, and that doesn’t count the negotiations I entered into for a novel I’d like to see made into a film, or the offer I got to co-write a book. Suffice it to say that my week was packed with a lot of fun and hard work – The way it should be.

So, now you know some of the things that kept me from last Friday’s blog – Not that I need an excuse, but I wasn’t sure if my readers understood the type of work that happened on a daily basis. Of course, the best part of filmmaking is that everything changes and this week will be filled with many new opportunities and surprises.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers