{"id":25400,"date":"2019-05-22T07:38:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T12:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/?p=25400"},"modified":"2019-05-22T15:05:41","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T20:05:41","slug":"jefferson-moore-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"JEFFERSON MOORE Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After watching several of his independent films about a modern day Jesus appearance, I reached out to talk to this skilled actor to find out more. When he found out I lived near Austin, he immediately asked if I’d been to Robert Rodriguez’ house. I told him no, but I was relieved to discover that he still wanted to do the interview<\/a> even though I didn’t know the infamous Sin City<\/em>\/Spy Kids<\/em> director personally. Hopefully someday filmmakers will begin to associate Louisville, Kentucky, as the home of one Jefferson Moore.<\/p>\n

For the next hour, it was a joy to learn about his history, the thought and inspiration behind his craft and his standards for film making.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What got you into acting? Please include time markers, like age, events and inspirations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was in my first play in high school in my senior year.\u00a0 Our high school was doing Grease<\/em> and I got together with some other ball players and we all agreed that it would be a manly thing to do because we would get girls.\u00a0 So, we all locked arms.\u00a0 Girls aside, I really took to what was going on there. So, later on that year our high school did a straight Agatha Christie murder mystery.\u00a0 I signed on for that as well.\u00a0 So, that\u2019s where I started with it. I didn\u2019t really do a whole lot in College. I always kind of had the inclination, but I just never got back in to it. I ended up getting a job out of college. I did a little bit of modeling when I was at the University of Kentucky, but nothing along the acting lines.\u00a0 When I was engaged to my wife, around 1988, we had just got engaged and she was going to an audition for a regional theatre down around Nashville and I was just her ride there and I was in the waiting area and the director comes out and says that the person who was supposed to read with some of the actors had not shown would I mind filling in until he got there.\u00a0 Well, I filled in and just took the script and kinda knew what to do with it and the guy ended up never showing but I also ended up getting cast in the show.\u00a0 So, that went really well.<\/p>\n

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I was working in sales then so I could kind of set a few of my own hours. So, I stayed on with that regional company there, it was actually in Western Kentucky.\u00a0 I stayed with them for about five years and did about a dozen productions with them. So that\u2019s where I did a lot of theatre and did more regional theatre around the state closer to Nashville.\u00a0 Someone in the company suggested … around 1991, Kelly and I were married at that time and I still had a full time job \u2026 someone suggested that I get some head shots and go down to Nashville and see because I had a good chance at getting some commercial work.\u00a0 So, I had some really bad headshots made and started going down for some auditions mainly for commercial and commercial acting type things, nothing dramatic.\u00a0 I did that for about a year or two and then I was going to a commercial for a department store down there and my agent in Nashville said, “When you get done there go on over for this music video audition,” and I said, “Well, you know I had not really thought about that and I really wanted to do this job for the department store.”\u00a0 And she said, “Well, go on over there anyway.”\u00a0 So I went over and auditioned for the music video and it turned out to be a groundbreaking music video (“Feed Jake” – Pirates of the Mississippi<\/a>, 1992)\u00a0at the time because it didn\u2019t feature the band.\u00a0 It was all actually a music film, more like.\u00a0 It wound up getting heavy airplay on all of the music channels.\u00a0 So, I kind of got to be, had a little bit of reputation, as this guy around Nashville and that\u2019s when country music was really booming at the time.\u00a0 And that was what kind of got my feet on the ground.\u00a0 I kept working professionally after that.<\/p>\n

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I was a working actor and I was doing a lot of commercials and I was still working at sales. I was working in and out of my job.\u00a0 I was working at doing commercials and I auditioned for a lot of films but I did not get cast in anything.\u00a0 This was all through the ’90s. I got cast for a TV pilot that was based out of Los Angeles but they were shooting on location in Alabama.\u00a0It was people from Joel Silvers<\/a> company.\u00a0 I was the only non-L.A. member in the cast. We shot in Alabama and we shot part of it out in L.A.\u00a0 The pilot did not get picked up, so I remained in sales.\u00a0 It was about another five years before I got cast in my first feature film.\u00a0 That is where I got my SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card and my first feature film<\/a> was with Lou Diamond Phillips and Andre Braugher.\u00a0 I was kind of the main character.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t in the film as much as them, but I was the main character that everyone was looking for.\u00a0 So, I my character kind of set the tone for the story so it was a really big part for me.\u00a0 I got to do my own fight scenes and what not.\u00a0 It was my first studio picture.\u00a0 That was A Better Way to Die<\/em>.\u00a0 Right after I finished that one, I had some momentum going, I got cast as one of the leads in an ABC made for TV Movie of the Week.\u00a0 So, that was my next job right after that.\u00a0 I started to pick up some independent films and doing a little more theatre work after that as well.\u00a0 I still had a full time job that I was working around it still, just so I could keep acting.\u00a0 It was funny, after the first music video, “Feed Jake,” around Nashville people would come up and talk to me and tell me how much they loved the video.\u00a0 I would realize after a point that they thought that I was in the band. So, we had a lot of fun with that one.<\/p>\n

