Like millions of other American kids, Alex Kendrick couldn\u2019t believe his eyes the first time he saw \u201cStar Wars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI remember sitting in that theater, looking up at that big screen and thinking, \u2018I want to do that. I have to do that. If it\u2019s the last thing I ever do, I\u2019m going to make movies,\u2019 \u201d said Kendrick, the writer, director and actor whose low-budget \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d football flick has made headlines.<\/p>\n\n
The evangelistic indie movie cost $100,000 to make and, showing on 418 screens in faith-friendly smaller markets, has made nearly $3 million at the box office in two weeks. It\u2019s backed by Provident Films, Sony BMG and Samuel Goldwyn films, but the critics have been merciless.<\/p>\n\n
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer noted: \u201cIt preaches to the converted \u2014 literally.\u201d And then there was this Richmond Times-Dispatch love letter to Kendrick: \u201d \u2018Facing the Giants\u2019 may have been made with all the best intentions in the world, but it was also made by writers who can\u2019t write, directors who can\u2019t direct, editors who can\u2019t edit and actors who can\u2019t act. And they\u2019re all the same guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
It helps, however, to understand that the Southern Baptist guy at the heart of this movie has had a tough time turning his \u201cStar Wars\u201d epiphany into a career reality. He is learning how to make movies and \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d is only his second try.<\/p>\n\n
Kendrick never had a real chance to study screenwriting, editing, directing or acting. When the time came to pick a career, he did what many young media-driven believers end up doing. He entered the ministry.<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s hard to explain to outsiders how this kind of thing happens.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI kept trying to find people who felt the same way as I did,\u201d he said in an interview just before a ratings tussle with the Motion Picture Association of America that sparked a media firestorm. \u201cI could see that movies were shaping our culture and I couldn\u2019t understand why so many other people couldn\u2019t see that. It was hard to find people who understood what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Kendrick tried a Christian college, where there were no classes linked to entertainment and filmmaking, but ended up with an all-purpose degree in communications from Kennesaw State University near Atlanta. Then he went to seminary, but it was more of the same.<\/p>\n\n
Eventually, he heard that Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., was seeking help with its 24-hour Christian ministry on the local cable-television system. This led to Alex and his brother Stephen being hired as \u201cassociate pastors of media\u201d at this modern megachurch, the kind where the faithful sit in movie seats and the preacher stands between two giant video screens.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBasically we were putting church on TV,\u201d said Kendrick. \u201cWe were filming services, concerts and special events. But my brother and I still wanted to make television shows and movies that told stories that connected with people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Then they saw some research that helped the leaders of their church understand what they were saying about media.<\/p>\n\n
In their book \u201cBoiling Point,\u201d evangelical pollster George Barna and e-commerce professional Mark Hatch put it this way: \u201cThe world of entertainment and mass communications \u2014 through television, radio, contemporary music, movies, magazines, art, video games and pop literature \u2014 is indisputably the most extensive and influential theological training system in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
That clicked. <\/p>\n\n
Before long, Alex and Stephen Kendrick and their supporters had \u201cprayed in\u201d $25,000 to create a movie called \u201cFlywheel\u201d about a morally confused used-car salesman. It did surprisingly well in a few local multiplexes and on DVD, considering that it was made with volunteer actors and technicians, using store-bought cameras, lights from Home Depot and the video-editing software in desk-top computers.<\/p>\n\n
This led to \u201cFacing the Giants,\u201d where a slightly larger budget let the church hire five professionals to run a movie \u201cboot camp\u201d for church members, as well as to film some of the football scenes. It was a strange place to study filmmaking.<\/p>\n\n
The folks at Sherwood Pictures team have learned many lessons, but are well aware that they\u2019re just getting started \u2014 at last.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSo many miraculous things have happened to make all this possible,\u201d said Kendrick. \u201cWe\u2019re doing the best that we can and we\u2019re learning \u2026 I truly believe that I\u2019m doing exactly what I\u2019m supposed to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Like millions of other American kids, Alex Kendrick couldn\u2019t believe his eyes the first time he saw \u201cStar Wars.\u201d \u201cI remember sitting in that theater, looking up at that big screen and thinking, \u2018I want to do that. I have to do that. If it\u2019s the last thing I ever do, I\u2019m going to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[324,1534,431,1542,856],"class_list":["post-1407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-entertainment","tag-evangelicals","tag-hollywood","tag-movies","tag-the-passion"],"yoast_head":"\n