Kendrick Brothers, Kirk Cameron, and David Scotton Talk LIFEMARK on Red Carpet
By Movieguide® Staff
The Kendrick Brothers’ newest movie, LIFEMARK, recently cracked the top ten top-grossing movies at the box office over its opening weekend.
The faith-filled movie about a true story of adoption, love, and family reunited Kirk Cameron with the Kendrick Brothers, who previously worked on FIREPROOF.
While at a red-carpet event in Washington D.C., Movieguide®’s Evy Baehr Carroll spoke with the directors, actors, and David Scotton, the real-life person the story is based upon.
“Every movie that we do, and the movies that the Kendricks do, are always soaked in prayer,” Cameron, standing next to his adopted daughter Isabella, told Movieguide®. “We’d pray every morning before we started work. But this is really an answer to prayer. Because our nation is in a place right now where we need to know: How do we look with love and compassion on a tender topic, like an unplanned pregnancy rather than fighting about it and just turning it into a political feud?”
“Let’s tell a true story about a young girl who was in the situation,” Cameron said. “She chose to place her child for adoption rather than abort him. And what resulted from that is just amazing. I can’t believe this is a true story. We couldn’t have written the script as good as this. It’s going to just grab your heart, it grabbed ours. We know that it’s going to resonate with people all across the country.”
Kirk Cameron said that while LIFEMARK is not a pro-life movie in the political sense, it does show what happens when a mother chooses life despite her circumstances.
“So often, this issue of pro-life, pro-choice is focused on one thing, and that is a woman’s rights. A woman’s rights are important, but that’s not all that’s important,” he explained. “Addressing that whole situation must also include the life of this innocent human baby in her womb. And there’s also a birth father involved. And there’s 1000s and 1000s, of couples who longed to have children and start a family but are unable to. So Lifemark is a story that’s full of heart and humor and action. People are going to watch this, and they’re going to leave with their hearts full. And they’re going to have an increased love for life, and a new perspective on the beauty of adoption.”
The directors of the movie, Alex and Stephen Kendrick, are no strangers to faith-based movies. However, they said that LIFEMARK has the unique quality of being a true story about a topic in the broader cultural conversation.
“We want to let a true story speak for itself,” Alex said. “We want to present it with truth and compassion. So it’s not a political movie, it’s just telling something that really happened. So the fact that this young teenage girl at the time decided I’m not aborting this baby, I’m gonna let this baby be adopted and to see how that baby turned out. He’s now 26 years old. And he is a lawyer that helps other families adopt children. And for him to go back and say thank you to his biological mother was so beautiful. And of course, there’s some other twists and turns along the way. But we said, Let’s just tell the story of what really happened. let it speak for itself. So Lifemark is just a beautiful, powerful movie we think is going to impact the audience.”
Also at the red-carpet event was Scotton, on whom the story is based.
“It’s surreal to go from a kid who never wanted to share that it was adopted to now having the documentary and the movie. I mean, I’m just glad to be here and glad to have life,” the adoption lawyer said. “We’ve seen people visibly be impacted by our story. Ever since the I LIVED ON PARKER AVENUE documentary released in 2018, It’s impacted adoptees and birth parents and adoptive parents in ways we never would have imagined.”
“One of my favorite stories, I was speaking at a high school in California, it is a big gym, and I was doing a q&a, and I saw this girl in the corner, who tried to raise her hand and then she put it back down, up and down,” he recalled. “I knew she wanted to share something. She finally got up and shared for the first time in front of her entire school that she was adopted. And until then she felt like she couldn’t share that. So this story is impacting others in ways we never would have imagined. So LIFEMARK, now coming out and being in theaters nationwide. We’re just so excited.”
Scotton said God’s hand is plainly over his life and even the timing of LIFEMARK’s Fathom Event release.
“My faith has grown a lot in the past few years just being able to trust that God is using this story in a way that I can’t comprehend yet. And I mean, you’ve seen God work with this story ever since 1993, when my birth mother left an abortion clinic, and even seen him now, you know, help us reunite,” he said. “So to see him working through this story to impact others I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
“This is God’s providential timing, this movie was supposed to happen a few years ago. And then like all things, COVID caused a delay. And the fact that it’s now happening at this moment in time, just shows the fact that God is working to the store, this movie will save lives, and it will build families through adoption,” he said.
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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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