Tag Archives: Fifty Shades of Grey

The risks of missionary dating

CanYouDate

Did you know that “missionary dating” has a page in Wikipedia?

I didn’t before, but I do now.

It’s a term that is loosely applied any time a person of one faith (usually Christian) dates a person of another faith (or no faith at all).  The phrase itself implies a planned, intentional desire to convert that may have been true once upon a time, but… today, I think a lot of folks start dating without giving the idea of a person’s faith much thought.

Any consideration of conversion or evangelistic efforts is secondary, if present at all.

Is there any risk or downside to being careless with whom we date when it comes to faith in God or religion?  Can someone be drawn away from God just as easily as another might be drawn to God through a romantic connection?

Wikipedia quotes 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 which includes the warning about being “unequally yoked” with someone that isn’t on the same page with you spiritually.

In Old Fashioned, when Clay and Amber first meet they are not “equally yoked” in the strictest sense.  And this causes some genuine tension and serious misunderstandings between them.

By the end of the film, both of them do indeed end up at a place with God, individually, that has them in a much better position to pursue something romantically, together.  But it’s not an easy road and much pain could have been avoided by having some direct and intentional conversations up front, at the very beginning.

But life isn’t always as neat and tidy as it should be… and all of us are prone to not pay close enough attention at the start of a wide variety of things.  Even though we know better.

Today though, I think the consequences of being careless are rapidly becoming greater than they may have been in the recent past.  With a lot of common moral ground quickly eroding and the explosion of the hook-up culture and even the debate over sexual mores within many Christian churches…

Knowing who you are, what you believe, and what you want is possibly more important now than ever.

And there is indeed great wisdom in putting all our cards on the table up front—before our emotions (or more) become entangled with someone that really doesn’t want the same things out of life that we do.

Yes, there are always exceptions.  Some people of different faiths have had great marriages.  Some people of the same faith have gotten divorced.

It’s not about guarantees.  It’s about being obedient and putting yourself and others in the best possible position to live a life of greatest usefulness to God an in service to the needs of a broken and hurting world.

Think about that the next time some Fifty Shades of Grey poster asks you if you’re… Curious?

That’s the oldest trick in the book.  Literally…

– Rik

 

Real life is messy

Messy

To be clear, the characters of Clay and Amber in Old Fashioned are not perfect.  They are flawed, broken people who are doing the best they can in stumbling toward a better way of loving each other… and a better understanding of God’s love for them.

Just like most of us.

It’s a tricky thing whenever you explore religious or spiritual themes in a film and especially so when you get anywhere near the label of being “faith-based” or something along those lines.

Suddenly, there is this odd expectation that the characters in your film are no longer allowed to be human or imperfect; but rather, they must be… examples.

That’s a lot of pressure.

And it’s also one of the reasons that so much criticism is often leveled at faith-based films for not being realistic or dealing with real-world issues in ways that are familiar to the audience.

Honestly, given some of the parameters of this niche… I’m not sure how you could accurately and truthfully make a “faith-based” film about the life of King David… or Abraham and Sarah… or countless other Biblical characters that were deeply, profoundly flawed.  I think there would be a great deal of pressure to tidy things up a bit… or leave certain elements out so as to not rock the boat too much… or, possibly, to craft a superior and more appropriate example.

And that would be a shame.  Because it is often through brokenness that God does some of His very best work.

Now, just so there is no confusion over what I’m saying here… I’m not saying you would have to be explicit in a film depicting the darker corners of the lives of those Biblical characters… or any characters in any film.  In the case of Clay and Amber in Old Fashioned, we’re able to explore some real, grown-up issues in a way that never gets explicit or crosses any lines.

Old Fashioned is rated PG-13 for “thematic material” which translates… real life is messy.  And probably a little boring for little kids!

Our film has no coarse language (at all), no explicit sex or violence, and nothing that exploits or degrades the actors.  But, it does deal honestly and openly with some relational mistakes and regrets and situations that are very much set in reality and are just as messy and complicated as those found in our own lives.

