Reel Legends of Redeeming Hollywood: - Page 4

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MG: So why do you think that you are so excited about these redemptive themes?

Simon Swart: Personally, I like movies that really make a difference and really encourage people to be the best people they can be. I know that sounds a little trite, but I think movies that you watch and you enjoy they are entertaining, they are funny, and they inspire you to be more than maybe what you were before you saw the movie, or at least try. You know, I love those kind of movies where it’s great story telling. It’s just brilliant entertainment and they are well told, so it grabs your attention and it impacts you in some way. I think that is the beauty of this art form.

MG: Definitely. So, why did you decide to come to MOVIEGUIDE® tonight?

Simon Swart: I am a regular here I am afraid. I have been coming for many, many years and I just you know support Dr. Baehr and the concept of recognizing films for the values that they represent, and you know some of those as I say those universal human traits and those qualities that are featured and are prominent in most of movies that are recognized here tonight.

MG: Tell me about MAO’S LAST DANCER.

SIMON SWART: It’s an amazing movie. If you haven’t seen it, it is really inspirational. It’s beautifully told. It’s the true story of a young Chinese peasant boy who grows up and gets the opportunity to perform and study in Houston as a ballet dancer and he basically makes the decision to defect. You know it’s really a fascinating story and clash of cultures where you know he is really educated and brought up in a very strictly communistic environment and he is told to be very careful about freedom and you know being corrupted by the American system, and he comes here and he finds it’s nothing quite like what he expected, and the amazing thing about this story is that it’s a true story. You know, the main character is actually living and working in the U.S. now. It’s just a really powerful story, and we have a releasing on DVD on May 1^st. It will be a Target exclusive for the first few months. But they are really excited about it.

MG: That is wonderful. It sounds so appropriate for the Faith and Freedom Awards for MOVIEGUIDE®.

Simon Swart: I made the mistake of actually watching the movie. I asked for a screener because I thought, wow, it was sort of a foreign film; it looks really interesting, but they gave me a screener and I was watching it on my laptop. You know, we don’t all watch all movies in screening rooms like they have you believe all the time, especially not us home video guys. I was watching this movie sitting up on the plane, and I hate to say it, it’s like I’m not a very weepy and emotional guy, but I was crying. I’m like why do you guys not tell me that I should watch this at home? It’s really odd sitting there and the stewardess is coming by going, are you okay? But it’s really powerful. If the last ten minutes don’t break you up then you know you don’t have a pulse. So it’s very relatable. It’s just a great human story.

MG: It sounds absolutely wonderful, so

Simon Swart: I hope everyone goes out and watches it and buys it because you will not be disappointed.

MG: So, what are your thoughts about having an awards ceremony like this? What are your thoughts about having elevation of faith and values?

Simon Swart: Well, I have been coming here for about the last eight years, maybe nine; I am losing count now, so I believe in supporting it. I think it’s a worthy event. I appreciate that really what it is celebrating is a sort of the appeal of the human experience. I don’t really see it as being as necessarily about faith and values. I see it as being about aspiration. I see it about hope. I see it about just humanity, really. And I think it is really recognizing those things that bring out the best in us, and that is kind of how I see the MOVIEGUIDE® Awards. So, pretty supportive, I would say.

MG: What are your thoughts about that kind of combination of analytics of how you measure the movies and how good faith and friendly values based films really do better at the box office?

Simon Swart: Well obviously we have had great success with that. Fox Home Entertainment is actually the number one supplier of Christian film, and so that is speaking succinctly to the faith audience so that is a market that we have recognized for many years as being an underserviced and a very influential market, and I think in all of our years of serving that market we you know have actually recognized the core values and the core tenants of people’s faith where we wouldn’t violate that. We have a certain trust with our consumers where we don’t ask them to buy something that may not fit with that. Now, certainly we do all of the main stream flux products as well, so we have great success with very broad-reaching blockbuster movies also, and I think you have something like that in CHRONICLES OF NARNIA where it’s broad based and it’s just great fun. It’s fantasy. It’s imaginative, and it’s all about being the best you can be. So, we do have great examples of these brilliant blockbuster movies that really bring that out also.

