THE GOD FACTOR (Should be) coming to a theater near you
(RNS) This fall a film based on Donald Miller's bestselling spiritual
memoir, "Blue Like Jazz," is expected to hit theaters nationwide. In
many ways, Miller's book is an unlikely subject for a feature film.
"Blue Like Jazz" book is a collection of semi-autobiographical short
essays based in part on Miller's experience auditing classes at Reed
College in Oregon that explore the author's wrestling with questions of
faith.
But the film project is part of a growing trend of adapting
well-known "Christian" or Christian-themed books (both fiction and
nonfiction) as feature films. Recent movies based on C.S. Lewis'
"Chronicles of Narnia" series have grossed more than $1.5 billion
worldwide. Two more film adaptations of Lewis' works -- "The Screwtape
Letters" and "The Great Divorce" -- are in development.
Ralph Winter, producer of the X-Men films, is set to produce the
film version of "The Screwtape Letters" in a partnership with Fox and
Walden Media, the studio that produced the Narnia films, as well as
"Bridge to Terabithia" and "Charlotte's Web."
Fox has owned the film rights to "The Screwtape Letters" since the
1950s, and adapting Lewis' 1942 satirical novel for the big screen has
been film has been an endeavor of epic proportions. The book is composed
of a series of letters from the veteran demon Screwtape to his junior
"tempter" nephew, Wormwood, on the best ways to bring about the
spiritual downfall of his target, a British man known simply as "the
Patient."
Winter told The Christian Post last year that producers hoped to
attach director Scott Dickerson ("The Exorcism of Emily Rose") to the
film, which likely be rated PG-13, because it is "edgy, serious
material."
While the film is on a "fast track" and a 2012 release is likely,
Winter is in no hurry to get it into theaters. "I don't want to be known
as the guy who ruined it," he said. "So I'm gonna go slow ... We'll get
there in God's timing and when it's right."
"Screwtape" has sparked speculation about who should play the demon
protagonists. Winter talked about "archetypal" actors, such as a "John
Goodman-type" for the role of Screwtape, and perhaps someone wholly
unexpected for Wormwood -- perhaps even an actress, such as Oscar-winner
Reese Witherspoon. The film likely would not be a period piece set in
1940s Britain, Winter said, but instead feature a more contemporary
setting.
While the prolific Lewis has enough material in his oeuvre to keep
filmmakers busy for decades to come, his are not the only enduringly
popular Christian books that could translate into powerful cinema. Here
are a few humble suggestions:
"Godric" by Frederick Buechner
"Godric" is a fictional retelling of the life and travels of the
medieval English saint, Godric of Finchale. Phillip Seymour Hoffman
would be stunning as Godric, with Tony Hale ("Arrested Development") as
his secretary/biographer and the inimitable Wallace Shawn ("Princess
Bride") as Elric the wizened old hermit. (Imagine Shawn's quirky lisp
delivering lines like, "My skull's a chapel. So is yours. The thoughts
go in and out like godly folk to Mass. But what of hands that itch for
gold?") Peter Jackson directs.
(Actor Ned Beatty holds the film rights to Buechner's epic "Book of
Bebb" series about the Rev. Leo Bebb, the archetypal smarmy, corrupt
preacher. Get this project to Joel and Ethan Coen, pronto, with Beatty
as Bebb.)
"Operating Instructions" by Anne Lamott
Lamott's hilarious and deeply spiritual memoir about her unexpected
single motherhood and the first year of her son's life would take
"Christian" fodder to a new place: romantic comedy. Sandra Bullock,
Catherine Keener ("The 40-year-old Virgin") or Laura Linney ("The Big
C") have the strength, humor and neurotic energy to portray Lamott. Fill
out the cast with the quirky soulfulness of folks like Frances
McDormand, Holly Hunter, Dianne Wiest, Mark Ruffalo, Jim Broadbent and
Zooey Deschanel. Nora Ephron or Nancy Meyers directs, and Sam Phillips
does the musical score.
"Gilead" by Marilynne Robinson
This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel -- a fictional autobiography of
the Rev. John Ames, a dying, elderly congregational minister in rural
Gilead, Iowa writing to his young son -- is ripe for a cinematic
retelling. I'd go with Robert Duvall or Brad Pitt as Ames, with Ryan
Gosling and Cate Blanchett in supporting roles. T-Bone Burnett does the
soundtrack with help from Alison Krauss and Union Station. Clint
Eastwood directs.
"The Shack" by William Paul Young
In the novel, God appears to the protagonist, Mack, as three
persons: "Papa," an African-American woman (who also goes by "Elouisa");
a Middle Eastern carpenter; and an Asian woman named "Sarayu."
Young has said he is working on a screenplay for "The Shack," and at
least one fan website is lobbying for Queen Latifah to play
"Papa/Elouisa." (If not the Queen, how about Wanda Sykes or -- do we
dare -- Oprah?)
Tony Shalhoub ("Monk") would bring a great ironic soulfulness to the
carpenter, and Margaret Cho an unexpected fierceness and humor to
"Sarayu." Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear or Luke Wilson as Mack. Director
Tom Shadyac ("Evan Almighty") would hit it out of the park.