And still, God’s grace abounds.

Bottom line is, when it comes to film ratings, if you filmed someone at a table who just opened a Bible and starting reading out loud from the Old Testament… that would almost certainly be rated PG-13 for “thematic material.”  As it should.

In any event…

It’s more than a little important when making (or watching) a film that includes religious or spiritual themes that we remember and remain open to the indisputable fact that all of us—ALL of us—are still works in progress.

As Aunt Zella says in Old Fashioned…

“None of us fully arrive this side of Heaven.”

There is a deep longing for authenticity and genuine innocence growing in our culture.  And the common ground for connecting and sharing the love of Christ with those that are searching is our brokenness… not our perfection (or rather, our imagined perfection).

I mention this because…

With all of the Fifty Shades of Grey hype and comparison with Old Fashioned (which has raised our profile beyond measure and for which I’m sincerely grateful), some might start thinking that we’re positioning ourselves as some kind of Pollyanna or perfect “example” of flawless, unblemished love.

We are not.

The truth is, both stories deal with very broken, wounded protagonists… two men that are isolated, damaged, and emotionally detached.

The difference is in how the protagonists pursue their healing.

It’s not about passing judgment on anyone or anything… it’s about a sincere desire to find paths toward healing and wholeness in a world that often outright ignores the sacred aspect and purpose for which love and romance was created.

And finding those paths, in life and movies (and marketing) can be and often is… messy.

Thank God for His mercy… and for providing us all with the one and only perfect “example” this world has ever seen…

– Rik

 

The countdown to Valentine’s Day has begun…

“How did you do it?”

I’ve been getting asked that question a lot ever since the press broke wide open when we announced we were releasing Old Fashioned the same day as Fifty Shades of Grey.

How did a little indie movie like ours—with no stars or exploitative elements—get major news outlets like Time, Variety, and MTV (among many others) to pay attention at all?

In reality, the only big thing we did was realize an opportunity and choose to be patient enough to not rush our film into its theatrical distribution (not an easy thing to do once a film is completed).  And then, we just let folks know about it…

We could have never predicted the immediate and explosive response that followed.

More than anything though, what that avalanche of press did for us was boldly confirm what is actually the answer to the much bigger question I’ve been getting asked:

“Why did you do it?”

Why did we pick a fight and choose to go toe-to-toe with a massive cultural phenomenon that is almost certain to completely crush us?

And that answer boils down to this… we suspected that the release of Fifty Shades was a unique moment in time and we also (correctly, thankfully) had the hunch that maybe we weren’t alone in our thinking that—deep down—a lot of folks out there hadn’t filled up on the Fifty Shades Kool-Aid and were indeed looking for something of a different flavor in both their romantic lives as well as their entertainment.

In short, we had confidence that the longing for innocence that is captured so uniquely in Old Fashioned might appeal far beyond church walls and the faith-based niche alone.

We’re not naïve enough to believe that means absolutely everyone will dig our love story or agree with us or be happy that we are challenging something as popular as Fifty Shades.

And that’s okay.

Folks are free to choose as they may; but, if there’s anyone out there that has read or sees the film version of Fifty Shades… or anyone out there that has even lived it… and found the experience lacking or their own hearts still looking for something else… Old Fashioned is there as an option.  That is all…

As to whether or not we’ll get beaten down (pun intended) in public by Fifty Shades on Valentine’s Day weekend.  Well, the odds aren’t in our favor… they weren’t in David’s favor either, when he went up against Goliath.

At the end of the day, if even one single soul is moved toward greater healing and wholeness rather than greater physical objectification or emotional damage—by our film or by the cultural discussion that is already happening because of our refusal to bow our knee to Fifty Shades—we win.

And if we have to take a hit or two for that, so be it.

It’s a fight worth having…

It’s a cause worth fighting for…

It’s a risk worth taking…

– Rik

 

Curious?

50ShadesVsOF1200Timing is everything.