Composer Al Kasha, winner of a special Crystal Teddy Bear Award for “Communicating and Living the Good News”

MG: How is it going? How do you feel?

Al Kasha: Oh, I feel elevated. I am ebullient, enthusiastic. I am thrilled about this award because I saw how MOVIEGUIDE® started from just two sheets of paper to what it has become today. So, if we can be of help we are there to help.

MG: Who do you attribute your success to?

Al Kasha: To Jesus Christ. God is first, my wife is right behind God and, of course, all the people in the industry that have helped me by the way. I have had special favor I feel this in my belief in God. There is a saying that when you take care of God’s business, God takes care of your business, so never be ashamed of the Gospel.

MG: I like that response. I love that response, actually. So, tell me how do you guys feel about MOVIEGUIDE® and your extra large teddy bear here? Are you going to be sleeping with it tonight?

Al Kasha: I don’t think I’ll be sleeping with it, but I’ll put it on my shelf you know and I will look at it and share it with my grandson.

MG: So this evening life time achievement award how was this evening for you? What are your thoughts about events like this?

Al Kasha: Well, the thoughts that I have is that how big this MOVIEGUIDE® has moved from just a small newspaper and has moved to touch people internationally now, and to be a part of that is wonderful. I am a big fan of Ted Baehr, and in fact the very first couple he met in California was Ceil and Al Kasha and he has been to our Bible study a few times and I just pray for Ted and his wife, Lili.

MG: What is it like to see the impact of the major studios being here and them seeing all of the different things that really have impacted this whole industry?

Al Kasha: Well, there is saying what is good will last, what is not will be passed, so keep giving good material that will last. Rogers and Hamerstein have lasted and candidly I have lasted you know, so try to write some good music, and at the end of the day that will last. Look at Spielberg and Scorsese. Spielberg’s pictures make millions of zillions of dollars. Scorsese, a great filmmaker, but they are negative generally. They don’t do nearly …they are not in the same league so do something positive. The line that I like to say is, “Do Christians belong in Hollywood? As long as there is not too much Hollywood in the Christian.”

Screenwriter Andrea Nasfell and Director Helmut Schleppi of CHRISTMAS WITH A CAPITAL C, winner of the Faith & reedom Award for Television for Promoting Positive American Values

MG: How is the award bearing?

Helmut Schleppi: It was good. It is nice, it is a very beautiful award, and it’s heavy, too.

MG: It’s a globe.

Helmut Schleppi: Yeah, it’s great and Andrea is happy, too.

MG: How are you feeling?

Andrea Nasfell: Great. It’s very exciting to win this.

MG: How do you guys feel about your movie?

Helmut Schleppi: Of course we’re very proud of it, but I honestly didn’t think after seeing the competition that we would win this. You know, it was really a surprise. It’s amazing, and I am very happy. Thank you, Mr. Baehr and Mrs. Baehr. But, yeah it’s great. You know great is an American word, they use it for everything. But, it really is great. Yeah.

MG: Well, we are glad you came and you got the award, so thank you so much.

Helmut Schleppi: Without Andrea, it wouldn’t have happened. She got me into this.

MG: Tell me about that.

Andrea Nasfell: Well, I came on first because of writing the script, and they were still looking for a director and so I said hey, if you still need a director I know some people and sent home with their ways so I was really pleased, but somebody I knew that I knew his work, they chose him to direct the film and he did a terrific job of it. I was really proud of how it turned out.

MG: What motivated you to write the script?

Andrea Nasfell: They called and said do you want to write a Christmas movie? And I had actually just the week before been watching a Christmas movie with my daughter and I said I should write a Christmas movie, shouldn’t I? She looked at me and she was like you really should. Literally a week later Pureflix, the producing company, called and said do you want to write a Christmas movie? I said yes.

MG: I really like how they did that. And then the one character who had the, I probably should know the specific name, who had like the the he got angry at one point, but I just like loved how you put that in the script and he was so passionate about his faith and stuff like that. I really liked that aspect about it, and I thought that that was great, and I guess he is up for a Grace Award for that. Just for that. What do you think of this idea of this idea of being able to have the MOVIEGUIDE Awards where they really elevate the faith and value in a film?