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What is the difference between theatre and film as far as acting on stage in a theatre; how does that translate to film and what are the major differences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Other than the time commitment … it’s the fact that there is no do-over.\u00a0 When you are on stage you are in a performance and there is no such thing as “Cut, do it again.”\u00a0 In theatre, you are out there. When you screw up, you’ve got to live with it, you know, for the consistency.\u00a0 The other part, especially for musical theatre, which I have done as well, is you\u2019ve got to be big.\u00a0 There is nothing small, for logistical reasons.\u00a0 You know, you have to vocalize and project for the audience. So, someone in the 49th row needs to see you and see everything that you\u2019ve got going on facialy and vocally as well as the person sitting in the 2nd row.\u00a0 So, you have to be just a little bit bigger than yourself, you know, even in intimate theatre.\u00a0 Doing work with a camera is very intimate because you work with close ups.\u00a0 You are working with your voice being miked, so you don\u2019t have to project in a way that makes it unnatural.\u00a0 So it\u2019s a lot more of an intimate type deal.<\/p>\n

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I hear that this year marks the 20th<\/sup> anniversary of your first film role \u2013 A Better Way to Die<\/em>. Tell us about that film, what you learned from the experience and what highlights you recall from that film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My mind had been blown.\u00a0 It was my first … I mean I had done commercials for Opryland and stuff and, you know, regional theatre plays and things, so everything was pretty scaled down.\u00a0 But, here I was … in my first film.\u00a0 I had auditioned for films for almost ten years and I was starting to think, ‘Well, it\u2019s just not going to happen.’ I auditioned for this film and they said, “Well, this role that you are auditioning for, you know, it\u2019s an FBI agent, so there is some fight work that goes on.\u00a0 Are you comfortable with that?”<\/p>\n

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I said, “Yeah.”<\/p>\n

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I did my lines a couple of times and on about my third audition a guy stepped out from behind the camera and said, “Would you mind, just kind of shuffling around a little bit with him just to see how you move?”\u00a0 So, the guy conducting the audition said, “He is going to grab your arm now, get out of it.”\u00a0 The guy was a little bit taller than I was and about the same weight and build.\u00a0 The guy grabbed my arm and instinctively I pulled away from it and I threw a spin kick and I meant to miss him but I caught him right on the side of the head.\u00a0 I said, “Well. I guess I am done.\u00a0 I am really sorry.\u00a0 I tried to pull it.” It turned out the guy I was kicking was the director and the writer and he was so impressed just by my instincts, to keep it brief, that I got the part.\u00a0 So, I remember that part of the audition.<\/p>\n

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But then, you know like, the first time you sit in your trailer that has your name on the door, that\u2019s really a rush.\u00a0 And the day that Lou came was such a memorable day.\u00a0 Because when I wasn\u2019t in the business and was still in sales in Lexington, I saw La Bamba<\/em> at the theatre and just became a Lou Diamond Phillips fan right off the bat.\u00a0 And right after that I saw, you know, in the theatre, I saw Stand and Deliver<\/em>.\u00a0 I saw Young Guns<\/em>.\u00a0 I just thought this guy had it.\u00a0 So, the day he comes to the set, I just noticed him getting out of his car and I was just kind of looking out of the corner of my eye trying to keep my cool. \u00a0He makes a bee line over to me and sticks his hand out and says, “You must be Jefferson, I\u2019m Lou.”\u00a0 Just to hear those words from someone considered a hero up to that point, was such as rush.\u00a0 And then after that, we are doing scenes together.\u00a0 So, that was the memorable part of it. It\u2019s like, okay when your hero is standing right next to you introducing himself to you, like he needs to.\u00a0 That was a memorable part of that.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s been 20 years.<\/p>\n

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They say good actors act with their eyes. How do you do that and how do you get good at it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about focus.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the things that I tell actors, especially new actors that I feel like need a little bit of coaching.\u00a0 I say it\u2019s all in the eyes.\u00a0 You can tell a bad extra on television because their eyes are not focused on what the scene is about.\u00a0 I tell somebody that no matter where you are in the scene, whether you’re given the close up or your the guy’s back at the park bench, if your eyes are not focused on where your character is supposed to be, you are going to lose them.\u00a0 And that is something I\u2019ve always maintained. I\u2019ve never had any trouble with that \u2014 with distractions or anything like that.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ve become so immersed in what I am doing and in the scene, that I really do leave myself.\u00a0 So, my eyes are focused because all of me is focused.\u00a0 My brain is focused.\u00a0 My heart is focused.\u00a0 You know, I am breathing with that character.\u00a0 That\u2019s not a technique, that is a part of becoming<\/em> instead of acting<\/em> for me.<\/p>\n

What do you think is the connection between sales and acting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no connection between sales and acting.<\/p>\n

Do you think sales helped you in any way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, it really didn\u2019t.\u00a0 What prepared me for acting is … sales was a job and I thought that was the best I was ever going to do. I thought that was the most I was ever going to be was a good salesman who made a lot of money.\u00a0 And acting, I think acting for me started because I was a fat kid who didn\u2019t have a lot of friends and preferred to stay in the house. I had skin as white as Kleenex.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a lot of friends. I was painfully shy.\u00a0 So, really I think that is where my imagination was really born. I was the original, and still am, the original Walter Mitty character because I would imagine the things I would do if I was more confident or if I wasn\u2019t overweight or if I had a lot of friends.\u00a0 And I think that really transpired to being able to get to character so quick. My imagination puts me there instantly, because, you know, I would imagine the adventures for myself, or whatnot, and you know, being thin and having friends were like the costumes I would wear.\u00a0 So. I really think that\u2019s where it started.\u00a0 Sales? Sales was a job, just plain and simple\u00a0\u2014<\/span> a job.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t great at it.\u00a0 The last job I had I was a sales rep for the Kinkos Corporation and I turned out, the last year I was there, I was the #1 salesman in the world.\u00a0 They said, “Well, you are going to get to speak at the conference.\u00a0 They are going to want you to explain your sales technique.”<\/p>\n

