I’ll file this one away in the “just what we need” files. It is almost too crazy to believe, but it seems that there is a Purpose Driven Life movie on the horizon. Ralph Winter, who has produced a lot of major Hollywood blockbusters, such as X-Men, X-2: X-Men United, the Planet of the Apes (remake), and the upcoming Fantastic Four, in an interview with Christian Today, indicated that he has been hired to work on a Purpose Driven project.
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CT: Since The Passion of The Christ, there’s been so much press about how Hollywood “learned a lesson” about audiences and Christian-themed material. Do you think we really will see things change?
Winter: I think studios will say, “Oh, I think we can do this!” and try to unleash every cheesy little thing they can do. The TV show Revelations seems like a clear jump-on-the-bandwagon thing. The studios clearly see it as a marketing opportunity. That’s why this Purpose-Driven Life project is so interesting.
CT: What The Purpose-Driven Life project? Are you making it into a movie?
Winter: Rupert Murdoch [of 20th Century Fox] comes to us and says, “Let’s make it. I’ll fund it.”
CT: How are you going to turn this non-fiction, inspirational volume of life principles into a movie?
Winter: You’ve got to create a story. Think Grand Canyon—that’s probably a good place to start. Find disparate stories that converge and illustrate [one or two of the] principles, find good characters.
That’s why I’m a fan of doing a small movie, getting a couple million dollars, and get out there and try an experiment, put our toe in the water with this. If [the first Purpose-Driven movie] works, well, you’ve got 39 films to make, or 12 more principles, or however many you want.
There are some who are worried about getting a big theatrical release. But let’s write the script first, and let’s see what that tells us about how big or how small it will be.
There is no word on whether the actors will be required to wear sandals and floral-patterned shirts. I have to say that I’m interested in seeing how a person can act out poor translations of the Bible. But I guess I’ll have to just be patient and wait.
You can read the rest of the rather uninteresting review here. And a hat-tip goes to Justin Taylor for finding this story.