Kathie Lee Gifford Talks The God of the Way: People are ‘Spiritually Hungry’
By Movieguide® Contributor
In a recent interview, Kathie Lee Gifford and her friend Rabbi Jason Sobel talked about their book The God of the Way and Gifford’s companion movie, THE WAY.
The God of the Way takes a modern look at the people and stories from the Old Testament and analyzes how they continue to shape us today. It also maps the story of God’s plan for humanity with historical and cultural insights.
The movie THE WAY brings this modern look at the Old Testament to cinema as a set of four oratorios merge the ancient with the modern to provide a fresh look at well-known Old Testament stories.
“They’re epic stories,” Gifford said. “First of all, they were real people. Their stories and epic, and they’re almost ripped from the headlines today.”
“The movie THE WAY is separated into four different oratorios with the most amazing performers in the world today playing different characters and I wanted it to be epic, I wanted it to be breathtaking. But I wanted it to be so modern in a way that we could make it relevant,” she continued.
“All these stories are relevant today. We can learn from the mistakes of Sarah and Abraham. Every one of these stories is precious and included in the scriptures for a reason, and I just wanted to find a brand new way to tell these ancient stories.” Gifford concluded.
Gifford turned to Rabbi Sobel during this project for help on scriptural and historical accuracy. They had previously worked together on Gifford’s book the Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi, which found surprising success when it was released in 2018.
“I didn’t know that people were spiritually hungry,” Gifford said about why that book was a surprise success. “People and really heart and soul looking for truth and they’re broken and what the world has offered them has not satisfied.”
Movieguide® has previously reported on THE WAY:
Kathie Lee Gifford stepped behind the camera for her latest project — PureFlix’s new musical movie THE WAY.
The Movieguide® Visionary Award winner directed the project, and also served as THE WAY’s narrator. Gifford also co-wrote a song for the movie with recording artist Nicole C. Mullen.
“It’s so profoundly beautiful because [Nicole] is so profoundly beautiful,” Gifford said of THE WAY. “And it worked and people just reacted to it like crazy. And I initially thought it would be something that she could use in her performances, which she does a lot of symphony concerts, but the reaction and the millions and millions of people that watched it and were totally moved and transformed by it, the Lord just spoke to me and said, Kathie, ‘do more, do more.’”
She continued, “So, I did three more with different composer friends and they turned out to be ‘The God of the How and Then,’ ‘The God of His Word,’ ‘The God who Sees,’ with Nicole and the fourth one is called ‘The God of the Other Side.’ And that was made into a film.”
THE WAY marks Gifford’s directorial debut, and the project took the movie’s crew to Israel for some location shoots.
“I’ve been going to the Holy Land since I was a teenager,” Gifford shared. “It’s my favorite place on the planet. And I was very, you know, upset about COVID to begin with, everybody was. But the fact that I couldn’t go back to Israel and finish shooting everything in Israel where it all happened, the Lord helped us find some amazing locations like in Utah, some places in Texas. And even we shot the prodigal son and updated the prodigal son right here near about a mile from my house with an amazing cast.”
