background image
WC:
What was your role as
producer for "Believe Me?"
AC:
To oversee, manage and pick
and choose people for different po-
sitions within the film. I was in-
volved with the script while Michael
and Will were writing it. Then we
planned how to shoot it, and how
to raise the money for it. We had
made enough money by the grace
of God through "Beware of Chris-
tians" to justify raising the amount
we needed. Then I had to figure out
who to work with to cast the film.
WC:
What do you hope the
movie will accomplish?
AC:
First and foremost, I hope it
makes people laugh. We wanted to
tell a great story about four guys in
a comedy of errors. Second, when
people walk out of the movie, we
hope they begin a dialogue about
what Sam should do as the movie
ends. Tell the truth? Come
clean? Cover it up? Something
that can lead to deeper, meaningful
conversations. I think one thing "Believe Me" does
well is to challenge the idea of platforms. Alex Russell, our
lead actor who plays Sam, is a good�looking, charismatic guy.
When you see him preaching you don't really question what
he's saying and where his heart is. You just listen to him
because he's on a stage and he's got great production value
and it looks and feels good. Do we believe because someone
stands on a stage and sells something to us, or
do we believe it because it is truth? Taking classes in college
like The Problem of God opened up so many questions about
the authenticity of the Bible, like "Why should we believe
what they're saying? How do we know all of these things
are true?" I think it's really important for believers to
keep challenging what they believe so they can understand
it better.
JM:
What compels you to probe those deeper
questions?
AC:
Our understanding and our relationships with Jesus.
Your voice can come through the script in a lot of different
ways, in the way that we treat our crew, the cast, the people
we employ. I love making film. We're fascinated by the film
10
The War Cry | SEPTEMBER 2014
Sam, played by Australian
actor Alex Russell, finds out
he can con the faithful.
A Conversation
............
Members of Riot Studio
learned from their first films
that Christians "weren't
asking the right questions."
Gabriel, played by Zachary
Knighton, parodies some
Christian stereotypes.
tians
we n
who
WC:
mov
AC:
mak
tell
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pe
ho
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c
tha
conversations. I thin
ry
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es.