I said, “Well, I don\u2019t really have a technique.”<\/p>\n

They said, “What do you do?”<\/p>\n

I said, “I\u2019m just nice to people.”<\/p>\n

They said, “That\u2019s how you’ve been successful?”<\/p>\n

And I said, “Well, that and the grace of God.” I\u2019m like, “That won\u2019t make a good speech, will it?” They agreed and I wound up quitting before the sales conference ever came up.\u00a0 I heard that the second place guy put on a much better show than I would have.<\/p>\n

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I like the way your conversations with the characters in The Stranger<\/em> series and in The Perfect Stranger<\/em> often turn someone\u2019s question directed at Jesus back to the person asking. <\/strong>How have you researched both the questions people ask of God and the answers? Where do you go for help?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I don\u2019t have a good answer. The Stranger<\/em> movies were all based on novels, so that really goes to David Gregory that wrote them.\u00a0 I did the screenplays on those which were pretty much, you know, almost verbatim.\u00a0 Adaptation of the dialogue and the novels with just a few tweaks, here and there, but really, all that credit goes to him.\u00a0 I think that they are all pretty viable.\u00a0 That\u2019s really what first drew me\u00a0 to those books.\u00a0 In doing that first screenplay, just that David had really nailed the most pertinent questions and how they went back and how they were biblical because Jesus usually answered a question with another question.\u00a0 So, I’ve really got to give him that credit because I really had very little input into the actual, you know, dialogue and what he chose to do.\u00a0 But, of course, in the novels, he went a little bit deeper on some other things as far as, you know, some theology.\u00a0 So, I guess we kind of pulled the most humanistic populist questions from his books.<\/p>\n

When playing a role like Jesus, what kind of pressure or challenges does that present \u2013 especially in light of The Perfect Stranger<\/em> and other shorts that feature Jesus hanging out with everyday people and answering their important questions about the existence of God and\/or doubts that keep them from the faith? For example, it\u2019s one thing for me to present a documentary where I present my ideas and my opinions and answers to some of these common and all-important questions, but it\u2019s quite another thing to present these answers as coming directly from God Himself in a dramatic narrative.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think I gave myself, before we did the first Perfect Stranger<\/em> movie, I took part in a Broadway scale Passion play here in Louisville. I did that for five years before we did The Perfect Stranger<\/em> movie.\u00a0 And, it was a play here in town, in Louisville, that had been in existence, I think for almost fifteen years. And I took over from a guy who had done it for about five or six years and I had seen how he did it.\u00a0 So, when I came on board and took over the role of Jesus, and like I said, it was a full Passion play with the lifetime, and the crucifixion is shown and the resurrection, you know, with the full flying machine \u2014<\/span> the whole nine yards.\u00a0 The director and I, because there was a new director, because the other director had been there for like twenty years, and so there was a new Jesus and a new director the year I took it over.\u00a0 And, I found myself throwing more nuances in that people really responded to.\u00a0 Not that I was trying to do it differently than the last guy did, but I really wanted to throw my own thing into it.\u00a0 Part of what I would do is when I was making dialogue with people during the big numbers and whatnot, I made sure that I would really focus on people.\u00a0 While they were talking and I was talking to them and this is just talking when something was going on the other side of the stage, we call it call stage talking, I would do just little nuances like looking at the person\u2019s face and asking them and really intently listening, and you know, and picking up little kids as I walked around.\u00a0 And I did a lot of laughing and some of the feedback we got from the first year we did the show was \u201cI never imagined Jesus laughing.\u201d\u00a0 So, it was little things like that which people responded to that in that Passion play.\u00a0 About 60,000 people attended every year the performances of that show.\u00a0 Some people came from all over the country.\u00a0 Some people as far away as Russia to see the shows.\u00a0 It was a big scale show.<\/p>\n

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I took pretty much what I learned about what people responded to and I put that into the guy in the Armani suite in the restaurant, you know, the guy with the full costume with the long hair and the brown contacts. So, I looked like a Hebrew. But, in doing it, you know, in my own modernization with my own blonde hair and wearing an Armani suite and I was clean cut.\u00a0 I kept the same nuances of how intently that he listened to, you know, the person next to him as the only person in the room and how he found humor in things and down to the part where he said he did not like neckties.\u00a0 So, I didn\u2019t really feel any pressure to be holy with that.\u00a0 I felt more pressure to be someone of authority who was likeable.\u00a0 So, the pressure was more of a challenge, because I did not want to be like the uncle who buys you beer and, you know, everything\u2019s good, I\u2019m your buddy.\u00a0 But, at the same time I didn\u2019t want to be like the lightning bolt that strikes you dead, you know, if you don\u2019t go to church on Wednesday night.\u00a0 So, I think it was more of a challenge than pressure to be that human and that compassionate but at the same time being the universal authority.\u00a0 So, I really see it that way.\u00a0 And, of course we did get it in some places.\u00a0 There was a little bit of it on drinking wine.\u00a0 We got a little bit of flack for that in a couple of areas.\u00a0 But overall, there was really nothing objectionable about it.\u00a0 And we did not pull any punches either, so that part we really stayed true to the script that we did not pull any punches.\u00a0 This Jesus character said, you know, Hinduism is wrong.\u00a0 It is incorrect.\u00a0 He said that, you know, what Islam says, he said it\u2019s incorrect.\u00a0 That was just the beginning of when political correctness, when saying something like that was the most intolerant thing you could say, but it was true to the Jesus of the Bible who just made no bones about who He is.\u00a0 So, that part was challenging, as well.\u00a0 My co-director and I went back and forth asking are we going to leave this in here and we said, “Yeah, let\u2019s stick with it.”<\/p>\n