Helmut Schleppi: Well I heard about MOVIEGUIDE®, and I didn’t know it was that big to be honest. And you know, this whole movie has opened a whole world for me that I didn’t know existed. It is a great world, it is good it is there, and I am going to tell everybody about it I think. Yeah.

MG: Excellent. So what has this been like for you to be here tonight?

Andrea Nasfell: It has been fantastic. It is uh, you know I actually read MOVIEGUIDE® when I was I in high school because I was interested in film and my Dad was in Christian radio and would interview Ted Baehr from time to time, and so it was kind of part of my little journey on towards Hollywood so I remember. I have known about it longer than Helmut has.

Helmut Schleppi: You know, she was born in this country and I wasn’t.

Andrea Nasfell: That’s true.

MG: Congratulations. Where are you from?

Helmut Schleppi: Holland. Yeah. See, the other thing I was saying, in Holland, a movie like CHRISTMAS WITH A CAPITAL C would never get made. It certainly will never win a prize. It just would not happen. I am actually glad that I came to this country, and I think that people should be happy that it’s the country it is now.

Actress Abigail Mason of SAVING SARAH CAIN

Abigail Mason: I won the Grace Prize a couple of years ago, and it was funny because I was just trying to get a ticket to the event, and when I first came to L.A. the MOVIEGUIDE® Awards was actually one of the first introductions I had.

MOVIEGUIDE® (MG): Really.

Abigail Mason: Yeah, I came as a guest and I just landed. I had these preconceived notions that L.A was pretty jaded, which at times it very much can be. So I was super blessed to be able I came here and I had no idea it was Christian, I had no idea it was positive and I sat down and I was like what is this? Is this L.A.? Am I, you know. am I in the wrong spot? And so after that, just to get nominated was such a blessing and then to win was awesome.

MG: I guess it’s kind of like reassuring when you came here and it just makes you feel comfortable.

Abigail Mason: It was. I definitely felt like my past has kind of been guided so just I mean that this is my introduction and then that you know just with the award and just the people I worked with that year is just is kind of it was awesome to be surrounded and be encouraged by people who are making films I want to be a part of and that I also want to make and that you know Ted Baehr is giving me statistics and I am sitting around and there are executives from every network and I am like this is amazing this is so important you know.

MG: So, what’s up next for you?

Abigail Mason: Well, I am working on I am exec producing and starring in a movie called THE SLAVE ACROSS THE STREET, which is based on a novel, and it is a true story about Teresa Boraz who was actually trafficked out of her home for two years in the U.S. Yeah, it’s a powerful story, but at the same time it’s one of those that when you read it you’re like this is crazy that this happened to her, but then you realize that this is happening to hundreds and thousands of girls in the U.S. It is going to be incredible, and I’m just looking forward to it.

Singer Ace Young

MG: We’re here with Ace Young, who is going to sing tonight during the show. What is going on?

Ace Young: Thus far, I actually have been working really hard on production. I started a whole new company. It’s a production company for new artists, and we are literally splitting costs with the actual major label on the artists and we are pushing hard as a music company.

MG: Yes.

Ace Young: So, I am doing that. I am going to be one of the artists coming out this year with a company. I am also writing for a lot of different acts because I have been doing that for a long time.

MG: Well, great.

Ace Young: I really like Dautry’s first single, “It’s Not Over.” Lost my Grammy to Bruce Springstein, but I wrote some more hits that are coming as well, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.

MG: So, why are you here at MOVIEGUIDE®? What inspired you to come?

Ace Young: What inspired me to come is one of my friends, who’s actually a big involvement of this actual awards show, invited me and asked to be part of it. And, I never turn him down. So, he’s a good friend of me, and he told me what the actual awards are all about. It’s about family and pushing forward and making sure everything matters on the home front before you push into the business, and I’m totally down for that.

MG: Great, you are a supporter of that?

Ace Young: I have four older brothers, and if I wasn’t a supporter of the family, I’d be homeless.

MG: Yeah, I have three older brothers.

Ace Young: There you go.

MG: Thanks for talking with me. I can’t wait to hear what happens in there.

Ace Young: It’s nice to meet you.

