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| Jesus People Movie |
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 ChristianMusicDaily is excited about a movie called "Jesus People" that chronicles the rise to fame of a fictional Christian dance pop foursome named "Cross My Heart." Playing around with and poking fun at just about every stereotype fanatical American Christians really do live up to, the "Jesus People" movie is something that's going to either really offend you or make you laugh out loud, depending on how uptight you are. The movie came after a series of webisodes that got tons of hits on the net, and all of it was the brainchild of two people, one of whom is Dan Ewald, with whom ChristianMusicDaily got to talk to about the movie and its potential impact on those who'll view it.
 Pictured: Dan Ewald (writer-producer); Tim Bagley (actor); Rajeev Sigamoney (writer-producer); Jason Naumann (director) CMD) How did writing about Christian music help you write for this movie? DE) Not only have I written about Christian music for years-- it's primarily what I grew up listening to. I was raised so conservative, I wasn't allowed to listen to Sandi Patty when I was in middle school. If someone wanted to use an accompaniment track (or "tape background") at Grandville Baptist Church, my home church, they had to first play it front of the deacon in charge of worship, to be sure there were no drums present. Throughout my 20s, I interviewed everyone from dc Talk, Jars of Clay, Edwin McCain, to my personal favorite, Amy Grant. Those quality artists really aren't the target of our satire in Jesus People. CMD) Do you personally like Christian dance pop? Why or why not? DE) I'll admit to having some World Wide Message Tribe and Avalon on my iPod, sure. I am a fan of harmonious pop, and if it makes me dance, all the better. I know that's not the cool answer for a Hollywood comedy writer, but what can I say? I like all types of music. Dance-pop and country is great for those "up" times. Worship music is great for, well, worship time. Caedmon's Call is great for driving. Grits is great for lifting weights. Sade is great for romance. I like it all, though I have to laugh when my iPod randomly shuffles from Sandi Patty's "Make His Praise Glorious" to Eminem's "Lose Yourself." CMD) Your webisodes capture modern American Christians all too well-- some of the themes I noticed would be that Christians are clueless about things everyone else in the real world knows about, they want to look like they have it all together but in reality they're messed up hypocrites "acting/putting on a good show" in front of others in order to fit in, and they tend to ooh and aah over things that aren't really that great-- I've noticed this in life when I go somewhere and Christians talk about something that's poorly done, like a song, and they all comment to each other how wonderful and inspiring and life-changing it is, and I'm thinking, "Are they in a blinding fog?" So what do you, Dan, think are the some of the main themes of Jesus People? DE) One of the main things for this web series and the upcoming movie is all about self-perception. My favorite filmmaker Christopher Guest once said, "I am interested in the notion that people can become obsessed by their own world that they lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people. They're so earnest about it." I think all people tend to drift into their own subcultures that make them comfortable. Immigrants create their own areas. Skateboarders hang with skateboarders. Gypsies move around in their own packs. Lumberjacks probably feel most comfortable with other woodsmen. The same is true with evangelical American Christians. Growing up, I didn't know anyone who wasn't Baptist. I lived in Brazil for an entire year and never made friends with anyone other than other missionary kids. I moved to a city near Chicago and ONLY had Christian friends. Eventually, I relocated to West Palm Beach, Florida in an effort to out-grow my sheltered existence. And even there, I played it "safe" and started writing for Christian magazines and working at a Christian bookstore. I had absolutely ZERO close non-Christian friends, once again. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2001, I finally committed to change that for good. It didn't take long to surround myself with every kind of person from every possible background. I quickly learned how Christians in America "lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people." Our earnest-ness is a real turn-off. CMD) You could have put your time and energy into anything; why parody Christian music? DE) Writers are supposed to write what they know. Rajeev (my writing partner) and I have written comedies set in nursing homes, India, the Pentagon, senior citizen stand-up comedy, the 1800s. We've even written about animated Ninja Bunnies for the Disney Channel. But writing a comedy set in the world of Christian music is the most personal thing I've ever done. I know the world inside and out. In other words, I'm fluent in evangelicalese. CMD) I personally think your webisodes are hysterically funny and so, so accurate, capturing all the nuances and eccentricities of American Christians. What kind of research did you and the actors do in order to "nail it" so well? DE) Three of our lead actors come from the world of Protestantism, so they didn't need a lot of coaching. Our director, Jason Naumann, is a Christian, so obviously it was his job to make sure everything was real and true. The rest of the actors, including guest stars, grew up in America. So even if they have a different belief system, they've certainly been surrounded by American Christians! There are, after all, at least 80 million. Every now and then, we had to explain things they might not know. For example, how to pronounce Chris Tomlin's last name. Or the fact that Mercy Me and Casting Crowns are ACTUAL band names. We didn't make those up! Or the fact that Amy Grant was like Madonna (in popularity) to evangelical teens. She was our cool, controversial, sexy female pop star. CMD) What