I\u2019m curious what sort of challenges playing the role of Jesus brings when people recognize you on the street. I\u2019ve got a funny story about some drawings my dad made where I was the long-haired model for Jesus\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know that when people recognize me, that they really tie the Jesus thing in. I don\u2019t hear a whole lot of that.\u00a0 People do recognize me but I have not had any confrontations or anything like that.\u00a0 It\u2019s always been, you know, we\u2019ve seen you in the movies and I am usually not sure which one they are referring to.\u00a0 So, I have not had a whole lot where people brought that up with me.\u00a0 I read a lot of things in reviews and things like that where people appreciated the way that I betrayed him in a passionate way.\u00a0 Not so much from people who see me in the street.\u00a0 I\u2019m still really that shy kid, to be honest with you.\u00a0 I never grew out of that.\u00a0 So, when people see me in places, you know, I always try to be gracious but I really don\u2019t promote any prolonged conversations because I really feel like I have nothing really to say to anybody, you know, outside. So, I usually say, thank you, thank you for watching, I am glad you appreciate the show and whatnot.\u00a0 One thing we have heard in the forum of reviews and emails that we\u2019ve got from people who watched our films, and are always happy when people watched our films, but we are really happy when we hear from people that, you know, that for one reason or another have left the church or people who that were seeking and got the wrong or did not get the answer that they wanted\u2026 and we have heard people from people that say, you know,\u00a0 if I had heard the gospel presented this way I never would have left the church, or I never would have fought with my mother over it if I\u2019d had it presented to me the way you guys did.\u00a0 We take that as a compliment.\u00a0 We take great responsibility in that.\u00a0 So, that is why we want to make sure that we didn\u2019t get outside, even though we were creating a fictional character of sorts, that we did not want to get outside of the Gospel and take too much dramatic license with anything because we did have a responsibility.\u00a0 At the end of the day, we were presenting the Gospel.<\/p>\n

Tell me about your first documentary \u2013 National Anthem Girl<\/em>. What\u2019s it about? Where did the inspiration come from? What do you hope to accomplish with it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve always wanted to do a documentary. I love documentaries, it is one of my favorite things and has been for a long time. I was watching Fox News<\/a> one morning and there was a girl talking to the host and I recognized her as this actress that I had seen in an episode of 24<\/em> and I thought she was really unique looking and I thought, ‘What is she doing on Fox News<\/a>.\u00a0 So, I turned it up and listened to what she was doing on there.\u00a0 And, it turned out that it was not the actress from 24<\/em>.\u00a0 It was just someone who looked a lot like her.\u00a0 So, that got me to turn the sound up to listen.\u00a0 And, it turned out it was this girl from Long Island that was on a journey to be the first person to sing the National Anthem in all 50 states.\u00a0 No one had ever done that before.\u00a0 And this is 2014, this is before the Colin Kaepernick controversy ever started.\u00a0 So, this young lady, I think she was on state 23 at the time that she was on Fox News to just kind of promote what she was doing.\u00a0 She had made a decision to take on this journey and she was trying to finish in time for the 200th anniversary, which was August of that year, of the National Anthem, which hardly anyone really knew at that time.<\/p>\n

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Along the way of her journey she was promoting patriotism and gratitude for our troops and doing a lot of things for the troops in each state that she went to.\u00a0 After seeing her that time on the news, she put a map up of all the states she had not yet visited because she did not have venues.\u00a0 She was doing all this self-funded and all of her own booking.\u00a0 I noticed that one of the states that she had not been to was Kentucky and she had put a website on there.\u00a0 I got her website and emailed her and said, “Hey, I noticed you haven\u2019t been to Kentucky, we know the owners of the local Triple A team here if you need a venue.\u00a0 We can give you some contacts there.\u00a0 Also, we own a production company and we have HD cameras if you would like for us to come give you some coverage,\u00a0 we\u2019d be happy to.”<\/p>\n

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So she responded and needed a venue. She said, “Yes that would be great.\u00a0 I have to film everything on my iphone because I am all by myself.”\u00a0 She came to Louisville in July, 2014 and we picked her up at the airport and we had the cameras rolling from the time that she got off the plane and the whole time she was here while she was making media appearances and whatnot.\u00a0 And we all really hit it off.\u00a0 And we wound up finishing with her giving her support like that through the end of her journey.\u00a0 We were in state 50 with her when she completed the last state which was down in Nashville for a Titans game.\u00a0 She had a great story.\u00a0 She was from Long Island.\u00a0 She sang in college.\u00a0 She loved singing the National Anthem.\u00a0 She had a real passion for it.\u00a0 She ended up going to L.A. to become a rock star and spend all her money on an album that went nowhere.\u00a0 And, she was stuck in L.A. and she was afraid to tell her family that she had bombed out.\u00a0 So, she even didn\u2019t have money to move back.\u00a0 So, she said she spent a long time feeling sorry for herself and one day she just said, “What can I do to help somebody?”<\/p>\n