MG: You, too.

Actress Bailee Madison of LETTERS TO GOD and many other new and upcoming projects

MG: What is your next movie? A princess movie?

Bailee Madison: No. But, that would be fun. Yeah, the next film is with Christian Bale, and I am really excited about that one. It’s a ballet film, so it will be fun. Right now I am actually doing A TASTE OF ROMANCE, which is a new Hallmark movie and it’s a wonderful film that I hope will be here next year because it has a really nice message.

MG: So, tell me about the movie that is up this year, LETTERS TO GOD. Tell me a little bit about that.

Bailee Madison: LETTERS TO GOD is based on a true story. It is about a little boy named Tyler who is battling cancer, and basically he writes these letters to God, you know just asking Him I am not feeling well today, can you help me? Those letters carry around the world and more and more people start writing letters to God. So it’s this really powerful story, and I think it leaves you like breath taken. I mean it’s so incredible. I get to play his best friend who is always there for him and by his side, and it’s just a wonderful role. It’s a wonderful movie. I was completely honored to be involved as it is based on a true story.

MG: I saw it, but I liked it a lot and I liked your part. That was cute. Why did you come to MOVIEGUIDE® Awards tonight? Why are you here?

Bailee Madison: I am here to just recognize all the movies out there that are positive and that have the wonderful message of the Lord, and I think it’s really important that we have films out there and I am just here to recognize all of these people who have been doing great work because of the Lord, and it’s just so wonderful to be here again, and I am just completely honored.

MG: I love that response. That’s great. What do you think about this idea of bringing out faith and values in movies for the MOVIEGUIDE® Awards?

Bailee Madison: I think it’s the best idea. I mean if we didn’t have these films, and we really need these films because at the end of the day if it’s a long day at school or a long day at work, I mean the fact of the matter is that all of the families just want to sit down and watch a good movie that can make them feel good and healthy and feel like the Lord is looking down at them, and I think it’s a wonderful idea that MOVIEGUIDE® is still continuing to do these awards that are recognizing some of those very few people who are putting out films based on the Lord. So, I think it’s really wonderful, and I am so happy that I could be a part of one of those films.

MG: Wow, who is your mother? Amazing. So, what do you want to do with your career for the future?

Bailee Madison: Hopefully I am here again. I just hope that I am in the position that I am in right now. I mean there are so many things that have been like all the doors have been opened. I have [a children’s foundation] I am working with. I do Kids of the World. I have Alex’s Lemonade Stand. And, I have just been so blessed with all of the opportunities that I have been able to do. So, I am very blessed and very honored to be here tonight. . .

Co-Producer/Writer Chuck Konzelman, Producer/Director Dallas Jenkins, Co-Producer/Writer Cary Solomon of WHAT IF. . .

MG: How are you all feeling about these little crystal teddy bears?

Cary Solomon: It is a surprise, it is a surprise, especially for this type of work. I have been in the business for a long time, over twenty years, and this means more than anything else that we have ever done. You know we have won other things, but you know this is what matters because it’s pleasing to the Lord. So that is what counts.

MG: Tell me what inspired the project of WHAT IF. . .?

Dallas Jenkins: Well, there was an idea for this movie a couple of years ago, but they didn’t quite know what to do with it, and they found Chuck and Cary, these great writers, and then I met Chuck and Cary because I met the guys who were making this movie and he said we are looking for a director and I said that I’m looking for a good script, and we actually shared the same taste in films, and our favorite film of all time was IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and this movie is kind of a reverse of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and so we just clicked so quickly, and so you know this moment right now is actually so interesting knowing that we first met at a restaurant two years ago first talking about this and now to see it rewarded in this way means we were on to something and God was really orchestrating our paths.

MG: That is a great answer. Now you guys are the writers, so I want to hear the inspiration there. When it started, kind of the history of what all went on in your head first.

Chuck Konzelman: We actually lay claim to the idea so we knew when we had heard the basic concept it was great we wanted to go to work on it. We serve a God of second chances and we needed second changes ourselves, so it’s a story about a second chance. We just fell in love with it.

MG: Great idea. So, tell me the story has faith aspects in it, and okay so…..