To repeat, just for the record, it has been over a 10-year journey getting Old Fashioned to the silver screen.  Not an uncommon story in the making of many films, but still…

From the initial idea to eventually writing the script and raising the money… all the way up to learning that Fifty Shades of Grey was releasing their film as a mainstream, romantic date-night movie… and deciding to wait and release our film on the same weekend—Valentine’s Day 2015.

More than ten years.

I mention the time frame—again—because it’s important to reiterate that Fifty Shades of Grey wasn’t even on our radar during the years we were developing and financing Old Fashioned.

We didn’t set out to make Old Fashioned as a response to any other book or movie… we were simply trying to craft a love story that was God-honoring and took a counter-cultural approach to many of the sexual mores of contemporary American society.

Even so, when the opportunity arose to release our film at the same time… well, that was and is a deliberate choice for which we make no apology.  We think it’s a great chance to engage culture in a discussion about that world we are creating, for ourselves and those that follow.

And this opportunity only became available to us because of… timing.  And, more specifically, I would say… God’s timing.

All the delays, struggles, “almosts” and the wide variety of hurdles we had to overcome to get our film made and ultimately released in theatres nationally—the very kinds of things that can easily make one question God—I now honestly believe were all placed there by God.

“For such a time as this” as the Scripture goes.

This really hit me hard recently as I was walking through some airports and movie houses…

Curious?

The big, seductive, cinematic ad entices.  And it’s everywhere.  Fifty Shades calling out to all those who walk by… including families with little children, young girls on the brink of womanhood, high school boys looking for role models, married couples getting bored with each other…

Curious about what?

Things that will lead to wholeness and a greater sense of self-worth?  Things that will create more healing in our hearts and less emotional damage?  Things that will inspire us to live up to our best natures?

Or… ?

We live in a sex-obsessed culture.  It is undeniable.  Hooking up has virtually become a national pastime.  We worship physical beauty and pleasure and amusement and anyone who denies that just isn’t paying attention or is being willfully blind.  I’m not saying that it’s worse than any other time in human history, but it is increasingly becoming more obvious and with the unending advance of technology, increasingly relentless and hard to avoid.

All that said, throwing stones at the obvious doesn’t really help anyone.

And the truth is that we also live in a time when any kid with access to a computer and no parental supervision can see—in about three seconds—far worse than whatever the film version of Fifty Shades will offer.

So what’s the big deal?

As I’ve commented before, it’s precisely the coy, cultural grin and collective “no big deal” attitude and embrace of Fifty Shades that is what sets it apart—especially once they made the decision to release the film on Valentine’s Day and mass market it as an aspirational romantic option.

Still, when an erotic novel trilogy sells over 100 million copies worldwide, it’s clear that it is offering something that people want.  Why shouldn’t filmmakers try and get a piece of that action?

We live in a free society, and I’m grateful for that.  No one is calling for censorship or a boycott or anything like that at all.  We are merely exercising our right to challenge the status quo and offer up a choice that—we believe—considers a more beautiful and noble way of approaching love and romance.

The stories to which we give our time and money and lift up for adulation… those stories will eventually shape who we are and what we become.  That’s a sobering thought.

When it comes to racism and bigotry in film and literature… the importance and power of this is (thankfully) realized universally.

But what do we really want for ourselves, romantically?  What do we truly hope for those that are closest to us, that we care most about?  What kind of legacy do we want to leave for those that follow?

We’re not saying that Old Fashioned is perfect or that everyone has to agree with every choice made by Clay and Amber (the very human and flawed lead characters in our film), but our story is one that is honestly searching for more than exploitation or objectification… and that matters.

This Valentine’s Day weekend is a chance to make a statement.

We hope and pray you will join us in our David v. Goliath stand-off against a cultural juggernaut that has way more in terms of money and media access than we can even imagine.  We sure can’t do it alone…

You can find our current list of theatrical markets here.

Chivalry can indeed make a comeback… if enough people genuinely want it to.

– Rik

 

Fifty Shades of Mixed Messages

fiftyshadesdaughter

Just a quick observation for today…

It seems that Dakota Johnson, the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, might be causing a little bit of conflict in her family with her role as Anastasia Steele in the upcoming film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.

