The Kendrick Brothers’ THE FORGE Is a Family Effort
By Movieguide® Contributor
The Kendrick Brothers, Alex and Stephen, recently shared some behind-the-scenes clips of themselves and their kids on the set of their upcoming movie, THE FORGE.
“When we started our filmmaking journey, our kids were in diapers, and to now have all three of the Kendrick Brothers’ kids on working on the crew has been amazing,” Stephen said in a clip.
Movieguide® reported on THE FORGE last week:
In the movie, T.C. Stallings and his son A.C.; Jerry Shirer and his son Jude; Alex Kendrick and his son Caleb; and Ken Bevel and his son K.J. all perform in one special scene together. It’s Bevel’s favorite scene — where a group of men prays over the lead character, Isaiah.
“The scene with Isaiah getting prayed over by the men was the most powerful scene that I’ve ever seen,” Bevel said. “And it was almost like, you know, we were praying for him in the script, but we took time to say, you know…let’s just pray for him. And when we came together, we just felt the presence of God as we prayed over this young man, and it was incredible.”
Alex’s daughter Catherine helped with costumes and his son “Joshua was is in a scene of FLYWHEEL and now he’s one of the cameramen on this movie THE FORGE,” Alex said, “and then Anna…had a couple of lines in OVERCOMER, and now she’s a character in this movie with a couple scenes, so yeah, look at this, she’s got her own chair.”
Anna likes to watch her dad when he directs.
“It’s been awesome watch him walk in his calling, getting to be a little part of it,” she said.
“So I’m very grateful to have the family involved at all but my kids have been awesome,” Alex said. “We grew up making silly little movies with them at home, and now to make some official movies for audiences has been a joy for me as a dad.”
Family members help out in the camera department, editing room, wardrobe, art department, and elsewhere on or off the set.
“You see the name Kendrick a lot behind-the-scenes in this feature film,” Stephen said. “We had over a dozen of the Kendrick kids or cousins involved in THE FORGE.”
“Like all the ones that were old enough, we’re here and we’re working, it’s incredible. They’re my best friends. I’ll just hold all the memories on set. Those will all be so special,” one young Kendrick said.
Catherine revealed in an interview what her favorite Kendrick Brothers movie to be a part of was: “My favorite movie is WAR ROOM. In my opinion, it was the most powerful — both on-screen and onset. It was also the first movie filmed outside of Albany, Georgia. We actually moved to North Carolina for the summer for that movie! WAR ROOM was also the first movie where I was old enough to be a part of the crew.”
On set, the brothers want the Kendrick kids to be willing to do all kinds of jobs — whether the jobs are fun or not so fun.
“We’re trying to teach them character which are really the attributes of Christ, honesty, hard work, faithfulness, dependability, those kinds of things,” Stephen said.
“Ultimately, the result of the movie is to honor the Lord and bring truth to the masses through a story about discipleship,” Alex said of THE FORGE. “Whatever God calls you to do, if you’re willing to say, ‘Yes, Lord’ whether it’s an enjoyable job or a difficult job, and you leave the results up to him and you do it as unto the Lord and that is part of discipleship.”
Several of the Kendrick Brothers movies — FACING THE GIANTS, FIREPROOF, OVERCOMER, WAR ROOM, and COURAGEOUS — have all won Movieguide® Teddy Bear Awards®.
Lifeway’s description of THE FORGE reads, “The movie follows the story of 19-year-old Isaiah Wright, played by newcomer Aspen Kennedy, who is drifting through life—no job, no plans, no idea how to be a man. His mom, Cynthia, played by Priscilla Shirer, gives him an ultimatum—step up or move out. Enter Joshua Moore, played by Cameron Arnett, who not only gives Isaiah a job but much needed wisdom and spiritual guidance. Isaiah is forced to deal with his past, sacrifice his selfishness and discover how God might have a greater purpose for his life.”
Look out for the movie in theaters Aug. 23.
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