Cary Solomon: It’s about faith, it’s about you know the title of the movie is WHAT IF. . ., and so we all ask ourselves what if had I not done this or I had done that or if I had married this person instead of that person and had I known the Lord back then or not and that is exactly what our hero goes through, Kevin Sorbo, Basically he gets a second chance without realizing it’s a second chance and he fights against it like we all do, and the Lord knows what is best for him and he keeps fighting and fighting and fighting and he ends up with a family and children that he doesn’t want and he ends up with pastor which he is not even Christian, and he ends up in the end going back to his old life and he realizes it’s what I want. And so his “what if” comes to fruitition, and it’s really wonderful but you know it’s magic if people fall in love with it and you know that is what we hope for.

MG: I like it. That’s great. What is the next big thing? We working together again? Is this magic going to happen again?

Dallas Jenkins: Well, I hope so. I mean you know I have made a few films, and I have said it before that this is the first film where I have had a safety net of a great script, not just a good script, and when you have a safety net of a good script you can then take chances and you can explore and you can make a film and kind of let yourself get carried away by artistic inspiration knowing that at the end of the day you still have the script to fall back on. So I think I would be stupid to not at least try on some level to work with these guys again. It depends upon the project of course, but it’s always going to be an attempt.

MG: I agree.

Cary Solomon: We are at   The Lord has done a mighty thing with us, and He has called us to do THE RESURRECTION, the equivalent of the movie after THE PASSION, and so we are writing and directing and producing that, and that is what we are doing right now so we are very, very excited about it.

MG: It’s going to be a great movie. A MOVIEGUIDE® is going to the event. It will be your second or fifth teddy by then. Tell us, what do you think about this idea of having an awards show that honors faith and value?

Dallas Jenkins: Well, it’s like I said when we got the award, there is an old Chinese proverb that says it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, and I think that the faith based community is often times known for the latter for complaining about Hollywood and saying they don’t reflect our values and Dr. Baehr is all about saying okay, we are going to point out the bad but more importantly we are going to lift up the good and point out the movies that actually are lighting that candle, and so it’s an honor to be mentioned among those movies that he is honoring.

MG: Excellent, well said gentlemen. What are your thoughts?

Cary Solomon: I just think why shouldn’t there be an awards ceremony like this? I think this will grow bigger. I think the market is growing bigger. I think this type of event is going to grow and grow and I think the other side of the movie industry is going to diminish. I think that this is what America wants, and you k now you can tell by the numbers. The only people that are lying and saying that it’s not what they want are the people that are making the other type of movies, so.

Chuck Konzelman: I think there’s a lot of people in Hollywood that actually want to do this kind of work, they just don’t know that there is a chance for it and that it exists.

MG: It’s nice to see the stats back up the vision. It’s excellent. Congratulations. Thank you.

Singers Tina Campbell and Erica Campbell of the Grammy Award winning contemporary gospel group Mary Mary

MG: So what is going on?

Erica Campbell: We are excited to be here and singing our single from our new record and just knowing that this is an event that honors you know people who are respecting and giving entertainment that is safe for families. I think it’s fantastic. It’s amazing to be here.

Tina Campbell: I think just that being part of something in Hollywood that is by, for and about positivity. That is not common, and so it’s completely our honor to be here because that is what we are about, that is how we exist, you know our careers what we do musically it’s all for, by and about that so we are completely one with this event.

MG: That’s great. I love that response. Who do you guys attribute your success to?

Tina Campbell: The favor of God.

Erica Campbell: Yes.

Tina Campbell: Because you know what? Really, you know I hate it when people always oh God, God, God you know and it doesn’t seem real. But, we have a gift and we have a talent. Who was it given to us by? God. We can perfect it, but He had to give it to us to perfect. You know what I mean. The doors that have been opened to us and the platforms we have been able to be on, if God has favored it and allowed us to end up in those places then we would not have been, would have been in the kitchen doing our best concerts on a fork. You know what I mean? So we are completely in His face because God has blessed us and favored us, and I mean I don’t want to do anything but tell the world that I thank Him for that.

Erica Campbell: Yes.

MG: I love that. That is such a great response.