She said, “I want to help somebody with what I have.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got my voice, what can I do?”\u00a0 So, that\u2019s when she made a decision.\u00a0 She said, “What if I can sing the National Anthem, which I already love doing?\u00a0 What if I can do something to promote that song and the gratitude for the people that give it meaning, our troops?”<\/p>\n

And she said, “I just set about on the journey and when I was about 13 states into it, I realized nobody has ever sung in all 50 states and that would be a great event.”\u00a0 And she realized that in 2014 that the National Anthem was going to turn 200 years old.\u00a0 So, she made that her goal to finish by the anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner\u2019s writing.\u00a0 So, after she completed her journey she started speaking in schools, conferences, public speaking and singing National Anthems in places.\u00a0 I got in touch with her and I asked Janine, “Has anyone done your story?”<\/p>\n

She said, “No, I thought about writing a book but I kinda got busy with some other things.”<\/p>\n

I said, “Really? People need to know what you did, because people don\u2019t do something like that anymore.\u00a0 Our accomplishments are all built into our iphones these days.\u00a0 People just don\u2019t do things like that by and large.”\u00a0 I asked, “Would you give me a shot at adapting your story into a documentary?”\u00a0 So, she said yes and we went back through all of her interviews, all the newspaper articles, we shot some new stuff and we pulled stuff from every place we could.\u00a0 We basically took her story from beginning to end and how her experiences in each state changed her from the inside.\u00a0 At first, it was all about her and by the time she got done, it was so much about everybody that wasn\u2019t her.\u00a0 It was about something that was much bigger than her.\u00a0 We thought it was a great story to tell.<\/p>\n

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I come from a background of covering the Christian music industry. For a long time, many Christian musicians have complained about a lack of respect or even the narrow confines that the definition of \u201cChristian artist\u201d brings to their art. How do you feel about acting and people calling you a \u201cChristian actor\u201d or \u201cChristian moviemaker?\u201d Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the same thing, I think.\u00a0 I guess it is that limited thing.\u00a0 I mean, if you look at our films we don\u2019t believe in ham-fisted religiosity.\u00a0 We present ideas and we promote conversation.\u00a0 We don\u2019t wrap things up in a nice bow.\u00a0 We\u2019ve gone to great lengths in some of our stories to purposefully show the downside of being a person with a strong faith and how disappointing it can be and how unfair it can be sometimes. I\u2019ve thought that, from day one, if you label yourself as a Christian film company or making Christian films, automatically you are losing half your audience.\u00a0 I know that for a fact from a lot of people that said, “Hey, I stumbled onto your movie by accident and ended up watching the whole thing. I pulled my semi off on the side of the road and I thought it was something else.\u00a0 And, I watched the whole thing and I saw things I\u2019ve never seen before.”\u00a0 I heard things told to me.\u00a0 If they had been there at the beginning of the movie and someone said \u201cnow presenting a good Christian film,\u201d they would have turned it off right there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, I think those labels… and like our movie about cancer, we were getting\u2026. there\u2019s one website that just loves to dog us, and they were dogging us because they weren’t into Christian films.\u00a0 And our cancer movie one message, they were dogging it.\u00a0 And, I said, “What makes you call this a Christian film? Just because Jefferson Moore and Kelly Worthington did it?”\u00a0 Because it was not evangelical film at all, none of it.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s the labeling.\u00a0 I think labels are confining and labels put up barriers to people that might enjoy our stories that just don\u2019t want to have anything to do with something.\u00a0 A good example is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Christian television shows of all time, was the Andy Griffith Show<\/em>.\u00a0 But, nobody said, here\u2019s a Christian show, the Andy Griffith Show<\/em>.\u00a0 People said here is the Andy Griffith Show<\/em>, and all the characters lived a life that showed a life that was respectful of followers of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we try to do with our films.\u00a0 We try to make the Andy Griffith Show<\/em>, as opposed to, “Hey, we\u2019re making Christian films, you know, for Christians about Christians\u2026 Christians, Christians… and a lot of times it gives Jesus a bad name.<\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s kind of why we want to make independent films.\u00a0 I said in an interview, “Nobody ever said Tony Dungy coached Christian football.\u00a0 He coached football and he is a strong Christian.\u00a0 Everyone watches him speak and respects him, but nobody ever said he coaches Christian football.\u00a0 He coaches football and he is a coach who is a Christian.\u00a0\u00a0 It is that type of thing, so there are no barriers around Tony Dungy. So, I don\u2019t want those barriers around myself as an actor or you know as our film company.\u00a0 We\u2019re an independent film company that makes movies according to the beliefs of its owners, which is kind of long winded.\u00a0 Frankly, they\u2019re some films that probably say we\u2019re Christian films that I really don\u2019t want to be associated with, just for that reason.\u00a0 It\u2019s like, no, we don\u2019t think that and we don\u2019t believe in getting the message out that<\/em> way, so we\u2019d really\u00a0 rather not be in that club, if it\u2019s all the same to you.<\/p>\n