According to The Express, Dakota’s mom is upset that her family isn’t supporting her daughter in her high-profile and potentially breakout role.

“Melanie is bitterly upset that she is the only one standing alongside her daughter. She’s told both Don and Tippi [Hedren] that Dakota really can’t look at roles and wonder what her dad and grandma are going to think. She believes Dakota was right to seize her opportunity in what will almost certainly become a major international blockbuster.”

But.

In another related article in Indiewire, Griffith acknowledges that it’s unlikely she’ll ever actually see the film she is so proud of her daughter for starring in:

I have not seen “50 Shades of Grey.” I don’t think I’m going to see it…[Dakota] was like, “You guys cannot come. There’s no way.” So we’re not going. I did go visit for a couple of days when they were shooting just normal stuff. I did see the Room of Pain — I did go in there and check it out.

It’s all a little confusing.

If I was doing something professionally that I wouldn’t want my family, friends, or loved ones to see… should I be doing it?

Further, this is another curious example of the contemporary twist in defining “unconditional love” as blind, unquestioning, non-challenging support for almost any choice or action whatsoever.

Maybe, just maybe, there are some things we shouldn’t encourage… some things that are not worthy of applause.

Personally, I think it’s rather obvious that you can love others “unconditionally” and yet also challenge them and, in some cases, even withhold support if a person’s choices or actions could actually end up hurting that person or someone else.

For if we applaud and encourage someone toward things that could indeed lead to real and lasting damage—even if those things make them millions of dollars or give them great careers or win them the appearance of success—aren’t we, at least in part, responsible for that damage?

Not saying this is easy or uncomplicated.  And I definitely don’t mean to imply in the slightest that any person, bad choice, or well-intentioned yet misplaced support is beyond God’s redemptive reach.

All the same, just something to think about…

– Rik

 

The Smartest Thing Christian Movies Can Do

SmartestThing

Momentarily putting aside the discussion of the labels “Christian” or “faith-based” or “religious” or “spiritual” or any other descriptor as they relate to putting a movie in a box and/or providing—depending on one’s disposition—either a stamp of approval or a caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) warning of sorts…

Without a doubt, of all the press that has circulated in the six weeks or so since we announced the theatrical release of Old Fashioned on the same weekend as Fifty Shades of Grey (Valentine’s Day 2015), a blog entry by Scott Beggs over at Film School Rejects remains one of the most thoughtful, balanced, and convicting…

In it, the author strongly affirms our marketing strategy:

… choosing sides can have a powerful psychological effect, and Swartzwelder has effectively thrown the challenge down in a way that tacitly paints people who go to his movie as being one way and those who pick Goliath as being another. Those who don’t desire more from love and those who do. It’s an incredibly shrewd and clever move, and you can imagine more faith-based projects in the future making direct appeals within the scope of a mainstream, Hollywood giant.

He goes so far as to actually call our Fifty Shades counter-programming angle “the second smartest thing Christian movies can do right now.”

And while I personally appreciate the kudos on our release date savvy, what really hits home is Mr. Beggs’s follow up:

So what’s the smartest thing a Christian movie could do? Be good.

Boom.  He couldn’t be more right and I couldn’t agree more intensely.  The word “good” is subjective, of course, and the measure is relative, in my estimation.  An indie film with a budget a far less than a million dollars and a blockbuster with a budget of $100 million plus can both be good movies… albeit in different ways, most likely.

Regardless, his point is well taken.  He continues:

… the hallmarks of great, non-hammer-to-the-head storytelling have not found their way into faith-based filmmaking yet (unless you count movies like The Book of Eli, Noah and most of The Blind Side). At least not this particular, indie-focused subsection. Sure, there’s evidence that more people want “Christian values” in more movies (in whatever myriad ways they personally define them), but until Christian filmmakers learn nuance and symbolism to communicate those values, they’ll be preaching to the converted.