has been the reaction from the Christian community you've shown the movie to, so far, and what has been the reaction from the secular humanists/atheists/etc. you've shown it to? Who thinks its funnier and why? DE) The thing we love is that our comedy is connecting with all kinds of folks. We had a pitch meeting at Logo (the gay/lesbian cable network) and the executives there went on and on about "Jesus People." We played at a conservative Christian film festival and the crowd roared with applause. A pastor in England asked to show our first episode to his congregation. You can tell from the message boards on YouTube that people definitely form a strong opinion about us, love us or hate us. Younger Christians tend to love us. Others tell us we're going to "burn in hell." Those folks might be the types Christopher Guest was talking about. CMD) If you release this film, do you want it to be a cult hit, a mainstream hit, a Christian community hit, or what? What is your own personal vision for who sees and loves this film? DE) We can't wait for all people to see the movie we're finishing now. This is definitely not a "Christian market movie." You can probably tell by now that we're not interested in making that. But we hope that culture watches us, and--most importantly--sees themselves in these characters. Obviously we'd love a mainstream hit, but mockumentaries tend to be cult hits. We'd settle for that. We think we've made a film that will play to anti-religious festival crowds that loved "Jesus Camp" and "Religilous" all the way to modern Christians who can have a laugh about their idiosyncrasies. This movie is for people who love "The Office" or "Spinal Tap" or "Waiting for Guffman" or "The Larry Sanders Show." If your favorite movie is "Billy Madison" and your favorite show is "Two and a Half Men," this movie might not be for you. CMD) How overtly Christian are the actors and crew involved in the production? Is this a bunch of non-Christians doing Christian music comedy or a bunch of Christians doing it? What's your take on if/how the faith of the people involved affects the overall movie and ultimately its reception by moviegoers?  Mitzy and Pastor Jerry (Karen Whipple and Joel McCrary) CMD) You could have made it a Christian rock band, but you choose to have it be a Christian dance pop group...why? DE) Christian rock doesn't seem to exist that much anymore. Most of the best rock acts coming from that scene are doing so well on mainstream rock stations. Plus, they're respectable musicians and very talented artists. So it's much harder to parody people you admire. But a cheesy, manufactured dance-pop band was a MUCH easier target. Even though I like some of Avalon's music, I did cringe when Sparrow Records "created" them. It was so obviously a morph of Point of Grace and 4Him. Even that first photo shoot of them walking down the street in yuppie clothes -- gross! It looked like their marketing campaign was ripping off a poster for "Friends." That group actually sang the lyric: "In my closet, a spot is worn from hours and hours upon my knees." Have some self-perception, people! CMD) Christian dance pop was big in the mid to late 1990s but nowadays it seems the Christian music scene, if there still is one, is all about four white guys with hip haircuts, black t-shirts, and girl jeans lacking melody as they monotonously drone on at an audience of pre-teen girls who like them for their looks more than their faith. Does that make your film dated, or does that not matter? Also, could you forsee future webisodes or movies where Cross My Heart, the group, realizes their own dance pop sound is no longer hip, so they try to TobyMac their career? :) DE) That's a great idea, Mark. We'll have you write that episode when "Jesus People" becomes a TV series one day. You're right that the 90s was the era of Christian POP music. But fortunately, the world at large doesn't know this fact. They barely know the genre exists. So I'm not worried about being dated. CMD) Obviously, "This Is Spinal Tap" and other films influenced "Jesus People"...I also see that "The Office" did, as well. How come so many comedic guest stars from outside the "Christian scene" seem to want "in" on this Jesus People project? It's not like you got John Tesh, Kirk Cameron and Stephen Baldwin to do guest spots-- instead you got funny comedians and actors to take part-- love that-- how did you manage that? DE) Non-Christians love being part of satire. But we already established ourselves with a hip, witty, lead cast, so getting everyone else attached became easier with each actor that came on board. If we were making a "Christian market film" there's NO WAY they would sign on. We're not doing "Fireproof 2" here. CMD) What's the best line in the Jesus People movie-- the one you can't forget and always makes you laugh so much you cry? DE) Well, I wrote this line so I'm not going to talk it up too much. :) But in the movie, our washed-up singer Gloria Hamming has a manager, played by Kevin Kirkpatrick ("Greek"). He describes Gloria's career-ending scandal the following way: "Thanks to her divorce, those Christian bookstore owners reached right down and yanked her CDs off their shelves like screech owls descending on meadow mice." I'm proud of the wording in that line. And Kevin's delivery never fails to slay me. CMD) People will go to the website and see "coming soon," but what does that really mean? When exactly might people like me see this movie of yours at the local Regal Cinema and/or at the local video store or listed among Netflix movies and/or available in parts on the web? DE) Well, you can check out a scene from the movie by clicking here. As for a release date, we're hoping to be in a few festivals in the early part of '09, then in national distribution later in the year. Check back at Christian Music Daily. You can also check the above website periodically as we will have lots of info there. You can email us directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you'd like to be put on the mailing list. |
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