I’ve heard that before. I\u2019ve got a vision for a company and a business plan that I\u2019ve never really acted on.\u00a0 It\u2019s a football magazine with a faith perspective called First & Goal and my explanation is just that.\u00a0 It\u2019s a football magazine with a faith perspective because Christians don\u2019t tackle more softly and gently like Jesus, you know.\u00a0 The game of football is the way it is.\u00a0 There is no such thing as Christian football.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am in Kelly\u2019s office and she has keeps on her whiteboard the saying \u201cthe Christian shoemaker does his duty, not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes.\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s just how we approach\u2026 we\u2019re making good films, good films that show you that you can have a good comedy between two people and they don\u2019t have to hop into bed with each other, they don\u2019t have to call each other everything that begins with an F, you know, for it to be a good film, but is still a good film.\u00a0 And that\u2019s part of what I want to do.\u00a0 Some of our films are very evangelical, you know.\u00a0 The Stranger<\/em> films are very evangelical, even though they\u2019re still not ham-fisted.\u00a0 But, some of ours are just comedies and some of ours are just a tragedy about somebody with a debilitating disease.\u00a0 Whereas, other people would think, “Okay, we need to get a cross in here somewhere, you know, we need to have a congregation.\u00a0 Somebody\u2019s got to be wearing a collar.”\u00a0 Mark Smeby is a good friend of ours. He says that\u2019s called \u201cGodding it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, “I\u2019ve written some songs and somebody\u2019s telling me you need to God it up a little bit.”\u00a0 And, I said, “If we\u2019ve ever been told to God it up, we\u2019d just say okay, we\u2019ll just not participate.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It reminds me of the phrase “JPM” – Jesus per minute.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, it really is. We did it one time.\u00a0 It was very early on when we really felt we had no say, the people paying our big license that, you know, a network had commissioned a mini-serial that we did and we got full things to write.\u00a0 We had one episode where a person just kind of walked off at the end.\u00a0 And, you thought, well she is probably going to turn her life around now because of the conversation she just had.\u00a0 And, they insisted that we shoot them sitting in a church or in a Sunday school class.\u00a0 And, we really gritted our teeth and we shot an epilogue, you know, just a thirty minute scene of them getting on the phone telling someone that they were going to have to miss bible study tonight because they were doing a retreat or something like that.\u00a0 So, we did that and we felt terrible about doing it and we said we\u2019re never going to do it again, because we got that bad taste in our mouth.\u00a0 We said okay, we feel like we just really lowered our standards by doing that.\u00a0 And then what we did when we produced the DVD of the series, we cut that part back out again.<\/p>\n

I always like the idea of treating my audience like they have intelligence or they have discernment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, we do that too.\u00a0 And, like I said, we\u2019re not as \u2026 What’s a nice way to say this? Some of the most popular churchy movies at the box office have done the opposite of that.\u00a0 They have done ham-fisted unbelievable religiosity, but they have done $33 million at the box office.\u00a0 And, you know we\u2019ve never done that much but I feel better about our story.\u00a0 I would love to have 33 million, don\u2019t get me wrong.\u00a0 There\u2019ve been movies that did better with really great acting and top line talent and better writing that did not do well at all.\u00a0 One that comes to mind is the movie called The Song<\/em>, which should have done so much more than it did and gotten better distribution.\u00a0 It was a very honest portrayal.\u00a0 It was well done.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t have really big names in it, but it was so well written and it was so biblically sound.\u00a0 But, they did it in a very realistic way, but it was a blip on the screen.\u00a0 In the meanwhile, other movies that just had this stilted dialogue with these unrealistic situations, they did $33 million at the box office.<\/p>\n

I want to hear some more about what might be written on Kelly\u2019s whiteboard, if there is something else on the whiteboard you want to share.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

I step over my black lab to get to her office\u2026. ah,<\/p>\n

“To whom much is given, much is required.<\/p>\n

“God\u2019s love is for everyone because everyone is someone to God.<\/p>\n

“If we deal with what we have to deal with everyday with Holy Spirit, I will be all you need, but you have to lean.<\/p>\n

Everything else (on the board) looks like work for me, so I won\u2019t get into that.\u00a0 That\u2019s the high points there.\u00a0 She has the work written inside, yeah.<\/p>\n

Is Kelly your wife?\u00a0 What\u2019s it like having a business<\/a> and maybe a ministry with your spouse?\u00a0 Challenges and blessings unique to that?\u00a0 Tell us about your role.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeap.\u00a0 We\u2019ve never really got off the first date, so this has really been a gas for us.\u00a0 We\u2019ve never had kids and we really like each other.\u00a0 So, working together was just a natural thing.\u00a0 Because, you know we\u2019re always together anyway, and so it is just an extension of us.\u00a0 So, you know, it\u2019s been a real blessing.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got to do it.\u00a0 This is what we both love.\u00a0 Kelly comes from theatre background as well as a musical background.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re making art and getting to hang out to do it without going to a 9-5 job.\u00a0 So, I can\u2019t think of anything better really, you know, than getting to hang out with your best friend all day.\u00a0 And, it\u2019s nice too because she\u2019s here and she\u2019s who I bounce the ideas off of and vice versa.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to pick up the phone to do that or schedule a meeting to do that.\u00a0 You pretty much just walk into the other room or wake the other person up or something along those lines.\u00a0 So, we met in college and we are coming up on our 30th anniversary in October we have been going at it a while. Congratulations to her.\u00a0 I keep telling her that the warranty is about to run out so she better\u2026 Yeah, it\u2019s been great creatively, like I\u2019ve said, because it\u2019s made it not be work.\u00a0 It\u2019s more like just like our life than it is our work and our job or anything like that.\u00a0 Some of the best friends that we\u2019ve had have been the people we have hired as crew and actor.\u00a0 So, it\u2019s kinda been nice really creating more of a family atmosphere for all of us.<\/p>\n

