I’ll get around to reviewing One Night with the King soon, really I will. In the meantime, today’s Los Angeles Times has an interesting — and long — exposé on producer Matthew Crouch:
There’s a lot to be thankful for. His televangelist parents have authorized more than $32 million in tax-free donor money for the funding of three of his movies, TBN officials say. In addition, $16 million was given to a ministry that funded “One Night.” . . .
Matthew Crouch, 44, could use a box-office hit. Of his first three movies, none has turned a profit, although his 1999 movie, an apocalyptic thriller called “The Omega Code,” is credited by some for showing Hollywood the potential of Christian-themed films, leading to such hits as “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “The Passion of the Christ.” Crouch’s small, publicly traded company is struggling, having lost nearly $3.7 million last year, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. . . .
In many ways, Crouch and his company, Gener8Xion Entertainment, are Hollywood anomalies. He hasn’t had to look further than his parents — with their tax-free donor base and worldwide television reach — to bankroll and market his movies. In other ways, the stereotype of a Hollywood producer fits snugly. Friends and foes describe him, by turns, as charismatic, arrogant, charming, ruthless, visionary and greedy.
“He’s one of the most creative and innovative people in my industry,” said Stephen Strang, president of Strang Communications, a Florida-based Christian media company. “I know there’s many people out there trying to make a difference, but Matt’s someone out there doing it.”
Other entertainment-industry veterans who have worked with Crouch — a diminutive figure who sports a modish crew cut — say he would have been drummed out of the business if not for his TBN ties.
“I think he would be a laughingstock if he was a penniless evangelical, going cap in hand, office to office, trying to raise money and projecting the same personality he does,” said Brian Trenchard-Smith, director of “The Omega Code’s” 2001 sequel, “Megiddo: The Omega Code 2.”
Associates also say that Crouch’s impulsiveness — and perhaps a desire to escape his father’s long shadow — has prompted him to take shortcuts that have led to risky decisions. During the production of “Omega Code,” his key personnel included a former adult-film actor and a novice screenwriter who was arrested and convicted of soliciting a child for sex. . . .
FWIW, this story seems fairly well researched, but it does repeat the falsehood, promulgated by the One Night with the King publicity materials, that that film represents the first reunion of Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif since Lawrence of Arabia (1962). It doesn’t. It is, in fact, the fourth film they have co-starred in since then — and they don’t even share any screen time together.
(Hat tip to Rod Dreher at his Crunchy Con blog.)
OCT 28 UPDATE: Terry Mattingly posts his two bits here.
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