Dallas Jenkins Can’t Wait for You to See THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER
By Movieguide® Contributor
THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER releases nationwide tomorrow, and director and creator Dallas Jenkins can’t wait for audiences to finally see his movie.
“This is the movie I was born to make and I’ve been chasing it for so long…” Jenkins told The JOY FM. “[This is] a dream come true for me, and I don’t say that lightly. It sometimes is a little surreal to go, ‘I’m talking about THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER, the movie I made, and it’s coming out and people are going to officially watch it.’”
Jenkins has been waiting to make this movie for over 20 years. After reading the book for the first time with his wife and kids, he and his family were left in tears both from laughing and from crying. That was when he knew this story needed a movie adaptation.
“On the surface, it’s a comedy. It’s a Christmas classic. These kids from the wrong side of town who’ve never even heard the Christmas story before hijack the Christmas pageant, and everyone’s horrified, and you assume that it’s going to be the worst Christmas pageant ever because these kids who don’t know the story are taking over, and yet you realize, yes, the kids need the Jesus story,” Jenkins told Movieguide®. “They hadn’t heard it before, and now they have, and it’s going to impact them. But the town and the church needed something too, and sometimes we, in our American evangelical world…can sometimes take the story for granted.”
READ MORE: WHY THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER IS ‘A MOVIE FOR EVERYBODY!’
Jenkins’ goal was to keep the story focused on the true meaning of Christmas, and he believes this movie will remind people about the importance of Christ’s birth. His work on THE CHOSEN helped him create a story that does this.
“It’s very, very different from THE CHOSEN, and audiences will pick up on that quickly, and so that exercised a new muscle for me, but I will say there is a very strong correlation between THE CHOSEN and BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER,” Jenkins said. “Not just in the fact that three of the [THE CHOSEN] actors are in it — and they do a great job — but telling the greatest story ever told through a different perspective, not changing the story but revealing the truth of it more than what we’ve maybe taken for granted in the past.”
“I know there is a very strong connection between both THE CHOSEN and THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER so you’ll see a stylistic difference, but you’re going to come away with the same thing, which is, I’m seeing this story in many ways for the first time, maybe in a way I haven’t considered but I appreciate it even more now,” Jenkins continued. “And that’s what we’ve been hearing over and over.”
Jenkins also worked hard to make sure the movie is accessible to all audiences and awakens the child inside of everyone viewing it.
“I said for this movie to work, the viewer has to feel like it could have been about them and that they recognize their childhood, whether they’re a child now or whether they’re an adult…” he said. “We stand on Barbara Robinson’s shoulders, the author of the book. It is really beautiful and I think that’s what people are responding to.”
THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER is slightly slow in the beginning. However, it has entertaining and funny moments. Even better, the ending is heart-rending, powerful and uplifting. So, bring your tissues or handkerchief. THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER has a strong Christian, moral worldview. It extols Jesus, who transforms your life, love thy neighbor, and the true meaning of Christmas. There are some light profanities, but they’re rebuked. Also, the main message in THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER is anyone can experience God’s love and be transformed into a better person when they follow Jesus.
THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER hits theaters nationwide starting on Nov. 8.
READ MORE: WHY THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER MEANS SO MUCH TO DALLAS JENKINS
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