Tell us about the song you wrote, “I’ve Still Got Chicago (But I ain’t Got You).”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019ve written music on several of our films mostly just to try to get out of paying royalty rights when I just need some bumper music.\u00a0 Chicago is kind of an adopted hometown for me, and so something Chicago is included in every film we\u2019ve made.\u00a0 Two things are every film we\u2019ve made, the name Kelly and some reference to Chicago.\u00a0 That\u2019s like our two trademarks that are in all of our films and TV shows.\u00a0 So, when we were doing Clancy Once Again<\/em>, our Clancy<\/em> sequel, I needed to have some music coming over the radio and I really didn\u2019t want to use an instrumental.\u00a0 I wanted something with vocals but I really didn\u2019t want to pay a royalty for something like that.\u00a0 So, I said, well, I\u2019ll just write something and I\u2019ll do the vocals on it.\u00a0 The character that I was playing was, you know, it stated in the script that he\u2019s a fan of Jim Croce.\u00a0 So, I said, “I am going to write something and sing something in that singer songwriter, you know, type genre and stuff.”\u00a0 You know, it had a lot of percussion, usually just a guitar and maybe one other instrument.\u00a0 So, I did a cut here and we recorded it here at our studios.\u00a0 And, it\u2019s coming through the radio so it\u2019s really muffled. It\u2019s got a radio sound on it and you just hear a little bit before the dialogue starts.\u00a0 But, then after a while, you know, we both said, “That\u2019s a really good song and stuff.\u00a0 So, it was like, gosh, we should really just get some kind of release on it.”\u00a0 So, I wanted female vocals, so we recut it in the studio.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a lot of music and I just started pulling some stuff back.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got just about everything I\u2019ve written produced in a studio.\u00a0 So, we\u2019ve got all these fragments of stuff like that.\u00a0 So, I\u2019m really just wanting to put my music out there in whatever application, maybe in some other people\u2019s films and whatnot.\u00a0 The song is really a tribute to Chicago.\u00a0 It\u2019s told through the eyes of a jilted lover, but it\u2019s really almost like a “We Didn\u2019t Start the Fire,” but it\u2019s a love letter for Chicago.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re going to kinda put it on social media platforms and Spotify and a few other things and see how people respond to it.<\/p>\n

You made music videos.\u00a0 How do the visuals go along with music?\u00a0 What excites you about music and music videos in particular?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I just guess because I was, you know, one of the first people in the MTV generation and stuff.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I went to class that whole week that MTV started.\u00a0 I just sat in the fraternity house and stared at it.\u00a0 I was just so amazed by it.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019s\u2026 they\u2019re always just like a short film because they\u2019re three minutes long and you have to get your points across.\u00a0 I just love what you can do with it, because I\u2019ve always just liked seeing music through my eyes and stuff.\u00a0 And, getting a story with everything because I was always fascinated behind the story, you know.\u00a0 What is the singer saying?\u00a0 What\u2019s the story about? Who\u2019s jilted who?\u00a0 Who\u2019s excited about this?\u00a0 Who\u2019s feeling good.\u00a0 And, the music videos have always provided that for us.\u00a0 So, it\u2019s was just natural that before I wanted to make long films I wanted to make short films which were music videos.\u00a0 So, I just love the concepts so whenever I hear a video song, my mind just goes, “Okay, this would be good, this would be good, this would be good,” and stuff.\u00a0 So, I\u2019ve sent a lot of ideas to differents artists and stuff, saying, “If you ever do a video this would be a good treatment for it.”\u00a0 So, my mind is just wired to work that way.\u00a0 I think it is from living in the beginning of the MTV generation.<\/p>\n

One thing my wife pointed out that in almost every movie it seems there is this eagle or bird that goes \u201ckawwww\u201d at some poignant scene.\u00a0 Is that a trademark or some sort of thing that filmmakers like to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, I\u2019ve really ever noticed it.\u00a0 There\u2019s a sound effect on our opening logo.\u00a0 There is a bird sound effect.\u00a0 Maybe, that is what she is referring to.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t been listening for bird calls.\u00a0 I\u2019ll make a note.<\/p>\n

Do you ever feel like you’re being persecuted for being a Christian?<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>More for being a non-liberal.\u00a0 And, I don\u2019t mean persecuted to where, you know, nobody’s taking me… I don\u2019t think it\u2019s as much as a Christian as it is a non-liberal.\u00a0 Which I don\u2019t know if they\u2019re putting us all in one big bucket now, you know \u2014 conservatives and Christians.\u00a0 We work really close with the arts community and nobody respects anybody else\u2019s opinions because people will just say things without any regard for what somebody else feels about something.\u00a0 Everyone just throws it out there.\u00a0 Kentucky is a very conservative state, but Louisville is the largest city and a very liberal city.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re usually outnumbered in a lot of situations.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying persecuted, I am saying everyone will speak their mind out loud without any filtering for who might actually be in the room.\u00a0 But, that is when you get judged for how you respond to things and, you know, who it is that you follow is how you come back or how you don\u2019t come back.\u00a0 We usually just don\u2019t come back.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have a comeback.\u00a0 We physically leave the room.\u00a0 We let things roll off our back and offer zero rebuttal.<\/p>\n