This is a smart guy.  I’ve never met him, but he is dead on.  And please know, I’m not afraid of messages in movies (and they all have them, no matter what anyone says), but good messages aren’t enough.

Yes, I am a person of faith and I believe in and love God… but I also love good movies, good art.  And I appreciate a wide variety of films from all over the world… just as I also very much appreciate this blogger’s call to excellence.  It should be heeded by anyone endeavoring to tell cinematic stories, filmmakers of faith and otherwise.

So, will Old Fashioned measure up to Mr. Beggs’s standard?  Are we “smart” enough to qualify for number one on his list?  Only time will tell.  He’s right in calling us out, whatever the case may be.  One thing I can assure you is that a very talented team poured every ounce of themselves into making not just a “good Christian movie” but a good indie movie, period.

It was never about a cash grab or exploitation.  Never about an agenda or propaganda.  It was about telling a dramatic and entertaining story in which we believed fully… to the very best of our ability…

Thank you, Mr. Beggs.  Sincerely.

Check out his full article here: http://filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/second-smartest-thing-christian-movies-can-right-now.php

– Rik

 

Why I don’t want my daughters to see ‘Fifty Shades’

DaughtersFiftyShades

Meanwhile…

Back in 50 Shades-land…

Just last week, CNN had a fascinating article written by one of its own senior producers out of New York, Ronni Berke.  This is no right-wing propaganda piece or something written by someone blinded by a haze of overly-religious piety…

This.  Is CNN.

A mother of two daughters, one 23 and the other 26, Berke shared some rather serious and level-headed concerns about the influence the submissive undercurrent in the book/film might have on her own children.

Here’s a little taste:

Very little is really, truly, off limits these days. Girls much younger than my daughters will surely find a way to see “Fifty Shades of Grey” — either in theaters, on cable, or online. What’s unknown is just how profoundly it will affect their emerging sexuality.

Exactly.

And as for those who deny that Fifty Shades will have any major impact or that all this “knee-jerk overreacting” is all much ado about nothing… well, I actually have a lot to say about that.  But let’s save it for another day…

For now, as a person of faith myself, I’d simply like to say that I find it more than a little encouraging that it’s not just us “unstable and crazy religiosos” or Old Fashioned-types that are challenging some of the assumptions and the peculiar absence of societal concern in much of the media regarding some of the messages in Fifty Shades.

While it’s clear from her piece that Berke and I would not agree on everything, the one thing upon which we 100% concur is the reality that the stories we lift up and share with our young people… matter.  Those stories will shape them.  Those stories will impact what both our children—and our world—become…

Read the full article, you really should… it’s not that long: Why I don’t want my daughters to see ‘Fifty Shades’

– Rik

 

Time, MTV, and our “Better Angels”

For the next blog, I’ll be turning the page and moving on from the subject of Old Fashioned v. Fifty Shades of Grey (at least for a little bit), but first…

A quick follow up to my last post, which was only half of the story.  The other half is that we have been genuinely overwhelmed with an online avalanche of love and support from all over the world (literally).  We are not alone.  There is quite a large, diverse, and vocal group of hopeful souls out there that longs to see a different kind of love story lifted up… in both the movies and in life.

And finally, to be fair, I was rather impressed by how equitable and objective a good portion of the press coverage actually was.  Here is a small sample of what followed our Variety announcement:

Time

MTV

International Business Times

Yahoo!

This is all incredibly encouraging.

One, because it renews my faith that “the better angels of our nature” still have a fighting chance in this world.  And two, it hints at the possibility that not absolutely everyone in the media has bowed his or her knee to the Fifty Shades juggernaut.

We have struck a chord.  Awakened something good, I think…

And it’s not just us Ned Flanders of the world that are pushing back or raising valid questions and concerns.  In fact, Old Fashioned may indeed have allies (for a wide variety of reasons) that travel far outside of the standard “religioso” circles.

I love this idea.  And I do believe that there are a lot of folks out there that, while they may not personally agree with me 100% on every single issue of a religious, theological, or spiritual nature, they do have a sense… a feeling… a conviction that something is askew culturally when a film like Fifty Shades is given such prominence and mainstream media attention.