They know what they are doing a lot of times. Things will be said to get a byte.\u00a0 At the same time, we have noticed this, and it stuck out in my mind one time because someone with Sherwood had made the statement, when making one of their movies, that they do not hire anybody that\u2019s not a Christian, you know, for crew and actors that is their litmus test.\u00a0 Now I am not sure if they still do that or not. I really don\u2019t follow Sherwood.\u00a0 But, I remember that one of the Kendricks (brothers) making that statement, that they wanted to make sure that someone was a Christian, you know, a believer, before they were hired or cast in one of their movies.\u00a0 Well, we\u2019ve never had that litmus test.\u00a0 I know that we have had gay cast members and unchurched people that have worked for us multiple times.\u00a0 I think that if they were offended by what we were saying, well, they would never want to work with us again.\u00a0 But, they always enjoy working for us and look forward to the next time.\u00a0 And they know what kind of subject matter they are dealing with, especially on some of these more evangelical films.\u00a0 So, I like to think that that\u2019s more Jesus-like because Jesus, you know, Jesus was with the prostitutes, the drunkards and the heroin addicts.\u00a0 That\u2019s who he hung out with.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t put up a sign that said, “You must be Christian or this tall to get on this ride.”\u00a0 So, that\u2019s one thing that we try to stay true to how he dealt with people.\u00a0 We\u2019ve never had that litmus test.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had castwide prayers and things like that, but, we don\u2019t make a big deal out of it.\u00a0 It\u2019s like, well, if\u00a0 you are godless, you don\u2019t have to participate, you know.\u00a0 We just go at it and nobody feels comfortable or uncomfortable, or one way or the other.\u00a0 So, that means we\u2019re dealing with people with different opinions than us and they don\u2019t mind us in that regard.\u00a0 I think you\u2019ve got a better chance of influencing somebody than when you tell somebody they\u2019re going to hell because of who they are sleeping with.<\/p>\n

Jesus was with the prostitutes, the drunkards and the heroin addicts.\u00a0 That\u2019s who he hung out with.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t put up a sign that said, “You must be Christian or this tall to get on this ride.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you think Robbie Gould will actually go back to the Bears?\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I think San Francisco they keep doing different things\u2026 he says he wants to trade but they have not released him fully yet and the Bears drafted a kicker way down and then they just traded for one so they\u2019ve got three able-bodied kickers right there. And a lot of times when you return to a team, you\u2019re never as good, because they\u2019ve had Richard Dent come back, you know, for sentimental reasons, and he was never as good and wound up getting cut, which is more embarrassing.\u00a0 A few of the players have come back, especially if they\u2019re good.\u00a0 That has happened to the Cubs a lot. So, I think Gould will come back because he was a fan favorite.\u00a0 There is a chance that if he came back it would be, ya know…he\u2019s been good, but I think that he is on borrowed time right now, because he has kicked a lot, he\u2019s put a lot on that leg over the years.\u00a0 It would be nice but it might be a big build up for a disappointment if he did come back.<\/p>\n

So, I\u2019ve seen the schedule and I know that your Bears and my Cowboys are playing this year, and so how do you think the Bears can do and if they happen to meet again in the playoffs, who’s going to win?\u00a0 And, why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The defense is looking really good.\u00a0 I think they\u2019re pretty loaded up and Green Bay is going to have an off year.\u00a0 Nobody is picking the Bears to do anything, but I think they\u2019re primed to really make a move in the NFC because I think the NFC is wide open, once again, because you don\u2019t have the power houses.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about Dallas.\u00a0 Dallas didn\u2019t finish so great last year.\u00a0 They\u2019re kinda starting to look like the Tony Romo Cowboys that,\u00a0 you know, that had a lot of potential during the season but when they got to the playoffs it seems like they start falling apart right before.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s going to be an interesting year.\u00a0 All eyes are still on Brady but, you know, Aaron Rogers just got a new coach and he doesn\u2019t have the guns around yet so I think in the NFC it sounds like the Bears are going to dominate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For more information, check out Kelly’s Filmworks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note from the author: I am extremely grateful for the tremendous help I had from my wife, Jenn, who transcribed this hour-long interview. If you’d like to hear the audio version of this interview, click here<\/a>. Those of you who read HM Magazine back in 1997-98 might recognize the name of the National Anthem Girl<\/em>\u00a0 \u2014 Janine Stange. She used to advertise in the pages of HM (and was on the Nov\/Dec ’97 HM Sampler CD<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After watching several of his independent films about a modern day Jesus appearance, I reached out to talk to this skilled actor to find out more. When he found out I lived near Austin, he immediately asked if I’d been to Robert Rodriguez’ house. I told him no, but I was relieved to discover that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":25405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[4144,3994,4147,4148,4141,4142,4143,4146,2092,3713,4145],"class_list":["post-25400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-acting","tag-christian-films","tag-clancy","tag-clancy-once-again","tag-films","tag-indepedent-films","tag-jeffereson-moore","tag-kelly-films","tag-movies","tag-theater","tag-theatre","cat-17-id"],"yoast_head":"\nJEFFERSON MOORE Interview - The Original Heaven's Metal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doug Van Pelt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"44 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/\",\"name\":\"JEFFERSON MOORE Interview - The Original Heaven's Metal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Jefferson-on-set.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-22T12:38:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-22T20:05:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#\/schema\/person\/b155afeb7086c8182b3bb3b435e68c4b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Jefferson-on-set.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Jefferson-on-set.jpg\",\"width\":4576,\"height\":2969},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/jefferson-moore-interview\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"JEFFERSON MOORE Interview\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hmmagazine.com\/dvanpelt\/\",\"name\":\"The Original Heaven's Metal\",\"description\":\"Former Editor-in-Chief. 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