Here’s to the “better angels” in all of us…

– Rik

 

Being Old Fashioned is Dangerous?

Controversial.  If there was one word that was NOT on my mind while I was writing the original draft of the screenplay for Old Fashioned, it was controversial.

When I began what would become a more than a 10-year journey to bring Old Fashioned to the big screen, I had never even heard of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey (let alone the film) and I had bigger issues at the time to deal with other than imagining when we might release the film in theatres at some imaginary point in the future (primarily, I was concerned with finishing the script and figuring out just how we would be able to actually get the film financed and produced).

My focus was on crafting a story that accurately reflected the lives of many people I knew at the time, including myself—singles with hearts for God, but with hearts also trying to navigate the tricky waters of romance in contemporary America.  None of us had ever seen a film that approached the subject in a serious way or told our story.  Ever.

I wanted to tell a story that was beautiful.  Tender.  True.  One that honored both men and women… and God.  Believe me; I wasn’t thinking, “edgy.”  I wasn’t thinking, controversial…

Last week, everything changed.  None of us could have ever predicted the online explosion of press or flurry of activity and conversation that would follow our announcement to release Old Fashioned the same weekend as Fifty Shades—Valentine’s Day 2015.

We are grateful, but we are dizzy.

And this was the biggest surprise: Just based on the press we received, my quotes, and our tagline, some have suggested that the ideas in our film could be regressive and potentially even dangerous.  Dangerous?  When did the idea of men and women respecting healthy boundaries and each other become… dangerous?

Then, it clicked.  In a strange, upside down way it is true that we are somehow fringe.  It’s odd, but maybe things have so turned culturally that we are now indeed edgy and dangerous to suggest there is a more beautiful way to approach love.

Think about it.  The trailer for Fifty Shades of Grey premiered on the TODAY show.  The TODAY show!   That’s not fringe.  That’s about as mainstream as it gets.  And it’s opening as a mainstream romantic date night movie on Valentine’s Day.  Not edgy.  Not counter-cultural in the least.  Not punk rock by a London mile.

And so many in the media and our culture seem to just be giving a coy wink and nod to the whole thing… like it’s no big deal, just another game.  Like this is, in fact, what most audiences want.  Is this really who we are as a people, in the majority?

Honestly, I find it nearly impossible to believe that…

If that’s controversial, so be it.  Funny and ironic as it may be… welcome to Old Fashioned, the new punk rock.

– Rik

 

David v. Goliath

50ShadesVsOFSmall

Okay, it was just in Variety so I guess that makes it official: Old Fashioned is being released the same weekend as Fifty Shades of Grey.  Valentine’s Day weekend 2015.  You can read the whole article here.

In the months leading up to that weekend, there will be much to discuss about this pairing of two wildly different films.  One is a modestly budgeted indie flick that seeks to make room for godly romance in contemporary America.  The other is a multi-million dollar studio film based on a best-selling erotic novel that has… other goals in mind.

But that’s not all we’ll be talking about on this blog.  We’ll be sharing stories of how Old Fashioned came into existence, giving behind-the-scenes glimpses of what went on during production, and also providing some personal insight into why the key issues that are explored in Old Fashioned are  perhaps more relevant and timely today than they have ever been.

Most of all, it will just be a chance for me to share this whole, crazy filmmaking marathon with all of you.  It will also allow me to bring some balance and clarification to a lot of the online chatter (some of it already beginning) that often misquotes or misrepresents or makes inaccurate assumptions about our intentions, motives, or beliefs.

We know we’re picking a fight here and that we’re more than a little outgunned.  Oh well, it is what it is.  We have to try…

Heard a singer on the radio
Late last night
Says he’s gonna kick the darkness
‘Till it bleeds daylight
I, I believe in love

“God, Part II”
– U2

Thanks to all of those that have shared the journey so far… and welcome to all of our new wayfaring friends…

Rik Swartzwelder
Writer-Director, Old Fashioned